One of the greatest mysteries in Irish sport in the last couple of decades has surely been how, having won the All Ireland SHC in 2013, it took Clare more than a decade to add to their haul in that department. Because, not only had their win over Cork been one of the best overall displays seen in an All Ireland Final in decades but the profile of the team at the time was such that it was expected the Banner County would enjoy a spell of dominance at the head of the game.
Granted, what Limerick have achieved in the past half decade or more gives lie to what will appear immediately hereafter, but, no matter what the sport is, stringing a number of titles back to back is an extremely difficult feat to accomplish. Chances are, Luke Littler will be reminded of that fact in the weeks and months ahead.
It’s not very often it does happen, but, with the supposedly inevitable coronation of Luke Littler as the next big thing in darts – or maybe in any sport – ranks as the greatest example of something purported to be as simple as a, b, c turn out as such. If there was a surprise in Littler’s astounding acquisition of the Sid Waddell Trophy, it was the fact that, realistically, Michael Van Gerwen never managed to land a glove on he who has replaced the Green Machine himself as the totem of the entire sport.
To the extent that, the 17-year-old had raced into a 4-0 lead in a time that didn’t give MVG time to get his darts out of his case – or so it seemed. Though to be fair, in the mark of a true champion, Mighty Mike did make a commendable attempt at mounting a comeback, but it was a case of trying to shut the door of the stable when the horse has long bolted.
Looking to the future, aside from being absolutely awestruck by what the lad from Warrington has achieved in his first year on the PDC tour, there will also be quite a bit of curiosity in relation to how he ‘handles’ the reality of being World Champion. As in, all the trappings that go along with the title, other than the fundamentals of simply throwing tungsten.
Now, from what has been in the public domain thus far, it would appear ‘The Nuke’ has a fairly competent management team around him – being in the same ‘stable’ as Nathan Aspinall – but he will need every bit of it now as the enormity of what he has just achieved fully dawns. Having attained what he had been chasing down, he is now the one with the target on his back. The hunter has become the hunted. For the rest, the chase is on.
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