CITY AND country roared their separate roars yesterday afternoon for two of the abiding traditions of Irish summer life.
In Thurles, the GAA continued a magical mystery tour through its 125 years of existence on a Munster hurling final afternoon that saluted the past while promising that eventful weeks lie ahead in this year’s championship.
Tipperary, the reigning champions, prevailed after a first-half goal spree against Waterford while earlier in the afternoon at Croke Park, Dublin resisted a stern push from the newly imagined Kildare team to win their fifth Leinster football title in succession, ensuring a run of blue fever until September.
Bursts of heavy rain did nothing to lessen the expectation around Thurles, where Tipperary were attempting to lift the cup with no name in Semple Stadium for the first time since 1991. Jimmy Doyle, the star of the illustrious Tipperary teams of the 1960s, was chosen to walk on to the field with a lit torch carried by former hurlers in procession through the town from Hayes Hotel.
The players started the match as if intent on delivering a Munster hurling final for the ages, with John Mullane, the pale wraith from Waterford, firing an opening point that sent a great voltage of anticipation through the ground. Gradually, Tipperary’s heavyweight credentials came to the fore and they worked up a 10-point lead before running out 4-14 to 2-16 winners, with Thurles local Lar Corbett bagging two goals either side of half time.
That match marked the crescendo of a frantic weekend of GAA action, with 12 matches played over Saturday and Sunday in the All-Ireland football and hurling championships. Croke Park once again was the theatre of city dreams as Dublin, playing with 14 men for most of the match, reigned supreme in Leinster on a score of 2-15 to 0-18.
Bernard Brogan became the new darling of the swelling home support after a stunning display but the eternally boyish Jason Sherlock rolled back the years to fire a vintage goal into the Hill that drew comparisons to his debut year in the sweltering summer of 1995. On, then, goes the GAA summer carnival, one eye on its kaleidoscopic past as it races in search of new faces and fresh victories.