Eight hurling championship observations: Limerick ask hard questions but Tipp have right answers

The hold-out. There is a long list of ways and means to manage the closing minutes of a championship encounter. Last Saturday, Cork deployed every one of them. It wasn’t enough.

Tim O’Mahony’s point in the 66th minute had a 14-man Cork eight up. The anticipated storm was well-weathered; they looked safe. Mark Rodgers missed a subsequent free as the clock continued to tick down. Suddenly, the walls started to shake again.

A short puckout to Eoin Downey resulted in a simple free. The Cork full-back threw the ball up and caught it again. Referee Liam Gordon had his back turned, however linesman Michael Kennedy spotted the foul. Cork lost the next puckout, Peter Duggan produced a sensational goal and the margin was back to four.

Four points without reply, what are Cork to do next? Their forwards formed a pod on the right and Patrick Collins went long. They lost the break and Tim O’Mahony strategically tried to foul deep in Clare’s half so they can reset. Ryan Taylor was clever and continued his run after the foul. That meant Tony Kelly’s free was a few metres outside of his 45-metre line rather than inside it. He delivered.

Five points without reply. Trouble. Cork needed to stem the flow. “When you bleed, don’t bleed heavy,” as former Limerick manager TJ Ryan is fond of saying on the Irish Examiner’s hurling podcast. A lap of the posts to slow the puckout. Long to the same pod. A ruck. Force a throw-in. Force another throw-in. Start a row. Nothing worked. Concede another free, miss one of your own and now it’s code red.

With two minutes of the six added on remaining, Cork turned to a familiar tactic. Shane O’Neill developed a strategy for holding onto a one-point lead with Galway and Na Piarsaigh that saw his side deliberately drive a puckout into the stand. Squeeze there and pin the opposition deep. That is what Collins tried to do.

This one play illustrates where Cork went wrong. Kelly recognised the threat so went back to take the sideline. He found a short option for a one-two. In Clare’s half, it was five vs six. Often during the spell after Shane Barrett’s red card, it was four vs six as Darragh Fitzgibbon dropped back. Clare thrived in that space. That quick sideline led to Kelly’s equaliser.

Cork’s only chance was to force Kelly into a long 50/50 delivery. Once he had a chance to work a score, they were dead. This is what they do. Wexford were level when Rory O’Connor was sent off in last year’s quarter-final. Clare went on to win comprehensively. Waterford were three down at half-time in the 2023 Munster championship meeting. Calum Lyons was sent off just before the turnaround and Waterford lost by 12.

The problem for Cork is that hurling is not a game made for hold-outs. They needed to stay full throttle. An inability to do that meant they had to be perfect everywhere else. One case of loose marking on a sideline will hinder even the best-laid plans.

Here are eight observations from the hurling championship.

Tipp tick so many boxes

Limerick have always bared their strengths. They have a gameplan and stick to it. This team generates consistent and considerable problems. On Sunday, Tipperary had so many solutions.

They breached a robust defensive rearguard twice for two goals. They matched Limerick’s shot output from play. They took advantage of a centre-back who tends to sit back. Jake Morris finished with four from play and two assists. They did as manager Liam Cahill asked and trusted their hurling.

What does that look like? U20 star Darragh McCarthy on his championship debut slotting their first two scores off right and left. Shaking off three missed frees to land the decisive equaliser at the death. John McGrath being turned over three times and hitting a wide in his first six possessions and still finishing with two goals and a point. His brother Noel coming on to rack up 13 possessions on the same day he matched Brendan Cummins’ record for championship appearances. Tipperary failed to retain possession after one long delivery and he was penalised for a throw later, but he continued to make them tick.

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Limerick have always trusted the process and peppered the posts. That comes with important provisions. Gearóid Hegarty had a goal chance well saved, Diarmaid Byrnes dropped a free short and Tom Morrissey hit the post. All three offered Tipperary a chance to counter. Morris drilled a point after that Morrissey short attempt allowing the home side respond well to a goal concession.

Morrissey had one point from five shots before he was taken off. Kyle Hayes scored two points and assisted 0-4, yet that move meant William O’Donoghue’s physical presence was missing in midfield.

On the plus side, they have two weeks to reset and recover after a taxing encounter. Tipperary don’t have that luxury.

Drop

There are certain things that take some getting used to in hurling. Many in the game are still uneasy with the volume and quality of handpassing. Limerick were penalised three times for that offence in Thurles. It was noticeable they had an issue with another increasing feature in the game too.

After Tipperary’s first free, Kyle Hayes could be seen pleading his case with what looked like a diving gesture. In the second half, David Reidy was booked and again brought his hands up in a mock dive, offering a similar defence. Noel McGrath was unimpressed with a Diarmuid Byrne drop later on, waving at him to get up.

“Just get on with it, says the referee. He has a lovely manner about him,” explained commentator David McIntyre, who has access to the in-game referee audio.

Galway have the players

One consistent accusation. In recent years, the main criticism of Galway is presence of the 2017 All-Ireland winners. That strain comes with an implied sting: too old.

The reality is more complicated than that. Specific dates of birth are difficult to obtain in the GAA but the approximate average age of Galway’s starting 15 last weekend was 25. All-Ireland champions Clare’s was 28. Galway had two players aged 30 or over. Clare had eight.

Of the team that lost the 2018 All-Ireland final by a point, only three started again last Saturday. Limerick, as it happens, started eight players on Sunday who also played in the 2018 decider.

There has been undeniable change. Is the talent there? That depends. If the barometer is challenging for All-Irelands, they have failed. Over their last six meetings with Kilkenny, Galway have lost three, drawn two and won just once. Still, two of those Kilkenny wins were one-score games.

12 of the squad that played in the 2022 All-Ireland semi-final thriller against Limerick took to the field in Nowlan Park. The team Micheál Donoghue picked might not be capable of winning an All-Ireland. They are capable of more than what they produced last weekend. The players there are better than that.

The problem now is the same as it was under the previous two managers; a crippling lack of confidence and a fundamental misunderstanding of structure. Their inability to work ball to their inside line and generate shots inside Kilkenny’s 45 was galling. The six defenders worked hard to drive forward in possession without any team-mate tucking in to cover the vacant space. Too often Richie Reid or Paddy Deegan were able to sit in front of their full-back line. Kilkenny’s puckout shape saw them leave players free in the half-back line while Galway continued to go zones where they were outnumbered.

It was inevitable that Joseph Cooney’s enormous loss would only be felt when he was truly gone. One of the best hurlers to never win an All-Star sacrificed himself for the group. He was capable of being an all-time great wing-back but deployed as a half-forward because they sorely need a puckout target and a dog for work. One fair criticism of the current team is the lack of reliable long target.

Beyond that, poor deliveries to Conor Whelan and his fellow inside line has been routinely cited. Speaking on RTÉ, Joe Canning pointed to their output as well.

“I don’t know if it is too slow the ball coming in or there isn’t enough movement inside. It is a bit of both,” he said.

“If you don’t have movement inside, it is very hard for the lads outside to be looking up and seeing where the right ball is. But then, if the lads inside are thinking, the ball’s not going to come, there is no point going into that space either. That has been a problem for a while now.”

In an interesting dynamic, former manager Henry Shefflin was alongside him.

“As Joe said, there is two sides of it,” he agreed, before delving deeper again.

“I’ll be honest with you, I think a lot of it is confidence. Just that belief, you are struggling, making sure you are doing everything right and sometimes it can be just try and play more expansive.”

Taking the turn

In the three of the six years of provincial round robin format, the league winners have failed to win their opening round. Cork joined Clare of 2024 and Limerick of 2019 in that club. Curiously, even the victors rarely impress. Kilkenny needed an injury-time goal to beat Dublin in 2018. Waterford overcame a slow start to down Tipperary in 2022. Limerick looked in trouble for spells against Waterford in 2023.

Of course, the silverware usually stands to teams in the long-term. But there remains a tricky balancing act between controlled celebrations and championship prep.

Kingdom’s dual stars make their mark

John Griffin is man who knows the score. One of Kerry’s greatest hurlers, he lodged a 15-year inter-county career full of distinguished highlights: Five Christy Ring finals, spells in Division 1, 2 and 3, an All-Star replacement in 2015, representing Ireland in the shinty internationals.

‘Tweek’ was a fine footballer too, winning an All-Ireland Junior club with Finuge in 2005 alongside Eamonn Fitzmaurice and Paul Galvin.

Griffin’s debut campaign at the helm has already been eventful. He knew what he was in for. The Kerry hurlers always lose players to football. Before the Kingdom lost Rob Monahan to the AFL, the county hurlers lost him to football.

On top of that, this year Griffin saw star Fionán Mackessy leave for Kilkenny. The St Brendan's Ardfert man made his championship debut at the weekend. Kerry's early 2025 form was mixed. Members of the squad have described a league defeat to Donegal as one the worst result of their career.

And yet, they kicked off their Joe McDonagh Cup campaign with a stunning win over Kildare. All over the field, players who have worn the green and gold for the footballers excelled. Former minor captain Oisin Maunsell now leads Griffin’s team. He landed a crucial 73rd minute point. Dr. Crokes man Tom Doyle, who had two years for the Kerry U21s and recently won a Munster SFC title, was awesome. Luke Crowley, son of Johnny, started beside him. Former minor Rory Mahony came off the bench.

Measly crowds

Kilkenny manager Derek Lyng was completely unmoved when we asked him post-match if he was surprised by the 8,243 crowd in Nowlan Park.

“In what way?” Well, it was 9,621 last year for the same fixture in Salthill. 11,550 the year before that.

“I have no idea, I was just concentrating on the match and I was happy with that. That’s it.”

It should be said that the travelling support was absolutely minimal last weekend. A Saturday afternoon throw-in is always a crowd inhibitor. Still, it was noticeable that after another afternoon that saw him affirm his title as the best full-back in the country, Huw Lawlor made his way up to join the RTÉ panel.

“We were very up and down in the league, I don’t think there is any denying that. We had a couple of disappointing performances here,” he said.

“We spoke about what Nowlan Park means to us. Especially in the round-robin format, our home games are so important. You have to make it feel like home, feel like a fortress and get the crowd behind you. The only way the crowd will follow is if we give them something to cheer about.

“It is really work-rate, that is what they like to see. Whatever about flashy skills, the forwards can try do that. We’ll try work hard. They’ll work hard. That is what’ll bring the crowd with us I think.”

Dublin dig deep

Offaly were full value for their half-time lead in Parnell Park on Saturday. They had already beaten Dublin once this season and looked primed to do so again, particularly when attacking duo Donal Burke and Danny Sutcliffe were taken off injured.

Niall Ó Ceallacháin looked to his bench for a response. With three minutes left, a long Chris Crummey ball was broken by substitute John Hetherton for fellow sub Ronan Hayes. He found the top corner with an awesome finish. Hayes scored again soon after. Hetherton produced the last point of the day for a valuable victory.

Be grateful

There was an outrageous moment in the second half at Chadwicks Wexford Park. The ball was driven into the Antrim full-forward line, James McNaughton breaking towards the sideline with two defenders descending towards him. He elected to flick the sliotar up first time with the outside of his hurl. Stick in the left hand, ball to the right. He then spun away from one defender and unleashed a first-time effort off his left, drilling a point.

It was sensational. Would it even make the top ten of skilful moments from last weekend? Cian Lynch’s flick and lift, losing the hurley while sending Adam English away to be eventually fouled. Alan Connolly’s sideline wizardry or his reverse smash. Sean O’Donoghue’s block. Peter Duggan’s grab and smash. Chris Nolan’s first touch before his top corner goal. Wonders.

This is truly a golden age.

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