John Horgan: Niall O'Leary a worthy All-Star but Limerick are greatest hurling team of my lifetime

With the All-Stars now out of the way, the curtain can now be fully drawn on the inter-county hurling season.

Of course, it was over a few months back in July, far too early according to a strong cohort of supporters.

The split-season debate will continue in many conversations but it’s the status quo now and is very likely to remain that way.

Since making the big breakthrough back in 2018 and subsequently taking the Liam MacCarthy Cup back to Shannonside five more times, the hurlers of Limerick, for the most part in those eight years have dominated the All-Stars selection.

Being the holders of the old trophy again plus provincial and national league winners, it was just a matter of how many would be selected on the chosen 15 last Friday night.

It might have been slightly surprising that Mayo did not receive more than six from the football selection committee but that championship is a much more congested and competitive playing field, far more counties contesting for the big prizes on offer, far more players in the chase for recognition.

In the past the selection of the All-Stars has created plenty of controversy but where this Limerick bunch of players is concerned there’s few if any arguments being put forward on the six occasions that they have been on the podium in the Hogan Stand on All-Ireland final day.

Six All-Ireland titles since 2018 is a staggering achievement with quite a number of the players who set off on the journey back then still steering the ship.

Having one of the finest management teams on the sideline has contributed enormously as it did for Kilkenny during the Brian Cody years.

People might moan and groan about Limerick having the financial clout of JP McManus behind them but that’s absolute nonsense because it’s those inside the lines of the playing field that ultimately are the game-breakers.

Down through the decades, there have been some outstanding county hurling teams. It’s been the same in Gaelic football and for GAA followers everywhere, it has to be a privilege to have watched them ply their trade.

Cork have had some wonderful teams in different eras, Tipperary too and Kilkenny under Cody arguably the greatest ever.

In the modern era, only two counties vie for being the greatest team that we have ever seen: Kilkenny and the county that has now well and truly taken over from them, the men in green from Limerick.

In the years that they lost out to Tipperary and Clare in 2024 and 2025 we had to listen to a lot of rubbish about Limerick being finished.

Driven

Well, anybody who knows anything about hurling should have known that losing out in those years was the perfect motivational tool for John Kiely, Paul Kinnerk and Caroline Currid to prove the doubters very wrong.

Some are at it again, telling us that this was their last winning year and a new name will emerge again in 2027.

Maybe that will be the case, Munster will be the annual minefield, Kilkenny will surely be better and maybe Galway still have the resources to be a lot better than they were in this year’s All-Ireland final.

Yes, some of these Limerick players will be a bit longer in the tooth next time but they will still have the best squad around.

This fantastic Limerick team is the best this scribe has ever seen over the 60-plus years that I have come to love this great game and, yes again better than the team that was produced on Noreside.

The All-Stars selection last Friday night was notable for a number of things, Limerick’s nine being recognised, seven players being honoured for the first time and that 16 years after his debut, Nicky Quaid is still the number one goalkeeper.

And as a matter of fact, he started as an outfield player back then.

However, what was surely most remarkable about the chosen 15 was that the entire Limerick half-back line and half-forward line was selected en bloc.

Limerick had a player in every sector outside of the inside three where Brian Hayes was one of those who got the nod and rightly soo too.

Five years ago Cork got to the All-Ireland final, got hammered by Limerick and received no All-Star recognition. They got badly beaten too in the semi-final this year by Galway but came back from Dublin with two All-Stars, Niall O’Leary joining Hayes on the stage.

Their selection could brook little argument. Hayes, the leading figure, the main threat up front, had a fine season and if Cork had done better on the All-Ireland stage he was very much in line for the Hurler of the Year accolade.

The Castlelyons man, O’Leary, as one pundit declared, was a model of consistency in the Cork full-back line. His man-marking traits have been a feature of Cork’s defensive stragety for a while now, a player who is rarely found wanting in the number four shirt.

Should Cork be satisfied enough with a brace of All -Stars or should it have been more? Simply put, yes to the first question, no to the second.

In fact, for a county that won nothing and was well beaten in the All-Ireland semi-final the return was 100% right.

There will never be universal approval with the All-Stars. Over the weekend, a case was being made for Galway’s Catal Mannion who was a standout performer for his county in their run to the Leinster title.

Maybe a similar case could be made for others but in the main, there should be very few dissenting with what the selectors settled on.

Over the past number of years, Patrick Horgan and TJ Reid were involved in a huge battle to become the leading scorer in the inter-county charts.

When Hoggy departed before the commencement of the 2026 season and the Kilkenny great staying put for another season, it was clearly obvious that he was going to be the number one scorer of all time.

He departed last week with that accolade which may stand the test of time but the bottom line is the inter-county hurling world is now bereft of two of its greats.

Reid has many medals more stashed away than the Glen man but, of course, he was a central figure in a great Kilkenny team. Horgan did not have that luxury, of course, but the game going forward will be the poorer for because of their absence.

Johnny Grimes RIP

The local Douglas GAA club is mourning the very sad loss of one of their great clubmen, Johnny Grimes, who was taken far too young over last weekend after a long illness.

He played at all levels of the game in the Douglas club and captained the team to county intermediate glory 25 years ago, leading always by example in their elevation to senior ranks.

Subsequently, he served as a selector in senior ranks, Douglas was his club, his sporting pride and joy.

To his family this column sends its deepest sympathy at the loss of a very good man.