A long time ago, a dear departed family acquaintance said to my father, regarding the state of the world at that time, “Don’t let anybody tell you about the good old days, the good times are now”. Personally, I would find such an assertion hard to concur with for a lot of reasons but that’s a tale for another day.
People of certain vintage would attest that the All Ireland SFC semi final in 1977 between Dublin and Kerry as the greatest game of Gaelic football. Again, this observer would veer in a different direction to such thinking, but there’s another item on the mind tonight.
From 1994 until 20013, the former year’s All Ireland SHC Final between Offaly and Limerick stood alone as the greatest exhibition of the small ball code the one seeing eye here was ever blessed to witness.
From Damien Quigley’s two wonderful goals for Limerick in the first half to Johnny Dooley and substitute Pat O’Connor rifling in similarly magnificent ‘Majors’ to begin the Faithful County’s exumation from despair.
Even more memorable, though, is the image of an exhausted Billy Dooley slinging over points like the Waco Kid when the town is under siege in Blazing Saddles. For a full 19 years there was no hurling match could even gain parity with it. And then, just like the buses, two came along in jig time.
That being the 2013 All Ireland Senior Final between Clare and Cork and the replay thereof. Required after the Banner County corner back Domhnaill O’Donovan drove over an equaliser which, if he tried it 100 times again, you suspect, might never go over again.
As good as all that was, the replay was even better. Like hurling from another planet. Shane O’Donnell’s hat-trick, the brilliant but luckless Darach Honan being every bit as influential. What of Davy Fitz falling to his knees in exhausted elation after his toughest team had won the Saturday evening shootout by 5-18 to 3-18.
After that in the pecking order would be Galway’s triumph of 2017. Their joust with Waterford was one of those rare occasions when nobody would have begrudged either side the win. If absolutely pressed to give a pick, however, sway would probably have – very slightly – gone with the men from the west. If only because of Joe Canning’s mesmeric score from out under the Cusack Stand.
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All of the above, however, were usurped by the masterpiece produced by Limerick and Clare on Sunday last. It had all the hallmarks of a classic even beforehand. Local derby, coming just five weeks after their lasst meeting. Which ended in a high scoring draw. A coming Clare combination facing off agsinst a truly wonderous Limerick not showing any signs of going anywhere.
Yet nothing or nobody could predict just how jaw-droppingly brilliant what transpired over the next 90-plus minutes would turn out to be. Where would you even begin to dissect it all? Tony Kelly is never a bad starting point!
Attempting to definitively declare the greatest ever exponent of a given craft is nigh on impossible simply as such debates will always be a generational thing. Even at that, narrowing such topics down to a single individual is akin to asking someone to nominate their favourite Father Ted. There are no bad ones.
Now imagine living as long as Da did, how exactly would you settle on one, given all the greats he would’ve seen. Going to Croke Park for 75 years in a row was a huge part of that. Often, and especially during the winter months, he’d sit with me in the evening time after dinner and just reel off player after player.
No matter who made the football list – and included but not limited to thereon would have been Brian Smyth, Paddy O’Brien, Mattie Kerrigan, John McDermott, Trevor Giles and Colm O’Rourke of Meath, Enda Colleran and Frank Stockwell (Galway), Kevin Moran of Dublin and the great Matt Connor from Offaly, to name but a very small few – our own Graham Geraghty would always come out atop thereof.
Though the following will doubtless surprise some folk, it was always the hurling amalgam which filled me with even more intrigue. Because, for whatever reason, the small ball code seems to fete its former heroes in a better and more meaningful way than its bigger brother. As evidenced by the inception of the McDonagh, Ring, Rackard and Meagher Cup competitions. Which of course meant that it was also first to introduce the tiered competitions that football also so badly needs. Yes the Tailteann Cup is a welcome development, but it is only a step on a journey, not the final destination.
Anyway, some the names which would roll of his tongue when it came to hurling were GAA royalty if ever such a thing existed. The four greats mentioned above plus the likes of Mick Mackey, Eddie Keher, Jack Lynch – a legend in more ways than sporting ones – ‘Babs’ Keating, Len Gaynor and the one who I always suspected was his absolute favourite – ‘Fan’ Larkin of Kilkenny.
Comparatively, my list would look something like: Damien Fitzhenry, Tommy Walsh, John Mullane, Brian Lohan, Brian Whelehan, Seanie McMahon, Larry O’Gorman, Ben O’Connor, Ciaran Carey, DJ Carey, Henry Shefflin, John Leahy, Pat Fox, Tom Kenny and as far as the game at the present goes Diarmuid Byrnes, Declan Hannon, Lee Chin, Tony Kelly, Shane O’Donnell, Padraig Walsh and Pat Horgan. But again, multiple versions of that selection could be arrived at within minutes of each other.
However, though it was always going to take something pretty spectacular to usurp ’94 as the greatest game ever seen from this seat. Last Sunday Limerick and Clare finally managed to knock it off its perch. I have never seen anything like it and vindication at my feeling as such arrived when judges a lot more senior and schooled than this one thought likewise.
Where would you even begin to dissect it all? For a start, the meeting Limerick and Clare is the most local of local derbies. Then, there was the fact they had met only five weeks beforehand and played out a pulsating draw. Lastly, as with any feisty neighbourly rivalry, Limerick’s dominance of the province in recent times will have sat less comfortably in Clare than anywhere else.
When teams are as evenly matched as Limerick and Clare appear to be at present, it generally takes something ‘special’ to split. To quote Sean Boylan when the Meath-Dublin rivalry was at its zenith “You have to pull a rabbit out of a hat”.
Seamus Flanagan isn’t exactly that for John Kiely’s side but the Feohanagh man tends to go about his business in an efficient but understated way whilst making an invaluable contribution.
Mind yoo, the distinctive full forward may not be able to pull off understated anymore after Sunday’s landmark performance when Flanagan sent over a magnificent eight points from play.
Though that would only account for a few stanzas in this epic piece of sporting poetry. The challengers were fastest from the starting stalls with the mesmeric Kelly, as usual, conducting the orchestra. Even by his orchestral brilliance however, one particular score the Ballyea genius crafted will, for this writer at least, go down as the greatest point ever seen in a game hurling.
Catching the sliotar within inches of being out over the sideline before – as if the ball was magnetised to his hurl – shoveling the ball over Nickie Quaide’s crossbar without handling it again.
Lest it be thought Brian Lohan’s side were a one man band, when the returned Peter Duggan essayed over a sumptuous line ball to leave the Banner County three clear in the run in to half time, you began to think it might just be their day.
Then again, champions usually end up as such for good reason. Hanging in there when under the pump being a huge part of. So, given the player involved in the relevant phase of play, it should have been no surprise to see the unstoppable Gearoid Hegarty spoon the ball over an oncoming Clare defender, gather it again, bury it and knot the two sides in run in to half time, 1-09 to 0-12.
They got two points apiece before changing ends and indeed went point for point throughout the second half. Until Limerick’s inspirational captain Declan Hannon appeared to have won the day when driving over a monstrous score from his own 45 metre line.
The mercurial Kelly never received that memo however. When his fellow forwards pounced on a piece of very rare dithering in front of the Treaty County goal and manufactured a priceless turnover, the amazing centre forward duly trotted up and, just like every kid who has ever practiced sending one over at an adult match, duly and casually sent the salvation score over as if there was nobody watching at all.
Now, as much Clare – and Kelly in particular – deserved the extra 20 minutes it only served to to spark the reigning kingpins into overdrive. Aaron Gillane eventually got the upper hand in what was an enthralling battle with Conor Cleary, Flanagan continued to whir around in front of goal like a Cummins engine with a straight pipe and their bench having a game breaking impact.
Clare never took a backward step and scores from Duggan and substitute Mark Rogers kept them right in it until the very end.
In the end, though, Hegarty’s wonder-strike waa a score worthy of deciding what in time could be the defining exhibition of the greatest game in the world.
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