The Premier Battle

And just as Gods game was being written off the Munster hurling championship sprung to life again in the summer of 07. After the damp squib that was the opening round between Clare and Cork many pundits had started writing off the value of the provincial championships.
On Sunday the 10TH June 2007 two former giants of the game led their respective charges into battle into the cauldron that was the Gaelic Grounds in Limerick. The Limerick crowd turned out more in hope than expectation following on the heels of six years without a Munster championship victory. The Premier County arrived in Limerick to the news that Curran and Corbett weren’t fit to start and that Eoin Kelly was carrying a knock going into the game.
Straight from the throw in it was obvious there was something different about this Limerick side, something had changed from the previous few years of heartache, pain and near misses for they were playing with a fire in their bellies, a fire that was only matched by the searing afternoon sun. After twenty three minutes, disaster struck as Limericks Captain Damien Reale saw red for a second bookable offence following a chop down on Kelly. The Limerick rear guard had already been breached, following a John Carroll (who gave Mark Foley the run around for the afternoon) goal and now the defence would have to be reshuffled.
Limerick went in at the break a man down, three points down and the hard luck stories of the passed half decade looked set to be repeated once more. The teams came out for the second half and Keatings men set out there stall, opting to play the extra man in the full back line instead of putting Limerick to the sword and deploying him further out the field, for the first 15 minutes of the second half at least. But Limerick stayed plucking away, fighting for every ball, chasing in packs refusing to give in. None more so than Ollie Moran, who at 31 years of age stood up to be counted putting in a man of the match performance. A leader in the half forward line Limerick have been craving and the rest of the troops followed. A goal and a point in the last few minutes of the game meant that this enthralling energy sapping tie would be brought to a replay.

The Limerick camp rejoiced at the chance to get a second bite of the cherry where as there seemed to be an heir of discontent in the Tipp camp. Babs came out after the game claiming that some of his charges hadn’t stood up to be counted in the heat of battle and questioned a few of the officials decisions also. Maybe this was psychological, maybe not but the force was now firmly behind Limerick entering into the replay.
Going into day two, one would have to give the advantage to Limerick who had the mental edge over Tipp, or so one have thought. Tipp lined up but for the first time in 12yrs without Brendan Cummins between the sticks, Babs Keating instead choosing to give a debut to young Kennedy. Tipperary blew Limerick away in the first half, Kennedy saved a penalty and Babs men went in at half time 10 points to the good. Game over? Surely?
Against all odds, Richie Bennis’ charges rose from the depths of despair and clawed there way back, inch by inch, a point at a time. One of the keys to Limericks revival was that they never panicked, they never went searching for goals, knowing that if they stayed picking off their points that the might unnerve Tipp. And they did, when with the last puck of the game Andrew Shaughnessy stood over a 20 yard free to level the sides. The temperatures may have been down on the previous week but the feast of passion, heart and Munster Championship hurling certainly was not. After 20 minutes of extra time there was nothing to separate these gladiators and they would need a third day out.

Day three and after 160 minutes of top class hurling these sides are coming back for more. These sides know each other inside out at this stage and it will take one piece of magic to separate the sides. Tipp have the higher skilled hurlers, something that was never more noticeable than during the first half last Saturday. The Limerick lads would need two to three touches to kill or rise the sliothar where as Tipp were faster with the basics and much more clinical as well. But these days players need more than skill and physical fitness. Players need to be mentally strong and this is where the Premier County are slipping up. Bennis’s use of the bench was the other major factor to Limericks revival on both days. In a game that again went into extra time it was Limerick who got the rallying scores from Niall and Ollie Moran at vital times. But these scores would have been worthless if it werent for the solid base built by Geary, Hickey and Foley at the back. Limerick went on to win 0-22 to 2-13.

This game much like the Battle Royal did for fotball in '91 revitlized hurling. In the end there was no fairytale victory for Limerick, Kilkenny won the All Ireland in an emotional match dedicated to the memory of Vanessa McGarry, wife of Kilkennys goalkeeper James. But what the 2007 season has shown is that the GAA and above all Hurling needs teams like Limerick, Waterford, Clare or Offaly to mix it up with the bigger teams and add that bit of romance, that bit of hope in the search for the Holy Grail.