Strange to see the 1998 All-Ireland Championship end with "just" a hurling game, without any great controversy or pitch invasion or the like. For this Championship has been the one where the words "controversy", "referee's report", and "Loughnane" never seemed too far from each other. This was the season where row followed row followed further row, and no one could have predicted what would happen next. Of course the final itself was a classic match, as good as any in a season of extraordinary games. And considering the odyssey they travelled, Offaly in the final analysis were worthy Champions. It seems centuries since they kicked off their campaign with a 4-28 to 0-8 defeat of Meath. Imagine predicting the future to an Offaly fan at that stage; "Oh after this you'll beat Wexford with a goal in the second minute of injury time, then Kilkenny will beat you in the Leinster Final, then you'll change managers, replacing your legendary if controversial one with a relative unknown, you won't exactly set the world on fire against Antrim, then you'll play an epic three game series against the apparently invincible All-Ireland Champions, actually being three points behind when the final whistle is blown in the second game. Oh, and by the way, you'll win the All-Ireland with a sparking performance against Kilkenny."
The August edition of the Official GAA magazine "High Ball" featured the words "How bad is Leinster Hurling" on its cover. By the end of that same month two Leinster teams had made it to the All-Ireland Final, thanks to the "back door" experiment, Jimmy Cooney's unique timekeeping, Babs Keating's injudicious comments and what Clare manager Ger Loughnane described as the greatest human rights abuse of modern times, the treatment of Colin Lynch. Who would have guessed that the All-Ireland Final would be contested by Kilkenny, a side who were strongly tipped to be beaten by Dublin and who were lucky to beat Laois, and Offaly, who appeared in a terminal tailspin after the Leinster final, sacking manager Babs Keating (I wonder how he feels now?) for publicly labelling his charges a complete shower of wasters (which in fairness they patently appeared to be at the time to most neutral observers), and replacing him with a relative unknown whose surname launched a thousand appalling puns to the gratitude of headline writers everywhere, Michael Bond ("Offaly Shaken not Stirred" and "Offaly's Licence to Thrill" for example).
In Munster by contrast, Clare and Waterford had just played out a gripping and passionate (wonderful euphemism there) provincial final, and all four League semi-finalists had been Munster counties. Indeed yet again the League was shown to be the poor relation to the Championship. Who were the League Champs? Cork, and yet no one would call their season a success. Kilkenny by contrast had an appalling League campaign, partly because of the Frank Sinatra style farewell of DJ Carey, who was back in six weeks. Could their more relaxed attitude have been the key to Leinster success? As Kilkenny manager Kevin Fennelly put it, when things looked bleaker for Leinster hurling, "there's great pressure put on the Clare fellows, no golf, nothing, it's just toe the line or else. Waterford are very similar." Then perhaps he revealed the secret of Leinster success "I've been talking to the players, but I don't expect players to toe the line in that respect. I don't mind a fellow playing a game of golf�but I hope to stop anybody who wants to play four or five games a week. That's be getting to the point of ridiculous." Soccer has Gazza and Maradona and their various addictions, while hurling has the golf-mad men of Kilkenny. But alas for the Cats it turned out not to be enough to win the ultimate prize.
Around the same time, Offaly's Johnny Pilkington was quoted as saying "I have never lived and breathed hurling. Hurling is something you do on Sunday and maybe Tuesday and Thursday and you can do anything you want after that." Such an attitude would be heretical in Clare or indeed most counties in these days of essentially professionalism without the money. Perhaps this is the great lesson to be learnt for all the so-called "weaker" counties who are constantly given Clare as a template for future success; the way forward is not insane training regimes and strange diets, but a group of hurling geniuses who don't take kindly to being publicly criticised (the trick is therefore to publicly criticise them)
Any other Championship the hurling story of the year would have been the (re) emergence of Waterford, the Babs Keating affair, Offaly's resurrection habit or indeed poor auld Jimmy Cooney's faux pas with the watch. However this was the year of The Banner versus the World, or more particularly Ger Loughnane versus the powers that be in the GAA. Clare people are developing a conspiracy theory of Kennedyesque proportions to account for their quite extraordinary year. And in all fairness, the Banner were shabbily treated. Loughnane was demonised in certain quarters for his controversial appearances on Clare FM and for the rather vigorous start to the Waterford replay, but he showed considerable grace after all three games against Offaly, praising their performance and admitting that they had a strong case for a replay after the second game. However the subsequent treatment of Colin Lynch, and the relative non-treatment of Michael Duignan, reinforced Banner paranoia and was certainly unfair. A replay of the curtailed game was inevitable, but perhaps the fairest thing to do would have been an amnesty for all suspended players and also giving Clare their three-point lead from the start, after all it wasn't their fault Jimmy Cooney blew up five minutes or so early.
Colin Lynch probably deserved his suspension, but surely Duignan deserved similar, if you're going to use video evidence after the event in one case you're going to have to do it in all cases. Yet again the iniquity of the system of suspensions was pointed up. After the famous altercation at the start of the Mayo-Meath replay in 1996, various players received long suspensions, which they served during the winter, they were probably glad not to have to play in the muck and rain in that highly prestigious competition the National Football League. Colin Lynch meanwhile would have missed a total of four games if the Banner had won the "refixture." Surely suspensions should be for games not time. Incidents (OK one particular incident) this year have pointed to the need for change in timekeeping, surely a similar reform is need when it comes to suspensions.
Clare have many hard seasons behind them at this stage. Before the breakthrough of 1995, many of the current team played in Munster Final drubbings that help give the current Banner their (nearly) indomitable spirit. Will they have enough hunger for another tough season? This season's events off the field will however fuel the fire. The Banner will feel that this was the year they played some of their greatest hurling, against Cork and in the second game against Waterford, and virtually beat Offaly, yet were denied the All-Ireland title by a conspiracy of various jealous parties.
Waterford were the only one of the All-Ireland semi-finalists not to receive silverware of any kind this season. The summer promised so much and indeed with their victories over Tipperary and Galway they went far beyond other recent Waterford teams. Yet they will be ultimately disappointed with the season. Yet another emerging force in a world where the traditional big three of Kilkenny, Cork and Tipp are increasingly marginalised, Waterford will have received quite a boost this year and will challenge again next year.
This was the second year of the experimental format of the Championship, and an All-Leinster final followed last year's All-Munster decider. I distinctly remember when this experiment was introduced that it was intended to benefit Galway and Ulster hurling, giving them more big matches. However it has had exactly the opposite effect, allowing the big guns of Munster and Leinster time to improve during the season. Personally I think either go back to the old status quo or go all the way to the open draw. At the moment, the Provincial Championships are devalued, with this year's Leinster final a distinct non-event, and indeed the extra matches haven't really been a success (Kilkenny-Galway last year aside, none have particularly caught fire.) Surely, if you are going to link the Provincial Championship to the All-Ireland series, every provincial champion should be accorded the honour of having just one match to win to get to an All-Ireland final, or otherwise get rid of the link between the All-Ireland Series and the Provincial Championships altogether. The Ulster Championship is increasingly competitive, as we saw when London were denied victory over Antrim by a point that never was. Galway's free entry into the semi final, with all due respect to Roscommon, was the envy of many counties for years during the eighties. However who knows what exciting treats the special Congress called to review this format will have in store? One thing is for sure, the GAA will continue with its favourite hobby of introducing experimental rules and regulations.
On a last note, Ger Loughnane's desire "never to hear people talk about human rights abuses in other countries" as they were as nothing compared to the treatment of Colin Lynch, would hardly find many in agreement in Algeria or Afghanistan. Events this year off the field surely showed that it is at the end of the day only a game. The Antrim hurlers had their preparations severely disrupted by the Drumcree situation, while the GAA took some criticism for the non-postponement of the Waterford-Kilkenny game in the aftermath of the Omagh bomb. Personally I believe that this game should have been postponed, however people using this as a stick to beat an organisation for which they obviously have no particular affection should remember that the GAA too suffered grievous loss as a result of Omagh, that GAA officials attended many funerals in that terrible week after the bomb and that they provided practical assistance and support in many ways, not all in the full glare of publicity. We should all remember that there are simply far more important things in this life than this auld stick and ball game.
