Hungry Limerick ready to end 45-year famine

There have been some serious All-Ireland famines in the GAA over the decades. Right now perhaps only Mayo’s is longer than Limerick’s among the so-called traditional counties. I have a strong feeling that 45-year hiatus will end this Sunday afternoon.

Here in Clare we can sense the craving across the border. And make no mistake, they wanted Galway in the final: a team whose cloth is easier to measure.

Be careful what you wish for? Not really, because with the defending champions you get exactly what it says on the tin. They are a straightforward if somewhat daunting challenge – but they don’t bring any surprises. In many ways, they are made for this Limerick team.

The Tribe come into Sunday with a question mark over them that has only developed in recent weeks. The Banner did punch some holes in their defence and made them look vulnerable, something that wasn’t the case earlier this year.

In their favour, they are the defending champions and are back in the decider 11 months later. Aside from the big three, not too many counties can claim to have made it back to the final – Offaly being the last in 1995 and we know what happened then. Before that, it was Galway in 1988 but that was the days of the one game and you were in a final. This format is exacting a toll on the Connacht side, albeit Leinster champions.

Kilkenny punched the first hole in their balloon in that drawn Leinster final. The view that Galway were a bit flat that day and would restore their reputation in the replay looked to be holding out as they raced into a first-half lead of 1-15 to 0-6 in the Thurles replay.

It is from there that Micheál Donoghue’s side have looked mortal. First the Cats pulled back to within a point before the Tribe eventually put them away in the last seven or eight minutes.

Clare's turn

Then it was Clare’s turn to come back at them – not once, but three times over two compelling encounters. Neither the quality of the Tribe’s hurling nor their heart was in doubt in both semi-final contests, but their invincibility was. Clare’s 19 wides and the thickness of a post saved Galway the second day when they were almost out on their feet. That, along with Joe Canning, Jonathan Glynn and Conor Whelan. Champions always have leaders; they stood up and that’s why they’re back in Croker.

The question marks, however, will give Limerick encouragement. Galway’s previously impregnable full-back line has stuttered for three contests in a row now. Wear and tear on Dáithí Burke and Gearoid Mannion must be a concern because an All-Ireland final is no place to run out with an injury. Two weeks isn’t very long to bring a player back to full fitness and I suspect a couple of Galway starters may be borderline for Sunday.

But it’s a final and they’ll play if they can walk. If this game is attritional, however – and there’s no way it can be anything else – Galway’s replacements do not stack up against Limerick’s.

Decision time

And here is where the game can be decided. An epic contest, played in normal All-Ireland final intensity will mean tanks hitting empty at various stages of the second half. The Shannonsiders can call on like-for-like substitutes – the perfect kind to take advantage of tiring opponents. Limerick’s subs do not weaken their formation. We have seen them define the contests against Kilkenny and Cork. We can see it again.

It was Thurles and the thrilling win over the Cats that finally showed Limerick were the real deal for this year, not next, and the only team capable of beating Galway. Then the Tribe took a few steps back against Clare, so they have slipped since, while Limerick have risen further with their late, late show against the Rebels.

We can’t forget that Cork had a six-point lead with under 10 minutes on the clock in Croke Park. John Kiely’s side did struggle at times to hold a the freewheeling Cork attack, particularly from out the field. Galway carry a similar threat, but it is not as numerous as Cork’s.

Limerick will surely target the space on offer to Joe Canning, Conor Whelan, Cathal Mannion and the Cooneys, along with all the space around and above Johnny Glynn. The Tribe might feel that rookie full-back Mike Casey is vulnerable to aerial bombardment, but Sean Finn and Richie English are able lieutenants for Casey, who has been superb.

Holding the champions is easier said than done but this Limerick back nine play for each other and attack the ball. They can hold Galway to below 22 or 23 points. Do that and they have done their job. Do that and they should win.

The game-changers

It will then be up to the front nine or 10, depending on who starts and who comes in, to finish this All-Ireland. Declan Hannon has been a brilliant distributor of the ball this summer at centre-back. In midfield, Darragh O’Donovan has outshone the clever Cian Lynch in my book, but Lynch could be the man for the biggest day of all. There are finishers up front of all sizes, from the cuteness of Mulcahy to the strength and skill offered by Hegarty, Gillane (surely he’ll goal), Flanagan, Morrissey and Hayes. If those six manage to hold their starting jerseys (not a given), they will surely be asked to run at Galway’s backs, asking them questions on the outside and down the middle, as Shane O’Donnell did. Limerick have the ruthlessness and capability to do this. They should have enough ball and anyone who isn’t on message, well Shane Dowling, Peter Casey, Pat Ryan, Barry Nash and David Reidy will probably be warming up from the throw-in.

The relative short run-in to the final, the extra week off the radar while Galway and Clare replayed? That all helps Limerick and especially their frail supporters, whose major concern is that this team doesn’t perform on All-Ireland final day like many Limerick sides before them.

That’s a little unkind on great Limerick sides who were unfortunate, teams that didn’t get the luck needed to get over the line (1980, 1981, 1994-1996) but this current squad has the air of history about them. Plenty of their back-room have been to this stage before and have gotten it done. I’d be confident the heads will be right.

In this, the year of the mother of all championships, the prodigal son Liam McCarthy will finally go home to Limerick.

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