As indicated in our stats of the weekend and in Kieran Shannon's fine article in the Irish Examiner today (check it out here), 2015 is the fourth year in a row the All-Ireland final will proceed without the reigning Munster champions.
Shannon's statistics reveal that the five week lay-off is an absolute killer. He wrote the exact same article following Tipperary's one point loss to Waterford in 2008. The only two occasions that the Munster champions have won following a lengthy lay-off was when Tipp hammered an over-promoted Limerick team in 2009 and pipped a youthful Dublin in 2011.
The stock answer to this argument is an obvious one. You can already hear it being repeated in your head, can't you?
'Well, it doesn't seem to matter to Kilkenny.'
However, these is an even more startling example of a monumental 'lay-off' in hurling history, one that that the GAA tolerated for an exceptionally long time. Looking back from today's moderately rationalised era, it is hard to believe it was ever allowed proceed in this way.
Between the early 1970s and 1996, Galway enjoyed a rather some fairly protracted lay-offs.
Five weeks. How about five months?
Some years they had almost reasonable three months. In 1989, for instance, they beat Tipperary in the League Final on 1 May, and then, a mere three and a half months later (by Galway standards, that means they were almost battle-hardened), sans Tony Keady, they took on Tipperary again in the All-Ireland semi-final, losing by three points.
If Galway failed to make the League final, as they sometimes did, then a five month break awaited them.
The odd year, they did play a quarter-final against London or Antrim or Kerry. These, the TV and radio producers deemed facile, and so they weren't shown. Supporters, by and large, agreed and so practically no one showed for these match-ups. Between 1995 and 1999, Galway did face Roscommon in what was rather grandly titled 'The Connacht final'. It is not doing an injustice to the Rossies to say they weren't quite able for it.
From 1997 to 2001, Galway's programme began in the quarter-final stage, and thereafter, they simply entered in the qualifier stages. Effectively, they were obliged to open their championship programme as if they had already lost a match.
In 2007, Cork were allowed lose three matches before being dumped out the championship. In 2008, by contrast, Galway were the only serious hurling team in the championship for whom the prospect of a second chance was officially ruled out at the outset. In 2009, Galway entered the Leinster championship and their season took on some shape.
For years, Galway supporters were obliged to speculate about how the team were going in training. The phrase 'flying in training' became a dark joke among some Galway supporters, as it so often preceded an All-Ireland semi/quarter-final humbling.
In speculating about the handicap of Tipperary's lengthy five week off following the Munster Final, the wonder is how Galway ever won a game between the early 1970s and the late 2000s.
Clearly, that late 80s side were an exceptional bunch.
