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Mary Hannigan: It doesn’t get much better than this if you’re from Limerick

All-Ireland hurling final reaction, the latest from the Women’s World Cup and a Roy Keane anniversary

Limerick fans celebrate in Croke Park after their team's All-Ireland final win over Kilkenny. Photograph: Morgan Treacy/Inpho

Mary Hannigan's face
Mary Hannigan
Mon Jul 24 2023 - 11:40

If you’re a Limerick native, mornings don’t get much better than this. Imagine waking up and wondering if you just dreamt that your county won four hurling All-Irelands in a row? And then realising that it actually happened?

Limerick are, writes Malachy Clerkin “awesome champions”. “History is going to have a job on its hands finding the end to them.” Nicky English echoes that view in his analysis of the final, reckoning that “Limerick are in a different stratosphere”. “They would be formidable in any era,” he says, “in this era they are supreme.”

Frankly, there aren’t half enough superlatives in the dictionary to describe their second half performance, “Limerick entering another dimension” as Seán Moran puts it. Cian Lynch’s display, writes Denis Walsh, was a major contributory factor, one that featured “a symphony of scores and passes and brilliance”.

Ian O’Riordan heard from Derek Lyng after the game, the Kilkenny manager admitting that his side was helpless in the face of a flurry of “outrageous scores, fantastic scores”. “Sometimes, there’s nothing you can do about it.”

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And Gordon Manning spoke with a delirious Limerick camp, including manager John Kiely who was “quizzed about the possibility of achieving hurling’s Holy Grail – winning five on the bounce. “Come on, will you, for God’s sake, enjoy this one,” he said.

Hopefully the Irish camp will be just as delirious in Perth on Wednesday after they play Canada in the World Cup. Gavin Cummiskey brings us all the latest news ahead of that critical group game, and speaks with 18-year-old Abbie Larkin who is pushing for a place in the starting eleven after impressing when she came on against Australia.

Denis Walsh, meanwhile, marks the 30th anniversary of Roy Keane joining Manchester United by reflecting on what proved to be “the biggest and most consequential transfer in the history of Irish football”.

And in golf, Philip Reid looks back on Brian Harman’s breakthrough major title after he cruised to victory at the British Open on Sunday. There was no joy for Pádraig Harrington, who now turns his focus to this week’s Senior Open, nor for Rory McIlroy whose major drought will have extended to 10 years by the time he tees off at next April’s Masters. “I’ve just got to keep plugging away,” he said. A bit like Limerick’s rivals.

Telly watch: If you slept in for the crack-of-dawn meeting of Italy and Argentina at the women’s World Cup, and for Germany v Morocco, then Brazil v Panama has a kinder kick-off time: midday (RTÉ2 and ITV). And there are highlights of all of today’s games on RTÉ2 at 8.0 this evening.