Wexford and Limerick arrive in Thurles loaded with incentives

It’s somehow fitting that the distinctive Cross of Cashel trophy, awarded to the All-Ireland under-21 hurling champions, will be presented for the last time in Thurles this evening; it would be hard to find two counties more desperate to get their hands on it than Limerick and Wexford.

The GAA is planning to introduce a replacement trophy, beginning with next year’s competition, which will certainly add a neat little footnote to this evening’s Bord Gáis Energy All-Ireland final. Limerick haven’t won the Cross of Cashel since 2002, when they put three titles back-to-back, while Wexford have only ever won it once, back in 1965, the year after the competition first commenced.

Both Limerick and Wexford also come to Thurles loaded with personal incentive. Cian Lynch, Limerick’s emerging senior star, has made no secret of the fact the entire county is desperate to land an All-Ireland honour, given the ultimately disappointing senior campaign of 2015. Limerick have already done extremely well to get this far, tasting Munster championship glory with impressive victories over Tipperary, and then last year’s All-Ireland champions Clare.

Impressive win

That was followed with an equally impressive win over Galway in their All-Ireland semi-final, earning them a place in the final for the first time since 2002. Manager John Kiely was also a panel member in 1996 when Wexford defeated Limerick in that year’s All-Ireland senior hurling final; yes, it has no bearing on this evening’s game, although victory would certainly be sweet.

Wexford manager JJ Doyle has gone even further, telling this newspaper earlier this week that his players may never again get the chance to taste All-Ireland glory.

“None of these guys ever won anything other than at under-21. It’s the first time they have won Leinster titles. The next step has to be winning an All-Ireland. They may not get another chance. This is the only one we are guaranteed to be in. People talk about last year being a good year for Wexford hurling, but we didn’t win anything. Not at senior nor under-21. To progress this year we need to win an All-Ireland.”

So, against that backdrop comes the promise of an exceptionally close contest. Limerick will inevitably feel better served by their semi-final win over Galway, while Wexford sailed through a fairly facile win over Antrim. Wexford produced a stunning performance over Kilkenny in the Leinster final back on July 8th. That feels like a long time ago now, but if Wexford produce that sort of performance here they will be hard to stop.

“We firmly believe if we give the performance that we are capable of, and we feel we didn’t do that in last year’s All-Ireland, we are capable of winning,” added Doyle.

Both teams are also unchanged from their semi-finals, and crucial to Wexford’s chances of winning will be senior star Conor McDonald, who has already amassed 2-34 in this year’s championship. They also have 10 survivors from last year, although there was something about Limerick’s ability to wear down the likes of Tipperary, Clare and then Galway which suggests they’ll be the ones left standing with the Cross of Cashel.