Munster SHC final
Limerick 1-23 Clare 1-22
A MUNSTER final cliffhanger that concluded with a premature pitch invasion saw Limerick refuse to be beaten again by Clare on their home patch.
With time all but up, referee Liam Gordon had to send some of the 43,756 sell-out crowd back off the pitch to allow the Banner one last chance at a leveller.
He wasn’t giving any charitable frees, though, with Tony Kelly and Adam Hogan having strong shouts for fouls turned down in the seconds before the final whistle.
John Kiely, for one, was convinced Gordon was right to set his whistle aside.
“For me, there was no free there. No free,” said Kiely.
“Listen, we were there in ’19 when things don’t go your way in the last minute. You have to suck it up when it doesn’t come your way.”
In the opposite camp, Brian Lohan said he hadn’t seen any replay of the final play.
The more talkative Kiely heaped praise on his players for achieving a record-equalling fifth Munster title.
The Galbally native has won all 12 of his finals as manager and this one, he believes, answers any questions about his side’s hunger and appetite.
“It’s been a really tough Munster Championship,” said Kiely. “I think we’ve shown an amazing level of resilience and the hunger and appetite that was questioned is most certainly still there.
“Achieving what they've done today does cut them off as being a particularly special bunch of men. I'm thrilled for them that they have that and it can never be taken from them.”
Clare’s 25-year wait goes on after a sixth final defeat on the spin.
“The stats are kind of even, all the puck-outs, breaking balls, everything is kind of even apart from shooting efficiency and their shooting efficiency is way better than ours,” said Lohan, whose side converted less than half of their attempts.
It was Aaron Gillane who did most to turn the tables on their rivals from down the Ennis Road, striking 1-11 (1-3 from play), including the vital 44th-minute goal which gave Limerick their first lead in 35 minutes of hurling.
In the absence of Conor Cleary, Lohan gave a surprise start to Cian Nolan, who hadn’t seen any action in four months, at full-back.
He was withdrawn after Gillane followed his goal by rounding Nolan again to force Éibhear Quilligan into a save.
In those first 20 minutes of the second half, Limerick outscored Clare by 1-8 to 0-3 to turn a three-point half-time deficit into a five-point lead.
Clare steadied the ship but couldn’t catch Limerick, who were carried over the line by the excellent David Reidy (0-3) and the impacts of Cathal O’Neill (0-2) and Adam English (0-1) off the bench.
“Cathal and Adam, particularly given the circumstances around the death of his uncle yesterday, having to come and participate today and do what he did – for a young player, I thought that was an incredible achievement for a Munster final and an occasion like today,” said Kiely.
“That just shows you the calibre of the individual that he is.”
One player who didn’t see game-time off the bench was two-time Hurler of the Year Cian Lynch.
“Cian, in fairness, has done really well the last two, three weeks,” said Kiely.
“His injury has taken a lot longer for him to recover from than any of us might have expected but he had two serious injuries back-to-back last year.
“All I know is that his trajectory is very much on the upward curve and we now have a fantastic opportunity with Cian to take him to the next level in the next three weeks.
“I’m sure you're going to see him in Croke Park in four weeks’ time and by God, a hungrier player won't be on our panel in four weeks’ time than Cian Lynch will be.”
Limerick N Quaid; M Casey, D Morrissey, B Nash; D Byrnes, D Hannon, K Hayes (0-1); D O’Donovan (0-1), W O’Donoghue; G Hegarty (0-1), D Reidy (0-3), T Morrissey (0-3); G Mulcahy, A Gillane (1-11, 0-8 frees), S Flanagan.
Subs P Casey for Mulcahy (47); C Coughlan for Hannon (55, inj.); R English for M Casey (58, inj.); C O’Neill (0-2) for T Morrissey (58); A English (0-1) for O’Donovan (62-63, blood); A English for Flanagan (65).
Clare É Quilligan; R Hayes, C Nolan, A Hogan; D Ryan (0-1), J Conlon, D McInerney; R Taylor (0-1), C Malone (0-1); D Fitzgerald (0-2), A McCarthy (0-4, 0-3 frees), S O’Donnell (0-2); M Rodgers (1-2), T Kelly (0-6, 0-2 frees), P Duggan.
Subs S Meehan for McCarthy (45); S Morey for Nolan (50); A Shanagher (0-1) for Duggan (57); I Galvin (0-2) for Meehan (65); P Flanagan for Hayes (68, inj.).
Referee Liam Gordon (Galway).
Attendance 43,756.
