Munster hurling final preview: Limerick to edge a close one again?

It’s unusual that a competition that is, on the face of it, dominated by one entity should be more popular than ever, but then the Munster Senior Hurling Championship has always danced to its own tune.

Tomorrow at FBD Semple Stadium in Thurles, Limerick will aim to do something that no county has ever done before and win the provincial title for a fifth straight year. Last year, the Shannonsiders matched Cork’s achievement of 1941-46 inclusive.

In the opposing corner are Clare, just as they have been for the past two seasons – such a scenario is also unusual, not having occurred since Cork and Tipperary met in the deciders of 1968, 1969 and 1970.

And yet, despite the clear pecking order since Waterford briefly flew high under Liam Cahill, few are bemoaning the inevitability of it all, compared to, say, the Leinster or Munster football championships or the Premier League.

The latter is currently in danger of being sent to hell in a handcart as Manchester City look to throw their financial weight around even more but, while Limerick benefit from the largesse of a generous backer in JP McManus, their success could never be said to be anything but hard-earned.

And that, perhaps, is the key to why the attendances in Munster continue to buck the national trend – there is enough jeopardy that almost every game counts and few of the outcomes could be predicted with a huge degree of certainty beforehand.

This year, like last year, Limerick arrive in the final having been beaten along the way, necessitating a win at home in the last set of round-robin fixtures.

It was of course to Cork that John Kiely’s side lost to on that magical night in SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh last month and the Treatymen were victorious in their other three matches.

It’s worth remembering, though, that, when they made the short trip to Cusack Park in Ennis for their opening match on April 21, Limerick were up against it for most of the match. Clare were firing and led by eight points with 18 minutes left.

Limerick only managed to raise six more white flags in the match – not since 2018 had they managed such a low tally – but, crucially, those points were allied to three goals that turned the game their way.

BOUNCEBACK

If Clare were rattled, they channelled it in the best way possible, beating Cork in the Páirc a week later (though one still might wonder how things might have panned out if the game had stayed 15 v 15) and then holding off Waterford by a point and overcoming Tipp to leave them top of the form table – the only county to achieve three straight victories in either province.

When the Banner County made the breakthrough in 1995 and won their first Munster hurling title in 63 years, it was Limerick they beat. Two more victories followed over the next three years and of course, the Clare faithful still feel that their pattern of All-Ireland wins should also have been three in four seasons but for the faulty time-keeping in their semi-final replay against Offaly.

The curiosity is that, while they have brought the Liam MacCarthy Cup back to the county since then, they are waiting for another Munster title. Before the current spell, even trips to the final were something of a rarity – after 1999 and the loss to Cork, only in 2008 (lost to Tipperary) and 2017 and 2018 (defeats to Cork) did they reach that stage.

In the game in Ennis, Clare brought on Tony Kelly just as Limerick roused themselves from their slumber. The Ballyea man has been struggling for full fitness and has only appeared as a sub – he was unable to even make the bench against Cork.

Given the way narratives wrap themselves around sporting events, Kelly’s arrival and Limerick’s resurgence were packaged together as if one caused the other when a logician might have found various other causes for the Limerick goals.

It might have been considered a dilemma for Brian Lohan and his management as to whether to start Kelly but, realistically, it should not be. He surely has not played enough hurling to warrant selection and bringing a player like that off the bench can only be considered an asset in a close game.

Given how the last two encounters have gone, we can surely expect something similar and Kelly could be the difference-maker. Then again, Limerick have been through enough tight battles since their imperial era began and they generally come out on the right side of the result.