PM O'Sullivan The Ciotóg SideAnd so, in the eternal way of quarter-final outcomes, there are four sides left. The best four?
Pretty much. Cork and Kilkenny go without saying. So do Waterford, for this observer. The Déise crew have more potential than Galway or Tipperary. Actually, a three-point losing margin flattered the Premier challenge. White and Blue is finding a way to hurl in waves and not just in spells. As regards dependability, it is the difference between salt tide and indoor magic.
More prosaically, it is Eoin Kelly accepting he had an important part to play in a tie where he was largely off the pace. Mount Sion's EK avoided the sort of piqued nonsense that might have been expected on earlier days where he could not get going. The restraint augurs well. Come the semi-final, watch for him on foredeck in a sou'wester.
Powerfully, Waterford have a narrative in which they believe. Kelly's suspension and injuries, as of now, are blessings in the year's guise. What will be exercising canny Marble minds is whether they would have done better to have drawn their Suirside neighbours. A cogent perspective says the latter could be all but unplayable in a decider if they overcome Cork, such would be their self-belief and conditioning.
Clare, too, deserved to last the pace. Their forwards, on current form, would likely do enough of a job on the Galway or the Tipperary backline to shade either contest. Wexford's problems defy summary.
Even in their mid-1990s heyday, The Banner did not change the point of attack with such regularity. For all the meeting's lacklustre complexion, there was an impressive spread of scores amongst the front six. Alan Markham's exquisite reverse pass for Diarmuid McMahon's barnstorming, goalscoring run was a highlight.
Farther back, Anthony Daly has overseen commendable adjustments. Dropping David Hoey, forever traipsing after a game's pitch, was correct. So was electing Jonathan Clancy, increasingly clever with possession. Even Gerry Quinn is striking useful deliveries off his left side, as per the point he set up for Tony Griffin with a flat infield ball.
This moment should not be scanted. 2005's finest point - that "round the corner" beauty by Mullinahone's EK, where sublime footwork granted the chance - issued from a loose Quinn handpass after he baulked at a quick stroke off his left.
The Westerners' jerky performance last weekend demonstrated how their midfield remains vital. With neither half-backs nor half-forwards particularly good under dropping ball, Corribside depend on possession picked up lár na páirce to arm the flying musketry farther forward.
This aspect is an ambivalent one and might not be consistently fostered by orthodox hurling. Once Derek Lyng was dismissed, they brought the spare man, Damien Joyce, to midfield's precincts. Conor Hayes withdrew one of their full forwards at the same time, giving a two-man majority when sliotar went to ground. Possession secured, the charge was on.
Kilkenny, who suddenly could not win a puck-out for shove or cunning, notably suffered when the ball was scudded along the wing. Damien Hayes's howler of a miss in the first half underlined that some defenders in stripes are culpably given to ballwatching. Michael Kavanagh and Tommy Walsh, both of them quite near Hayes, were watching play develop rather than looking for a man to mark. This trait half-accounted for those goals via rebounds in last August's semi-final. The Marble men can hardly depend on the Dalcassians hurling for just 15 minutes.
Cork would seem to be slipping. Ultimately, it was a few unforced errors in the run-up to half-time that proved Limerick's undoing. As moral victories go, it was a reasonably satisfying loss for the Shannonsiders.
That said, they would want to be realistic. A few of their concluding scores, such as Pat Tobin's pull that could have gone anywhere, were not percentaged efforts, points you meet every day. They need Denis Moloney fit, Peter Lawlor back and Niall Moran hurling consistently as he did last Saturday.
Whither Tipperary, after the fanfare that greeted Babs Keating's return? Ominously, the manager kept himself company with excuses. The Sunday Game's evening edition saw him blaming players' application ("fitness levels") and the quality of ball produced to the attack.
It was curious sentiment to hear. The remarks undermine team trainer Brian Murray, and even question Keating's own credentials as a coach. There might also be queries about not trying Declan Fanning or Diarmaid Fitzgerald on Dan Shanahan. The highlights might be gone from his hair but videotape of the Lismore man's gaiscí proceeds apace. As anticipated in this quarter, Shanahan caused havoc. The Premier sideline stood idly by, more or less.
Of course, Keating's post-match emphasis revisited a vernal attitude. Famously, after Kilkenny hockeyed Tipperary in a league tie, he deemed his charges "dead only to wash them". He now appears to be washing not just his panel but his hands. Blue and Gold have a long way to go before their Eoin Kelly augments his single Celtic Cross. It is a pity to see genius spancelled by average hurlers and talent that will not shake itself.
PM O'Sullivan is an academic and hurling writer, whose column The Stubborn Nore appears on www.kilkennycats.com
