Munster SHC Semi-final: Seán Morantalks to Stephen McDonagh and Tom Ryan as Limerick and Tipperary prepare to go at it again in tomorrow's Munster semi-final.
Groundhog Day in the Gaelic Grounds. In the past 10 years Tipperary and Limerick have met seven times in the championship, including one match in the 2004 qualifiers, and Limerick haven't won any of them.
Tomorrow afternoon they go at it again in the first semi-final of this year's Guinness Munster hurling championship.
Six seasons ago the counties met in the provincial final and Tipp won narrowly. That summer represented the peak of the graph for both sides. The winners went on to take the All-Ireland whereas Limerick, although surprised in the quarter-final by Wexford, looked to the future with confidence: Munster finalists and their under-21s winning all around them.
There's no need to dawdle on the well trodden path that Limerick have travelled since. The triple All-Ireland success of the under-21s has traumatically led to nothing at senior level.
Managerial chaos, made apparently worse by each county board intervention, has resulted in five managers in charge over the past six years. In each of the past two years the manager has changed in mid-season after cataclysmic defeats.
Richie Bennis picked up the pieces last year and produced the morale-restoring one-point defeat by Cork. This weekend he addresses the frustratingly chronic difficulties posed by Tipperary.
Stephen McDonagh's career straddled the good and bad times in this fixture, from the victories in the mid-1990s to the defeats earlier this decade before he retired in 2003. The former corner back is upbeat about tomorrow's match.
"There's nothing especially different about Tipperary. There's only been a puck of a ball between them in the last few years; it's just that Tipp have got the breaks.
"I don't think Limerick will have a better chance than this weekend. Paul Kelly was a big scorer for them in the League and he'll be a massive loss.
"Over the last couple of years it's been down to Eoin Kelly. He's practically won it on his own, especially last year. He's a serious player. If he gets the ball nine and a half times out of 10 he'll score."
It's not just the fortunes of Limerick that contribute to the flat atmosphere at the start of the championship, according to McDonagh. Not alone is the overall competitive standard in Munster at a far lower pitch than in the past decade but the system itself after 10 years of diluting the sudden-death format he feels has undermined the championship.
"Changing the knock-out has had an impact. I'm not a huge fan of the system. In the mid 1990s we had a great championship. People would say that it was terrible to do all that preparation for just one game if you were beaten but that was part of it. Do or die.
"I feel the Munster championship has been compromised.
"At Cork-Clare a couple of weeks ago there were hardly 20,000 in Thurles. If that had have been knock-out there would have been a full house."
There was a different mood in the county just over a decade ago when Limerick had successive wins over Tipp, including the replayed 1996 final, which capped a brilliant provincial campaign for the county: handing Cork a first home championship defeat since the 1920s and edging out All-Ireland champions Clare in the provincial semi-final.
"It was very hard to beat us," according to then manager Tom Ryan. "There was no escape hatch back then either. They were all finals. It was a golden era in Munster. Very little in games and huge crowds."
Throughout the history of the game the rivalry between the counties has thrown up memorable moments.
On the way to the 1973 All-Ireland title Limerick toppled Tipperary with the last strike of the Munster final, a controversial 70 nervelessly dropped over the bar by current manager Bennis, as his Tipperary counterpart tomorrow, Michael Keating, turned up the pressure by offering a bet on the outcome of the puck.
Keating was also on the team that seven years previously had been sensationally derailed when on track for a third successive All-Ireland by a young Limerick team, who recovered from an early 2-1 to nil deficit and for whom Eamonn Cregan hit 3-5.
As neighbours, the counties have an understandable rivalry although as ever in such cases, the less traditionally successful county feels it more strongly.
"It's a big rivalry," according to McDonagh. "There's a good share of people from Tipperary working in Limerick. It's the same as Limerick-Clare, intense, fierce and out around Ahane into Newport edgy enough."
Ryan is blunter about the relationship. "In Limerick we'd rather be beaten by the devil than by Tipperary. There's a huge intense rivalry and a hurling jealousy. Hurling's part of what we are in Limerick. Even without huge success we'd still class ourselves as a hurling county and we've had to watch Tipperary winning All-Irelands regularly. No one in Limerick wants to see that.
"Tipperary feel superior to Limerick. Having worked in Tipp I know how they feel. They expect to beat Limerick. It's a culture there."
But Ryan doesn't see the recent bad run against Tipperary as suggesting a mental block about beating the neighbours. Instead he believes it's simply another aspect of hard times in the county.
"It's been symptomatic of wider problems for Limerick hurling and the downward trend.
"Then there's the mystery of the three All-Ireland under-21 titles. Ask what has happened. It's no longer even an issue because we've lost so much of the hurling support. They're gone to rugby. People follow winning teams and Munster have filled that void. We're hanging around the periphery of stronger counties."
Context is important. A year ago after an encouraging NHL campaign Limerick were favourites for the first-round match despite having to travel to Thurles.
Although they started brightly with two goals in seven minutes, Limerick were unable to withstand the force of Eoin Kelly's virtuoso performance, a 14-point salvo, including nine scores from play.
This weekend, just over 12 months later, there is a stirring of optimism in the county. One of the most promising signs is paradoxically that there has been so little talk and expectation.
For this first time in a number of years the word "settled" is being heard in relation to the team. The only pressure is the obvious march of time farther and farther away from the great underage success of the early decade.
"For this group of under-21s they have to win it," says McDonagh, "and they have a great chance.
"The camp has been quiet enough and the challenges - I know you can't read too much into them - have gone really well.
"They're settled and after the league, which I know wasn't great, they could name 12 or 13 of the team."
This is a crossroads season in Munster. Cork are on a three-in-a-row but under new management and weathering the impacts of retirement and possible suspension. Tipperary have promising players on the rise but aren't yet fully configured. Waterford last month won the league for the first time in 44 years.
And Limerick, two championship wins in the 10 years since their last Munster title, insist that all they need is a break, a little momentum to take them places.
Tomorrow is either a first step on that journey or another milestone on the road to nowhere.
In The Last Episode . . .
The episodes come thick and fast in this one. This is the fifth meeting in four years (including one qualifierand one replay, both of which were decided by a point) and Limerick have yet to beat the neighbours this decade. A year ago Limerick were favourites but lost in Thurles after which their season nose dived.
You Bet . . .
The money's going with precedent on this and doesn't look much affected by the narrowness of the recent margins between the counties. Limerick are out there at 19-10 with Tipp 1-2 and the draw at 9-1. On the handicap Limerick +2 are 5-4 with Tipperary -2 at 4-5.
On Your Marks . . .
There's only one question after last year's match in Thurles and that concerns how Limerick cope with Eoin Kelly. There was controversy last year after the Mullinahone forward had clocked up 0-14 (0-9 from play) that Damien Reale, who had experience of the task going back to underage, wasn't asked to take care of business. Presumably he will tomorrow - allowing the injury-scare passes - and if so, there'll be considerable scope for improvement.
Gaining Ground
The Gaelic Grounds has been recently refurbished and can now take crowds of over 50,000 although the venue has yet to stretch the new capacity.
Just The Ticket
Covered Stand €30. Uncovered stand €25. Family tickets for children €5. Terrace €20 or with concession €15.
Crystal Gazing
This week's crystal ball is fairly clouded because of the uncertainty over team selection. Changes have been forced on Tipperary particularly and small shifts in form and attitude between the teams contribute to a sense that the pendulum has swung in favour of Limerick winning this fixture for the first time in 11 years.
