The qualified decline of Munster champions

After Tipperary's thumping win over Munster champions Cork on this weekend last year a friend texted that the outcome was "yet further proof of the irrelevance of the Munster championship".

The milestone was actually passed some time ago. When Kilkenny beat Tipperary in the 2011 All-Ireland final, it officially became the longest famine in the history of hurling for Munster champions. Twice in the 20th century the province's title holders had gone five years without an All-Ireland but four seasons ago the benchmark moved to six.

This was obscured by Tipperary’s success in 2010 but that came, as did Clare’s in 2013, through the qualifiers. It is now the 10th anniversary of the last championship won by Munster champions, then Cork.

This Sunday Tipperary are back, this time as Munster champions, and up against one of their great modern rivals Galway as they attempt to take the penultimate step towards closing the province's 10-year gap.

Dismal record

Underlying this poor return is a dismal record in All-Ireland semi-finals. In the 13 years since the qualifier system was introduced to hurling, giving all counties beaten in their province a second chance, the Munster champions have been beaten in August on eight occasions.

Undermining the provincial champions’ status even further than that is the statistic that six of those eight defeats have come at the hands of other Munster counties, somewhat restricting any bragging rights for the year that follows.

"You'd have to say that it's a trend at this stage," says Tipperary's Tommy Dunne, the last captain to lift the MacCarthy Cup in the pre-qualifier era and an experienced coach with both his own county and Dublin.

“Munster is so competitive that unless a county is going through the doldrums completely they’ll feel they can win it. It’s do-able after two games and with the home-and-away arrangements they can both be at home. If a county gets a draw like that they can feel that the whole thing has opened up for them.

“The other thing is that for counties and players it’s a huge thing, regardless of these statistics. There’s no doubt that any hurler in Munster places a very special value on winning and even playing in a provincial final, whether it’s the sense of occasion or the tradition.”

Qualifier route

The last Tipperary captain to lift the MacCarthy Cup is

Eoin Kelly

and speaking before the county’s first championship match in

Limerick

last June he too dismissed the theory that counties were weighing up the merits of taking the qualifier route.

“They’re not thinking they can do better if they don’t win the Munster final. No way. I guarantee you now that Tipperary want that Munster title more so than anything because it’s looked upon as a prestigious championship. The Munster final is one of the biggest days in the year and you want to be involved in that and winning it.”

The competitiveness speaks for itself: this year's field contained champions Cork, All-Ireland finalists Tipperary, league winners Waterford, All-Ireland champions from two years ago Clare and Limerick, All-Ireland semi-finalists for the past two seasons.

The corollary of such a competitive environment is that defeated teams have ambitions and capabilities. Clare's Brian Lohan made no bones about the fact that in his later career he was more interested in giving the All-Ireland a rattle than winning another Munster medal and that the qualifiers facilitated that.

Lohan’s Clare though were an experienced team when they came through the first season of the new format in 2002 to reach the All-Ireland final having lost to Tipperary in Munster. In the semi-final they defeated an emerging Waterford side, celebrating a first provincial title in 39 years and coping with a six-week wait for the match.

That contrast between inexperienced Munster champions – in the past two championships Cork and Limerick hadn’t won titles for eight and 17 years respectively – and their more road-tested fellow provincials undoubtedly explains some of the results over the years but just as important has been the growing sense of possibility inspired by the qualifiers.

“At first,” says Dunne, “the default reaction to losing in the province was along the lines of, ‘we haven’t a hope of winning the All-Ireland’. That was a position reached without too much analysis but all that has changed. Teams have come through to win All-Irelands and now, after the initial disappointment you plan accordingly.

“In many ways it’s a more effective route, playing matches regularly – okay, not always tests associated with championship hurling – and finding consistency, as your provincial defeat disappears into the past tense. The surprise is that the penny’s only dropping with everyone now.”

The contrast with Leinster is stark. In Brian Cody's 17 championships Kilkenny have won 14 provincial titles. Only twice have they lost the consequent All-Ireland semi-finals. Dunnes feels that they are sui generis.

“Kilkenny are a different animal altogether. Their record spells out they are an absolutely exceptional outfit, who have proved themselves the very best. Remember, a lot of these considerations come down to the quality of players and teams.”

He admits though to coveting the less choppy waters in Leinster. “I often wondered what it would be like for them in Munster. There were days when Kilkenny had some handy enough provincial game and we might be heading to Páirc Uí Chaoimh where we hadn’t won since the 1920s for a first round. One of the reasons though they have been so hard to catch is that they underestimate nobody.”

If Kilkenny distort the overall record in Leinster, Tipperary’s patchy delivery in Munster has had the same effect. The best county in the province over the past eight championships – Munster’s last man standing in six of them – they have been fitful and inconsistent at times in the province.

Puck of the ball

Their only All-Ireland in that period came through the qualifiers in 2010 and they were within a puck of the ball of adding another last year along the same route.

They are however also a county with the experience to wear the provincial title lightly. Since Cork nine years ago they are the only Munster champions to reach All-Ireland finals and under manager Eamon O’Shea they are used to tapering their performances for the climax of a championship.

For Dunne the trend that has now set will continue, as teams armed with valuable data from early-season setbacks plan for the qualifiers. “The idea that teams can have good championships after losing in the provinces is there now and it will be well in the mix in the years to come. I think that you’ll see those teams continue to come through.”