AIB All-Ireland Club Senior Hurling Championship final: Ballyhale Shamrocks (Kilkenny) v Cuchullain’s Dunloy (Antrim)
A BOOKMAKER’S odds can infect the mind. Although there’s been some adjusting to the match odds ahead of tomorrow afternoon’s All-Ireland final between the champions of Leinster and Ulster - probably because too many were having a nibble at Dunloy – they still don’t come close to being reasonable or accurate.
Of course, Ballyhale Shamrocks could easily justify how heavily they’re fancied to win their third All-Ireland crown in four years and their ninth overall tomorrow because they are that kind of team. They usually turn up in finals.
They go for the jugular every time – long, direct, powerful hurling - and if their opponents reveal the merest hint of a soft midriff, Ballyhale will find it and exploit it with ruthless force.
Former Antrim boss Kevin Ryan has been in charge of Kilkenny side Clara for a few years now and saw Ballyhale up close three times last season.
Among many praiseworthy comments, interestingly, Ryan felt that Ballyhale are not always the most consistent of teams and that Dunloy have more than the proverbial puncher’s chance tomorrow.
And, given the events of last January, maybe Ballygunner was Ballyhale’s All-Ireland final this season. They whooped and hollered at the end of their All-Ireland semi-final as much as Dunloy did when they overcame five-in-a-row Galway champions St Thomas’s.
Maybe St Thomas’s was Dunloy’s All-Ireland final too.
There are a million different angles to look at this intriguing decider. One angle can be as vague or as misleading as the next.
To the outside world, Dunloy are a hurling conundrum.
Everyone has a good idea how good Ballyhale Shamrocks are; nobody really knows how good this Dunloy team are.
A huge slice of credit for keeping the serial Antrim champions in the unknown category on the national stage must go to Slaughtneil who had their number three times in the Ulster series - until a Conal Cunning-inspired Dunloy finally slayed the south Derry men in a pulsating Ulster final last month.
Gregory O’Kane’s side may be the newbies on the national stage and Ballyhale the old hands – but there’s probably a lack of appreciation for Dunloy’s journey and the unmistakable quality in their ranks.
Apart from the Na Piarsaigh semi-final in 2018, Slaughtneil have held their own on the All-Ireland stage and were desperately unlucky to succumb to Ballyhale Shamrocks in 2019 in an unforgettable clash in Newry.
Where Slaughtneil have fallen short has been arguably their lack of one or two more scoring forwards to push them over the line on the national stage.
So, although logic can be the first casualty in big finals, Dunloy possess a little more stardust in their attack than Slaughtneil and carry the pace and unpredictability in so many attacking areas that suggests they are made for the All-Ireland stage – and Croke Park.
St Thomas’s were desperately unlucky not to take Ballyhale’s scalp in last season’s All-Ireland semi-final.
Fast-forward to last month and Dunloy could and should have beaten the Galway men by double figures instead of by a sweaty-palmed four points.
For those observers who’ve watched Dunloy in Antrim over the last number of seasons can’t help but be completely seduced by the magic moments their forwards produce.
Conal Cunning was on stage almost as much as host Mark Sidebottom during the Antrim GAA Allstars awards for his displays in both hurling and football.
Cunning found another sumptuous level to his game in 2022. Not only a flawless free-taker, he’s evolved into a scoring threat from open play.
Keelan Molloy, Seann Elliott and Nigel Elliott are all capable of spellbinding moments – but if they’re to be crowned All-Ireland champions for the first time in their club’s history, moments won’t be enough.
They need spells, purple patches, their shots to scoring ratio must improve from their semi-final to eclipse Ballyhale’s noted firepower at the other end of the field.
Who can stop Colin Fennelly?
Is there a better half-forward line in the country than Kilkenny stars TJ Reid, Adrian Mullen and Eoin Cody?
Further out the field, Paddy Mullen and Evan Shefflin have the dead-eyed accuracy of some forwards.
Even though they’ve won four county championships in a row and five of the last six, the whispered up in the Glens has been Dunloy’s full-back line, their Achilles heel.
But, in 2022, there is compelling evidence to suggest some very clever and subtle nips and tucks have taken place and duly tightened the Cuchullain’s defence.
Wing-back Aaron Crawford is an undoubted loss tomorrow but, as a collective, the Dunloy defence are calibrated as well as they can be to combat Ballyhale’s long, direct ball because they’re a team that is comfortable playing in the pocket.
Kevin Molloy, Dunloy’s renowned warrior sweeper, is the defensive key tomorrow.
While Dunloy have plenty of fires to put out in tomorrow’s final, Ballyhale have just as many.
Beating Slaughtneil was a truly liberating experience for Dunloy last month, while Darren Gleeson deserves a nod for helping secularise the notion of Antrim hurling always having esteem issues when facing southern teams.
You only have to look at the trajectory of Keelan Molloy and Conal Cunning in the saffron jersey.
When you pull back the lens from all the tactics, potential match-ups and second guessing, you get the sense Dunloy have loved the build-up to this final with the underdog tag proving a comfortable, easy fit.
They face the ultimate test of their credentials tomorrow, but you’d expect this in an All-Ireland final.
We know they’re good - but we still don’t know how good this Dunloy team is.
This is the stage that will provide the answers. Ignore the bookmakers’ odds.
The Cuchullain’s have what it takes to become All-Ireland champions.
