Naturally, given the Treaty’s status, the pundits were almost unanimous in tipping Limerick to beat Cork so we’ll give them a pass there but the experts certainly got it wrong a day earlier, when a wide majority fancied the Cats to beat Clare.
On RTÉ radio, for example, it was a clean sweep as all three analysts – John Mullane, Liam Sheedy and Brian Carroll – predicted a Kilkenny win, albeit all expected a very close game. But they just didn’t “trust” the Banner ...
“Look, it comes down to trust, which team can I trust the most on All-Ireland semi-final day, it’s Kilkenny for me,” said Mullane.
Sheedy: “You’d have to say on form, the team that has the best form and the one you could probably trust the most is Kilkenny.”
Carroll: “I’m probably going to agree with the boys on everything they’ve just said ... I just think all the stats back Kilkenny and going off our eye as well, I just think that Kilkenny have improved on last year even.”
Quite a mouthful for James Skehill
James Skehill didn’t mince his words when it came to suggestions that Davy Fitzgerald could replace Henry Shefflin as Galway senior hurling manager. Asked by host Will O’Callaghan on Off The Ball’s Hurling Pod if he’d consider being part of a hypothetical Fitzgerald-led Galway backroom, the former county goalkeeper replied with the most bucolic soundbite of the summer to date. “I’d rather eat cow shite,” Skehill stated.
“I’m sorry now, I can’t stress that enough now. No. Don’t let him near the place. Straight up now. And I know this will go public. And I don’t care.”
“Well, you are on a podcast ...” O’Callaghan rightly interjected.
“Either I sit by and let it happen,” said Skehill, “or I say something so ... No, don’t let it happen, don’t let it happen. End of story.”
Lamenting ones that got away
Much will be written in the coming days about the late John O’Mahony’s many successes but his sporting regrets tell a lot about his mindset too. In 2015, he was one of 150 figures who contributed to a fundraiser for sporting facilities at St Hugh’s NS in Dowra, Co Leitrim, a book called The Scrapbook of Regrets. The three Johnno chose were losing the 1989 and 2000 All-Ireland finals as manager of Mayo and Galway respectively and, interestingly, not adding a second Connacht title in succession with Leitrim. “We led Galway by two points in injury time,” he wrote, “but they beat us by one and then went on to beat Mayo in the Connacht final by a cricket score.”
Leinster lagging
Recently, The Schemozzle pointed out Leinster’s poor record in minor football in the last 20 years (just two titles and represented in only three finals). Hurling is not trending well either. Kilkenny, in 2014, were the last Leinster county to win the minor All-Ireland and their seniors, in 2015, were the last from the province to win the Liam MacCarthy, making this Leinster’s longest winless run in the senior hurling All-Ireland in the 20th and 21st centuries.
In words
“I think we just turn the jersey inside out and hurl away there.” – Jackie Tyrell, asked on the telly what Kilkenny’s rarely-seen away strip is.
In numbers
2 – All-Ireland senior camogie semi-finals Dublin have reached since 1990 following their win over Kilkenny on Saturday.
