Come full-time, even Marty Morrissey was struggling for words, Michael Duignan too, but Dónal Óg Cusack came to the rescue to sum up what we’d witnessed. “What a performance from all of them,” he said of the Limerick lads, “float like a buffalo, sting like a bee – they stampeded the Cats.”
Limerick have been called many things in their time, but probably never floating buffalo. The thing is, though, that buffalo, while looking like big harmless lumps, have a habit of goring people who get too close, while floating or otherwise.
And that was kind of what happened Kilkenny in this game – Limerick were happy enough to mind their own business until Paddy Deegan scored a literal netbuster of a goal in the second half. After that? The champions scored 19 of the game’s next 24 points. Kilkenny gored.
At half-time, Anthony Daly had compared Kilkenny’s four-in-a-row team to the current Limerick outfit, suggesting that the former would “crucify you in a few minutes with assassin stuff”, whereas Limerick “just wear you down”.
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[ All-Ireland hurling final: Awesome second half leaves Limerick top of the worldOpens in new window ]
Limerick post-Deegan’s goal was assassin stuff, though, Kilkenny was well and truly worn down. And it had all looked so hopeful too at half-time, at which stage their supporters would have had butterflies in their tummies.
“If it was a boxing match they’d be winning on points,” Dónal Óg said of their first-half effort, at the end of which they were, well, winning on points – three of them. Limerick, though, would have the wind at their backs in the second half and, knowing their propensity for going on scoring sprees in third quarters, most likely the wind in their sails.
Speaking of weather matters. May we just interject briefly here to salute the condition of the pitch? Some of us would have needed a canoe to cross the back garden on Sunday morning, so either Croke Park is a microclimate that basked in sunshine over the weekend, or the grounds-people are miracle workers. Possibly the latter.
After that Deegan goal, Limerick were truly a sight to behold, one of those rare enough sporting occasions when you’ve a notion you’re watching as-close-to-perfection as you’ll ever witness.
“This is as good a display in a second half as you’ll ever see in an All Ireland final,” said Duignan, one of Kilkenny’s few moments of relief a TJ Reid free, Marty so impressed by his follow-through he reckoned “Shane Lowry in Offaly would be proud of him”. After the number of wides poor Shane had experienced at Royal Liverpool on Thursday and Friday, TJ might not have appreciated the comparison.
Full-time, four-in-a-row, the funereal Limerick You’re A Lady filling the air, so not quite capturing the ecstasy of the green swarms in the crowd. The Cranberries got them dancing, though.
“A joy to watch,” said Liam Sheedy, and for a Tipperary man, that can’t have been an easy admission. Clare (Anthony) and Cork (Dónal Óg) had to concede the same, while wondering if this shower could be stopped. Joanne Cantwell dared mention a five-in-a-row, at which point the lads just wanted to head to the pub.
Outside, GAA president Larry McCarthy was reminding the players that the club season was about to start, which is a little like telling someone who has just finished their Junior Cert that their Leaving is only around the corner.
Cian Lynch, in his captain’s speech, reminded us that teams don’t just have a bainisteoir and a fellah with a bucket of water and a sponge any more, his thank yous taking up half the day. There was a quick apology to the team’s nutritionist for the lads not always following the best of advice, although you’d imagine if they want to gorge on batter sausages, onions rings and chips on the way home, there’ll be no complaints.
Damian Lawlor took his life in to his hands when he interviewed Limerick goalie Nickie Quaid while he held his two-year-old son Daithí in his arms, Daithí wielding a large stick. He was a bit grumpy too.
Nickie opted not to placate him by pointing out that this was a special day, that Daddy had just won an All-Ireland medal. Because Daithí, no doubt, would have replied: ‘But you do that every year.’ Winning is all Daithí has ever known. No stopping the floating buffalo.
