Limerick 0-30; Kilkenny 2-15
Talk about the perfect storm! Just as Kilkenny seemed to be whipping up a gale of their own with Paddy Deegan’s 42nd-minute goal putting them five points clear, Limerick produced the most sensational half-hour’s hurling vortex in All Ireland final history that saw a hail of missiles – 21 in all – rain down on the beleaguered Cats in front of an almost disbelieving packed house at Croke Park on Sunday afternoon.
In truth, it was more a cyclone than a storm as their opponents, who had valiantly matched and even outplayed them up to then, ended up chasing shadows as the sheer force of the winners’ hurling left them disoriented and gasping for breath.
Limerick players on the other hand threw off the shackles and whereas in the first half there seemed to be three Kilkenny players around green jerseys, now it was the other way round as the slick hand-passing opened up what had been a resolute resistance for a true avalanche of point-taking artistry.
As John Kiely’s men reflect on achieving a four-timer and so equal the heroics of Kilkenny (2006-’09) and Cork (1941-’45), they can also look forward and scan the horizon of becoming hurling immortals by achieving five Liam MacCarthy’s in successive years.
There is no doubt Kilkenny died with their boots on but it now means the county has chalked up an unwanted four-timer of their own - they have lost the last four finals in which they have appeared.
They did everything in their power to avoid that unwanted losing title on Sunday and aided by the wind, they put it up to the holders with goals in each half injecting fresh confidence into their ranks in the hope they could defy logic and statistics by shocking and stopping the Shannonsiders in their tracks.
Those same stats tell us that traditionally this Limerick team do most damage in the third quarter and Sunday was no different. Yes, they had to get over the setback of an early Paddy Deegan goal, but once they opened their shoulders to hurl, by golly did the statistics start totting up.
Deegan’s goal was like poking the giant in the eye - they woke up and outscored Derek Lyng’s side by 0-19 to 0-5 in the remaining 30 minutes to ease to victory on a widening margin which ended up at nine points.
Considering this was Limerick’s fifth All Ireland in six years, it is worth noting again that but for losing to Kilkenny in the 2019 All-Ireland semi-final, they could now be chasing an incredible seven successive titles next year.
That would definitely have put them on a pedestal all on their own, but that mantle could still be achieved were they to come back and win again in 12 months’ time.
They say great players are the ones who stand up when facing adversity and in their moment of need after the Cats’ second goal, the likes of Diarmuid Byrnes, who up to then had found Tom Phelan a handful, stood up and won virtually every ball thereafter, scoring a great point from play among the eight he sent over in the course of the 74 minutes.
Beside him Kyle Hayes also stood up when needed most and between them they finally got the ball in to allow those ahead on the pitch to take advantage of a rapidly tiring Kilkenny rearguard.
No one tore the black and amber apart in this period more than Peter Casey whose five immaculate points from angles and distances left the big attendance marvelling at his ability to turn base metal chances into gold mints on the scoreboard.
Stand-in captain Cian Lynch had a massive game all through in the middle of the park and it was great to see him finally throw off the persistent injury problems that had dogged him for nearly two years.
When others in the winning line-up were struggling to get to the pace of the game, he was the one winning possession, tapping over points and single-handedly at times stopping Kilkenny from building up a bigger buffer to bring with them into battle on the changeover.
Kilkenny never led last year but were 1-9 to 0-9 to the good at the break and shortly before were six points up and looking to add to that margin before John Keenan’s short whistle.
Young Tom Phelan, who had surprised everyone with his performance on Byrnes in the first half and ended up with three points to his credit, showed his inexperience at a vital time when Kilkenny were still in the ascendant.
He broke through and with the legendary TJ outside waiting for the pass, instead he elected to shoot for goal himself and Byrnes made up sufficient ground to hook him as he attempted to pull the trigger.
Had he passed on the sliotar, it is more than probable that Reid would have raised a green flag, and Kilkenny hopes, with his strike putting them eight points to the good in that “what might have been” scenario.
All game, Kilkenny looked to have the more penetration about them when it came to going for goals as skipper Eoin Cody showed in no uncertain terms when he rifled home a great solo goal 10 minutes into the game.
Just as that score settled the Leinster champions in the first half, Deegan's surprise bursting of the net meant his side was 2-10 to 0-11 ahead. As people looked around to see if they were about to witness a massive upturning of the applecart, Limerick clicked clinically into gear with Mike Casey shooting the first of his five-pack which reminded us just how great a player he can be when devoid of injuries.
Then two-time man of the match Gearoid Hegarty woke up, stroked over a long-ranged point but more importantly began to impose his big presence on the game. Ditto the irrepressible Barry Nash who flashed forward to split the posts and underline the defiance that was now pouring for the green and white ranks.
Byrnes cut loose in his own inimitable way and was unerring as his half a dozen second half points had the scoreboard tender working early and often.
There was one moment of panic when it looked like Cody might get in for a second goal but the blanket defense smothered him and when the ball was transferred upfield where the quieter than usual Seamus Flanagan found his full-forward buddy Aaron Gillane to level the game.
Both these men were well held, yet Gillane managed two from play and three difficult frees, a measure of where his standards have risen to in the last three or four years.
TJ, who else, tried to rally the troops with another placed ball but by now the storm was raging and blowing full steam towards Eoin Murphy’s goal. Knowing that their ability to hit long range points would see them home, the winners didn’t even try to penetrate the Cats last line of defense, instead happy as Darragh O’Donovan, Gillane and a brace by Byrnes put them on the front foot.
Kilkenny kept trying to claw their way back into contention but despite good white flags from the hard-working John Donnelly and classy midfielder Adrain Mullen, they were still two behind as the chimes sounded for the hour mark.
Only one more TJ points was forthcoming in the final 14 minutes as Limerick hit six unanswered points before opening the bench to allow late substitutes to taste the scent of such a sweet victory.
Casey was busy pretending to be William Tell, David Reidy’s Kildare days were far from his mind as he became a true cog in this big machine with his work-rate forwards and backwards while Hayes and super sub Cathal O’Neill with two and Casey again, all got in on the act.
So they’ve gone through the door for four; now it’s the drive for five and few will bet on Kiely’s men from walking through those portals into the pantheon of greats.
Limerick: N Quaid; M Casey, D Morrissey, B Nash (0-1); D Byrnes (0-8, 0-7f), W O'Donoghue, K Hayes (0-1); D O’Donovan (0-1), C Lynch (capt, 0-2); G Hegarty (0-2), D Reidy (0-2), T Morrissey (0-1); A Gillane (0-5, 0-3f), S Flanagan, P Casey (0-5) Subs: C O Neill (0-2) for T Morrissey (55), G Mulcahy for Flanagan (62), C Boylan for Hegarty (68), B Murphy for O’Donovan (71), A Costello for M Casey (73).
Kilkenny: E Murphy (0-1); M Butler, H Lawlor, T Walsh; C Fogarty, R Reid (0-1), P Deegan (1-1); J Donnelly (0-1), A Mullen (0-1); T Phelan (0-3), M Keoghan, W Walsh; B Ryan, TJ Reid (0-7, 0-6f, 0-1 '65’) E Cody (capt) (1-0) Subs: P Walsh for Fogarty (ht), A Murphy for W Walsh (48), C Kenny for Ryan (54) R Hogan for Phelan (65), C Buckley for Donnelly (68).
Ref: J Keenan (Wicklow).
BIG MATCH QUOTES
Our “third quarter surge” was strong and we needed it - Kiely
John Kiely (Limerick Manager): "It's down to the players, totally and utterly. We have zero impact on the sideline. It's so hard but the lads, to be fair, showed calmness.
"They were measured in what they were doing. They just trusted in themselves and in the process. And I know that might sound boring but it's so important to stick to it because if you go away from it, the whole thing falls away and they just kept chewing away and chewing away at it and I think they wore (Kilkenny) out in the finish.
"We've been very strong in quarter three all year and we needed to be, if there ever was a day," he said, adding that they found the going tough in the first half. “All credit to Kilkenny. They brought a ferocious intensity in the first 28, 29 minutes of the game and we found it very difficult to live with it.
"They turned us over on numerous occasions and as a result got great scores out of that. That and their puck out, we were struggling in areas. So we had to regroup at half-time but as I said earlier, quarter three, we depended on it this year and we really depended on it today."
Derek Lyng, Kilkenny manager: "They (Limerick) get a run on you and they got some fantastic scores out the field and probably a few decisions, they probably got them at crucial times as well, maybe 50-50 calls and the reality of it is we needed to get any of those today.
I would've felt there were times we had chances where we didn't take them and we needed to be taking everything.
"But I can't fault the effort from our players. They were outstanding all year, they gave everything today and sometimes it's just not good enough on the day and that's really the story."
Diarmuid Byrnes (Limerick): “It needed a big half-time talk. Kilkenny brought exactly what we expected. It was pure intensity. We always speak of the Kilkenny teams of the past but they are a replica and have inherited it.
"That's in their DNA, to work hard and those lads have died in their boots. We needed a big talk at half-time to get us going in the second-half. You could see the response in the second half, it was immense.
"That's the relentlessness of Kilkenny. They just don't go away. We got a good few scores second half. We enforced our game plan and what we were trying to do. You never switch off for them."
Peter Casey (Limerick): "At half-time we weren't happy with our own puck outs and their puck outs. Kilkenny were that small bit more hungry than us in the breaking ball. I think we addressed that.
"We started the second-half well and Paddy Deegan's goal was a bit of a sucker punch. But listen, we've been here before plenty of times.
"We have loads of reference points. I'm just absolutely delighted to get the kick out of the boys - I think we got the next six or seven points after his (Paddy Deegan's) goal - which is obviously huge to get back level and push on again.
"It's just the history we have. We have all grown up, being successful at underage and unsuccessful. There's been plenty of we've been up and down during our careers as well. We managed to stick together.
"It's just patience. We've all been here before. Stay patient as much as we can and hopefully things come our way.
"Our backroom team is absolutely phenomenal. I can't speak highly enough of them, guys like Paul Kinnerk. I'm not going to name everyone. It's just fantastic to see the lads kicking on then to get over the line.”
