The Sunday before the All Ireland final I asked a man if he were going to the match. He replied, ‘No, I have attended every Limerick final appearance since 1973 and witnessed only one win; I couldn’t face back down the M7 again, having lost a final’. That morning we commiserated with each other as we reflected on how we had both followed Limerick hurling for over 40 years through championship and league, in hail, sun, rain and snow, travelling for league matches to such places as Birr and New Ross, Galway and Kilkenny –and now we were weary of the chase. We couldn’t take another beating.

But then, what if Limerick won?! What if, after all this time, a Limerick hurler lifted the Liam McCarthy Cup in Croke Park and I missed it all!

Bhuail an smaoineamh sin mé De Sathairn agus mé ag ullmhú tableau don Cluiche Ceannais san séipéal in Eas Géitine. Láithreach chuas faoi dhein ticéad a aimsiú. Ach cá bhfaighinn ceann comh déanach so, ar 3 i.n.? Neamhaireach ar sin thosnaíos ar chúpla glaoch ghuthán a dhéanamh agus, iontas na n-iontas, bhuail duine isteach le ticéad ina bhos dom ar 5 i.n. (Cúpla lá ina dhiaidh sin fuaireas amach an mhéid a tharla i ngan fhios dom chun an ticéad san a sháthrú). Le fíor bhuíochas dó d’ullmhaigh mé mé féin go tapaidh agus bhíos ar an mbóthar go Kiltegan faoi 7 i.n.

Tar éis na hóiche a chaitheamh leis na sagairt i Kiltegan bhuaileas chun bóthair go luath Dé Domhnaigh; thiomáineas trasna sléibhte Cill Mhantáin go Greystones; chuas ar bord an Dart agus thaisteal mé go ceartlár Baile Átha Cliath. Bhíos im shuí i bPáirc an Chrócaigh roimh 1 i.n.

So many of us had followed Limerick hurlers over the years. At first, after the 1973 All Ireland win, we expected such victories to become regular features of our lives. At that point in 1973 Limerick had finally won its seventh senior hurling championship after a 33-year gap, and we were back where we rightfully belonged. Those of us who were privileged to attend that final in the pouring rain will always remember the euphoria at the final whistle and the presentation of the cup to Éamonn Grimes. But alas, over the following years, we attended All Ireland finals and semi-finals, Munster finals and semi-finals, many games that Limerick should have won, but didn’t. Our feelings were succinctly and perfectly captured by Henry Martin in the title of his book on Limerick hurling, ‘Unlimited Heartbreak’, as we trudged home each year with our broken dreams after another loss in the championship.

My father was a native of Dingle. He was a passionate follower of Gaelic football, especially of course of the Kerry team. But he also loved hurling and secretly admitted, I think, that hurling was not only a superior game to Gaelic football, but the best game in the world. In 1973 Kerry football was in the doldrums. A few weeks after Limerick’s win he remarked to me, ‘I guarantee you that Kerry will win a football All Ireland before Limerick win their next hurling one’. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing and argued the opposite vehemently. But he explained, ‘Limerick lack the killer instinct’. How that proved to be true on so many occasions. Only two years ago, after another championship defeat, a man in his early 40s said to me, ‘Father, you have seen Limerick win one All Ireland in your lifetime; I will never see them win one.’ Such were the depths of despair we had plumbed.

Perhaps this may give some inkling of what was at stake for those of us, older followers of Limerick hurling. It was a privilege to be in Croke Park on August 19th. I have no words to describe adequately the experience at that match. There was the anxiety as we missed some early chances, followed by growing excitement as we seemed to have the answer to every Galway recovery. And then came the agonising eight minutes of added time, which became over nine minutes! And then came Joe Canning’s final free, with a Galway official robbing a few extra precious yards before Joe hit the sliotar. And then came the dropping ball. And then came the few moments of eternity of confusion around the square. And then out came Tom Condon with the ball and finally there came the final whistle that occasioned an explosion of joy. The reaction of the team and the Limerick people in Croke Park has been voted the GAA sporting moment of the year. I have no doubt that this reaction was mirrored by Limerick people everywhere during those seconds after the final whistle.

I have never witnessed, even after the 1973 victory, the general feeling of well-being throughout the county. The lead-up may have been rather subdued in some parts of the county due more, I imagine, to apprehension. But since Limerick’s win people have been elated. And this does not apply just to dedicated hurling supporters, but right across all age groups and strata of the county. I don’t think I have ever seen the people of Limerick so much at one about anything before. This was evident too when we had the good fortune, thanks to Askeaton GAA, to have the McCarthy Cup at the 11.30am Mass on 30th September. Just about everybody in the church wanted to participate in the occasion, inlcuding having their photographs take with the cup.

And this celebration did not stop at the county bounds. One of the features that surprised me about the Limerick hurlers this year was the general good-will towards the team before the All Ireland final, and then, to its victory. On the following Saturday I was back in Croke Park for another utterly memorable event, the visit of Pope Francis. In between I attended the RDS for the Festival of Families and on the Wednesday after the All Ireland I met a priest from Kilkenny. At one point he remarked to me, ‘the country is divided into two groups this week: those who are from Limerick, and those who wish they were from Limerick’! I thought it an extraordinary tribute, especially coming from a Kilkenny man who must be so accustomed to having the McCarthy Cup in his county. 

Ní mar sin a bhíodh an scéal i gcónaí roimhe seo. Is cuimhin liom go minic daoine ‘neodracha’ ag tabhairt taca d’aon chontae a bhíodh ag imirt in agaidh Luimnigh, fiú muintir eile na Mumhan. Agus chuala mé gurab amhlaidh an scéal thar lear nuair a bhalaíodh ár n-imircigh le chéile chun féachaint ar chluiche ar an teilifís.

Why did non-Limerick people react differently this year? Certainly, the 45-year gap was a big factor. But there was a lot more than that. This extraordinary team captured the imagination of the country: their youth and the exuberance with which they played; the unprecedented number of games they had to play and win; the exciting nature of most of those games; the mature manner in which they bore themselves, both on the field and off the field, including the articulate interviews that many of them gave after matches. They surely are an exceptional group of young men. We pray that the same maturity will help them to stay grounded in the face of the adulation they have received and will continue to receive.

After Limerick defeated Galway in the Second Division League Final in March I ran into a young man, from the parish originally but not living here now, and we fell to discussing Limerick’s success. Then he remarked, ‘Every few years they raise our hopes and expectations but it never comes to anything. I suppose it will be the same this year.’ What could I do but agree? He ended with just the faintest note of optimism, ‘They couldn’t do it; could they?’ But they could! And they did! Gura fada buan iad!

(This article was first writtne for the ABC News 2018 -the ABC News is an annual publicaction produced by Askeaton-Ballysteen Community Council)