Munster feast on Leinster's lack of appetite for battle

IT was a damp squib in the end, but Munster retained their Railway Cup hurling, title with little in the way of obstruction from Leinster, in yesterday's final at Ennis. The 2,000 or so who turned up to behold the spectacle: were mostly cheered by the sight of seven Clare players on the field at the end, but for neutrals, it was tediously one sided stuff.

"It's of great interest to the players and hopefully it can be restored to its former glory," said Munster captain Anthony Daly, rather ritualistically, when receiving the Railway Cup. While it remains of great interest to the players no one would reasonably want to interfere with it, but I'd hate to see Leinster on a day when they were a bit bored by it all.

Despite an evenly matched array of talent, it was obvious from the start that only one of the teams had the appetite for the occasion. "They look like they threw in the towel around Birdhill," remarked one knowledgeable local, sombrely.

DJ Carey opened the scoring inside a minute, but contributed little else for the remainder of the afternoon. The fact that he scored - perhaps unfairly - singles him out for attention, but none of his colleagues were in a position to look accusingly in anyone else's direction.

Accordingly, it's hard to assess the quality of Munster's performance. Nonetheless, they took the chances that arose and featured enough accomplished displays throughout the field to suggest that they could have survived a more taxing examination of their credentials.

The victory completed a splendid weekend for Munster and Clare goalkeeper David Fitzgerald who had won All Ireland club honours with Sixmilebridge on Sunday - presumably the first man to combine the distinctions on the one weekend - but who gamely cut short his celebrations to hurry home for yesterday's final.

By the 10th minute, the score had reached 0-4 to 0-1 with four separate Munster forwards getting on the scoresheet, but things looked as if they might develop competitively once Leinster picked up the pace.

Greatest impact was being made on the full forward line where Gary Kirby was roasting Kevin Kinahan. The Offaly full back is an unusual player in that the width of the Atlantic lies between his best and worst hurling. On his day, like last summer's Leinster and All Ireland finals, his authority astonishes; on other, rarer occasions like yesterday, be experiences nightmares. His half time substitution by Dublin's Sean Power was unsurprising.

Kirby's Limerick colleague Damien Quigley had a productive day, running Bill Maher all around the place and taking four points. Still, his incisive, speedy bursts too often end up in little that ultimately punishes the opposition.

It was, however, Quigley who helped Kirby push the match into serious difficulty as a contest in the 21st minute. Up until then, a Leinster comeback was possible, although looking decreasingly plausible, but once the full forward had fielded Quigley's dropping ball and goaled, the match was over at 1-7 to 0-1. A few more points changed hands before half time, by which stage Munster led 1-11 to 0-3.

Among the changes made by Tom Neville and his Leinster selectors, the move of Niall Rigney to midfield to midfield promised something, but he, too, was having an off day and apart from a couple of long range frees, he didn't make much of a mark.

Munster's midfield pairing upped their own game after the interval. Ciaran Carey had a splendid match in the conditions most to his taste - an open, loose match where hid sweeping up and languid solos can be seen to best effect. Beside him, Ollie Baker provided the customary formidable back up and added a point of his own to Carey's two.

None of Munster's lines were really bothered the Tipperary half forward unit of Michael Cleary, Declan Ryan and Tommy Dunne thriving on the happy atmosphere (even Brian Whelehan had a day to forget); the half back line of Anthony Daly, Sean McMahon and the accomplished Waterford wing back Tony Browne all covered and cleared well, under fairly minimal pressure; Brian Lohan was his usual unyielding self at the back with excellent support from Declan Nash.

Suspicions of a comeback extended to the fourth minute of the second half, fuelled by two quick points from Denis Byrne and Joe Dooley.

Normal service was restored and the procession of points continued, enlivened only by an injury time goal from Brian Corcoran who, suitably recovered from the football semi final, fancied a go at the hurling; and had been brought in on the 40th minute.