ALL-IRELAND SHC SEMI-FINAL: SEAN MORANtalks to the former Limerick hurler and selector about the various difficulties facing the game within the county
TOMORROW WILL be Limerick’s second All-Ireland hurling semi-final in three seasons – but the team remains bereft of silverware in this decade. Two years ago Limerick sprang a huge surprise on Waterford before going down gamely to all-conquering Kilkenny.
There has been little stability in Limerick during this time. The team bounced to the 2007 final having endured a humiliation at the hands of Clare the previous season. A year later they were collapsing against Clare and giving Offaly a first major championship scalp since they themselves previously obliged in 2003.
Reaching that All-Ireland final looks a remarkable achievement given the turmoil to which the county has become accustomed – six changes in management in eight years. But for a county which won a couple of Munster titles, a NHL and was desperately unlucky not to add an All-Ireland in the 1990s it’s been a losing run.
Damien Quigley has had both perspectives. As a young corner forward he hit 2-3 in the 1994 All-Ireland final only for the team to lose out to Offaly’s famous late blitz. A decade later he served as a selector with Pad Joe Whelahan.
He’s unenthused by the potential hoopla surrounding another All-Ireland appearance against the all-conquering champions, should they manage to beat Tipperary tomorrow, and apprehensive about the future.
“Like Waterford we probably need to win a Munster or a National League as a stepping stone. We’ve got this far without really beating any of the top teams and if we win on Sunday it means we overachieved. I’d prefer to win a Munster to reaching an All-Ireland final and getting beaten. It’s better to win something.
“More importantly, fellas are getting on now and we’re not finding replacements for people like Ollie Moran and Mark Foley.”
He sees the GAA as being under intense pressure in the county, particularly in the urban area, which has become the centre of the successful Munster rugby franchise.
“There’s no doubt that rugby is the be-all and end-all in the city with soccer second and Gaelic games third. We’re becoming the poor relations. All of the guys the kids look up to are playing rugby.
“It’s come at a bad time for hurling. Kids need heroes and at the moment they’re wearing red jerseys not green ones. It’s a phenomenon around Munster, but most acute here in Limerick, which is the home of rugby in Munster.
“It’s not just the really big names like Paul O’Connell or Ronan O’Gara, but a lower-profile guy like John Hayes, who’s an ordinary fella, would have huge respect. The GAA in Limerick hasn’t had that sort of exposure. The All-Ireland in 2007 created a fierce buzz, but a year later it had died a death.
“The Munster rugby academy has become a huge thing for youngsters at 14, 15 or 16 and you tend to choose your game at that age. . .”
Quigley also believes there is a failure to make the best out of what the GAA can offer.
“The structures in rugby are top class whereas the GAA is an amateur organisation in Limerick. We only appointed a full-time secretary recently. Club games don’t get played with any regularity, as the system is lax about imposing schedules. Any taste of victory and club hurling gets stopped. We certainly don’t help ourselves rejigging fixtures.
“In counties like Cork, Kerry and Kilkenny they play more club games than anyone. It’s one of the underlying issues in Limerick that haven’t been tackled.”
Like in other counties, there is an emphasis on development structures, but the days when that conferred any specific advantage on a county are long gone.
“It was late being put in place compared to other counties,” says Quigley. “We won’t see the results immediately. It takes time.
There are good people involved and they’re all doing their best, but all the while Kilkenny are raising the bar.”
Amongst the sorrowful mysteries of Limerick hurling, the great, lost generation of the under-21 All-Ireland winners looms large. Limerick won three successive titles in 2000-02, but unlike all other counties to have achieved that, added not even a provincial senior championship.
Just five of tomorrow’s line-out are medallists from that period. Their talent became dissipated in a series of controversies relating to discipline and lifestyle. Like most people, Quigley has given up on that particular cohort delivering at this stage.
“You’d always get three or four players off an under-21 team, but those teams didn’t have any real superstars, no extraordinary talent. They were also feted like gods. . . Although I was delighted by the success, one would have been enough. . .
“I’d regard myself as level-headed enough, but I’d have found it hard to react to that sort of celebrity – super heroes at the age of 19, 20 and 21. Not surprisingly, some lost their way and some lost their appetite.”
The presence of a growing Fitzgibbon Cup tradition between the University of Limerick and Limerick IT seemed to augur well, but, as yet, it hasn’t operated as a nursery for local players.
Four years ago the colleges met in the Fitzgibbon final and Niall Moran, on the bench tomorrow, was the only local player on view. That has improved, but there’s a long way to go before local third-level becomes a feeder for the county.
As someone who was a selector when Whelehan imposed a ban on dual players, Quigley doesn’t believe it constitutes a problem any more, seeing the current cross-code performers, Stephen Lucey and Mark O’Riordan as a dying species.
“The GAA is anti-dual players and the system can’t facilitate playing both games. It’s not a big problem. Clearly there are the two lads there, but they’re exceptions in the modern game.”
Neither does he see the recent improvement in Limerick football as a threat. “No. If anything I think it’s a help. Football and hurling are different brands but anything that puts the green jersey up in lights is welcome.”
Between Tipperary tomorrow and rugby every day, the competition from without is intense enough.
