Joe Canning: Kilkenny are better than last year - but Limerick may be the greatest of all time

For players, All-Ireland finals are never just about the match. Not in the build-up. You might try to tell people that nothing else matters – and that’s true, when you boil everything down – but you’re not going to get through the build-up without being pulled in other directions, whether you like it or not.

Limerick and Kilkenny have been in this position so many times in recent years that they’ll both have a routine and the players will take comfort in that. Extra gear will be handed out, suit-fittings will be done, the sponsors might need something, a couple of players will be rolled out for media. The players’ ticket needs will be looked after too, as much as possible, and that’s the one thing that can drag on.

I would say, for most players, tickets are the biggest issue in the build-up. Team managers don’t like their players getting bogged down in that. I remember one year being asked for 64 tickets. There’s a big family of us so nearly half of that number were for close relatives and you don’t want to let any of them down.

But I was also getting requests from cousins I barely knew existed. On top of that, people never seem to ask for one ticket – it’s always two, or four. Some people just don’t have a clue. You end up trying to source hurling tickets from counties who are in the football final, and promising to pay them back with football tickets, which always ends up being a hassle. For most of the tickets, though, you have the fork out the money in advance, and at €90 a pop that adds up fast.

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The year that I had to find 64 tickets my brother Frank took the pressure off me. But, in a funny way, I didn’t mind being involved because it was a distraction. You can’t allow the match to take over your mind for a fortnight. You’d be worn out before a ball was pucked.

It’s interesting that neither team is staying in Dublin for the traditional banquets on Sunday night. Whether that was an issue with cost or availability, or whether they just had a preference for going home, I’m not sure.

I’ve been to four of those banquets and as a player they’re hard to enjoy. When you lose you feel like you’ve let everyone down and you’re not in the form for meeting people, or talking about the match, or making small talk. People mean well, and they try to pick you up, but you’re just in no form for it.

The funny thing is, the year we won the All-Ireland I didn’t enjoy the banquet either. On a night like that you really want to spend time with your family and friends and team-mates, but you end up being dragged in every direction. You can’t walk two yards without being stopped. You’ve no peace.

I went to bed earlier that night than I did after the three All-Irelands we lost. The really enjoyable time was in the bus going home the following day, when the craic was mighty and it was just the players and management, and nobody else.

Kilkenny have been waiting 12 months for another crack off Limerick. You can’t count the League final. There’s no way that Kilkenny went all-out for that match and it has no relevance to the game this weekend.

I think Kilkenny are better than they were a year ago. Brian Cody had made changes to Kilkenny’s style in recent years but under Derek Lyng I think they’re even more comfortable with the modern way of playing. Tom Phelan has been a good addition in the half forward line; Tommy Walsh was a newcomer last year, but he has established himself now; Mikey Butler had a brilliant breakthrough season in 2022 but I think he has improved again.

Kilkenny are not going to tie themselves up in knots trying to work out a strategy for Limerick. They’re going to be aggressive in their set-up and savagely aggressive in their play. With every Kilkenny team, work rate and a never-say-die attitude are a given. It might sound simple, but not every team has those qualities.

Kilkenny will have a sting in them from last year, when they know they had a chance but couldn’t take it. That will be in their minds far more than the League final.

For Limerick, this is their chance to make history. Only two other teams have won four hurling All-Irelands in a row – Cork in the 1940s and Brian Cody’s great Kilkenny team between 2006 and 2009.

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If Limerick pull it off I think there’s a strong case that they’re the greatest team of all-time. With all due respect to Kilkenny, who were an absolutely phenomenal team, the route that Limerick have had to face to win their All-Irelands has been tougher. Under Cody at that time they only had to peak for a couple of games at the end of the summer. Limerick haven’t had that luxury in the Munster round robin. The championship is harder now, simple as that.

I hate going against Kilkenny in any match, especially an All-Ireland final. They’re good enough to win it, and they will have that belief in themselves. But this group of Limerick players are incredibly tough to crack. You can see that they’re not satisfied. They’re absolutely focused on winning as much as they can, while they can.

Limerick have been in a few tight corners over the last couple of years, and they could be in another one on Sunday. But I don’t think they’ll be stopped.