'They know what's required, the template is there'
Limerick's minors have excelled but Kilkenny will always be a force, writes Aisling Crowe
Four years may not a famine make, but when the location is Kilkenny and the vital sustenance in short supply is an All-Ireland minor title, then four years is an Ice Age length of time to go without winning the championship.
Five months ago, many in the county thought the hunger would go unsated for another year. On a wet and windy night in Nowlan Park, a minor earth tremor was felt in the county as Dublin comprehensively beat the home team in the opening round of the Leinster Championship. Critical, pessimistic and doom-laden voices shouted the loudest outside the circle but within, manager Pat Hoban and his team were steadfast in their belief. "In reality, yes. Being honest, I did think we could get to this point after the Dublin game," asserts Hoban, who himself has an All-Ireland senior medal.
"I'm not going to go into the ifs and buts of the day and why things didn't happen for us to be honest, but we were missing players and things didn't go our way. A lot of people who weren't there had a lot of comments to make, but looking at the game we could have scored five goals, we created a lot of chances but it just didn't happen for us. Thankfully, the back door was available to us and we took it. I would have always thought we had a real good chance and we took our second chances."
That second chance included the opportunity to mete out revenge on Dublin. Restorative victories over Carlow and Laois set up a Leinster title decider against Dublin and this time the day, and the outcome, were entirely different. To outsiders, it seemed Kilkenny had improved beyond all recognition but to the Mullinavat man's eyes, they were proving themselves the team he always knew they could be.
Two Leinster Championship crowns in two years has been Hoban's return since taking charge. Prior to that, he managed some of the senior stars as they made their way through the intermediate ranks, winning two All-Ireland crowns on their way. The influence Kilkenny's ever-ravenous, ever-committed senior team has on younger generations cannot be underestimated.
"They have great role models in the senior team, some of them are related, they are cousins, they are brothers, but Kilkenny is a small county and you will probably meet somebody with an All-Ireland medal in their pocket during the day. They are club players too so they know Henry Shefflin, they know these players, they see them in their clubs. They know what is required of them, that there is nearly a template there for them."
Hoban's team knows exactly what is required of them against Limerick today. They met earlier this year and their experience on that occasion has ensured they are under no illusions about the size of the challenge which faces them. Like Kilkenny, Limerick have won back-to-back provincial championships, and have flair allied with ferocious scoring power in their arsenal.
"Anybody watching the underage hurling scene will know that this Limerick team has been coming for a while. They have been very competitive at 14, 16 and they have put a huge effort into this particular team from development squads upwards, right through strength and conditioning, everything that is possible has been put into this particular Limerick team. Physically they are big, they have very, very good forwards, a good midfield, they are just a good strong team. They proved that against Galway, they blew Galway away and Mattie Murphy had said that this was one of the best Galway squads that he has worked with. You need only look at the bookies and talk to people to know that this is a serious Limerick team," he says.
Kilkenny is a force to be reckoned with in Croke Park. No team donning the black and amber stripes has ever travelled down Jones's Road without a potent strike force on the bus and for this minor side, it is very much the same. "The cliché is that it comes down to scores. We know for a fact they have a very, very strong forward line. That is their real strength so if our backs can break even there it gives us a good chance. We have some good forwards up front who can score, have proven they can score, so I think it will really be that battle and whether we can close out their forward line," is his assessment.
Expectations may be only be bubbling to the surface but in Kilkenny it is taken as read that any team going to Croke Park has only one thing on their mind. The Cats are back feasting on their favourite food.
Kilkenny v Limerick,
TG4, 1.15pm