How All-Ireland hurling quarter-finals influence the battle of the provinces

The weekend’s hurling quarter-finals marked an important date in every hurling championship since the round-robin provincials were introduced five years ago. This is currently the fourth iteration of the format given its suspension during the depredations of Covid.

This round each year provides everyone with the first crossover fixtures, the opportunity to assess what Irish Times hurling analyst Nicky English terms the “relativities” of Munster and Leinster.

It’s only within the last 14 years that these comparisons have been capable of neat assessment, as Galway previously played out of Connacht and over the years have incrementally conceded a range of privileges flowing from that unique status to the point where they fully entered Leinster, effectively creating with Antrim a northern conference with provincial trappings.

It was former Galway manager Matt Murphy, who when reflecting on his county’s largely unhappy residency in Munster during the 1960s made the point that for all the mythologising about the province, they as Galway people hadn’t been reared on those stories.

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Of course they weren’t very good at the time either and over the course of 11 seasons from 1959 to 1969, managed to win just one match, against Clare in 1961. Eventual All-Ireland champions Tipperary took them for seven goals in the next match.

That decade in exile was part of a previous generation’s attempts to house Galway somewhere that would encourage the game and take it out of isolation. In 1955 the county had the dubious benefit of being allocated a bye to the All-Ireland final every three years. They lost the first final to Wexford and three years later, to Tipperary.

The latter match featured one of the most unusual tactical switches in All-Ireland history when goalkeeper Mick Sweeney was swapped with left wing back Fergus Benson.

“Both players shone in their new positions,” according to PD Mehigan’s report in this paper.

Galway’s eventual rise was the product of the Coiste Iomána coaching initiatives and the emergence of the senior team in the 1970s, winning a league in 1975 and defeating Cork in a couple of All-Ireland semi-finals although not taking the MacCarthy Cup across the Shannon for the first time until 1980.

During those decades and for half of the 1990s, they had direct access to the All-Ireland semi-finals. It was deemed a good thing when the teams of the 1980s were on the march because a settled team could find its rhythm quite easily.

This was echoed in later decades by Kilkenny, who had the almost unfailing routine of winning Leinster and taking a four-week break until the All-Ireland semi-final. That break has become all the more desirable in the speed chess protocols of the current championship, allowing time for rest and recuperation.

When asked after the recent Munster final defeat of Clare, was this a significant benefit, Limerick captain Declan Hannon – ironically now injured out of the coming semi-final – playfully referenced the other side of the coin.

“I think so but in years gone by, whoever won the Munster championship were told they can’t win the All-Ireland semi-final because there was a big break.”

He was correct in that between 2012 and ‘19, the province’s champions had failed to win seven of eight All-Ireland semi-finals and the most popular explanation was that the gap was too long and the champions developed rust.

Yet the figures for Leinster champions during the same period were six winners and two losers – almost the inverse of what happened to Munster’s representatives.

On the subject of these relativities, a now legendary piece of trolling took place 51 years ago before the 1972 All-Ireland hurling final. Kilkenny county secretary Paddy Grace, an All-Ireland medallist against Cork in 1939 and ‘47, spoke to the press before the match.

“I don’t think we have any chance against this mighty Cork team,” he said. “We will give them a good game but they should win by a few points.”

Asked why, he elaborated.

“Well, Cork have come a long way together and Munster hurling is much tougher than ours in Leinster. They’ll be too hard for us.”

That sentiment is current. There is no doubt that the Munster championship is a more demanding, more intense competition. It may be better preparation for its survivors in terms of high-pressure occasions but it also involves a drain on fitness and more of a likelihood of injury.

Coincidence or not, Limerick and Clare have more serious injury concerns than Galway or Kilkenny going into this year’s last four.

The provincial demands have escalated since the round-robin format was introduced. Playing four competitive matches in just over five weeks maximises the potential disruption of injury and suspension, never mind fatigue.

Clare were conspicuously wrecked last year after the Munster final went to extra time. Winners Limerick had four weeks off; their opponents had to be ready in half that time.

Despite this apparent encumbrance, it is interesting that since the round robin began in 2018, provincial finalists have won nearly all of the All-Ireland quarter-finals, five out of six – only Limerick in the first year, of all the third-placed teams in the provincial championships, won a quarter-final, defeating Leinster finalists Kilkenny.

That is considerably better than the strike rate for the previous 16 years, when defeated provincial finalists accounted for only half of the All-Ireland semi-finalists, winning just 16 out of 32 quarter-finals.

In the 20 years of All-Ireland qualifiers, which have increased the incidences of cross-provincial contests, the headline figure tells us that Leinster has produced 11 champions, including the dominant Kilkenny teams of the era. Of their co-provincials, only Galway have added to what we now term Leinster’s haul of titles.

The other nine are Munster’s and impressively are spread among four counties, Cork, Tipperary, Clare and Limerick.

Maybe a more telling indicator is reflected in the numbers of All-Ireland semi-finalists over the same period. That reveals a majority of 52-31 in favour of Munster counties.

When it comes to All-Ireland finals between two counties from the one province, there have been five in the last 20 years and even in the previous five years of the original back door – which moved Galway’s entry point back to the All-Ireland quarter-finals from the semi-finals and allowed defeated provincial finalists to re-enter the championship – there were two all-Leinster finals and one Munster.

This year is the first time since 2016 that the same All-Ireland semi-final pairings have occurred for two successive years.