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How Limerick Respond To Cork Loss WIll Prove If They Are Greatest Of All Time

How Limerick Respond To Cork Loss WIll Prove If They Are Greatest Of All Time
Niall McIntyre
By Niall McIntyre Updated
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Kilkenny responded to the end of their five-in-a-row dream by winning four All-Irelands in the next five years.

Tipperary memorably halted Kilkenny's drive-for-five with a stunning performance in the 2010 All-Ireland final, when Lar Corbett scored three goals in the rain.

Injuries to key Kilkenny players Brian Hogan and Henry Shefflin hampered Kilkenny on the day but despite predictions of a bright new dawn for Tipperary, Kilkenny came roaring back in the years that followed.

They responded like true champions, beating Tipperary to win the All-Ireland final in 2011.

They went onto win in 2012, 2014 and again in 2015.

Twelve of the Kilkenny players who featured in the 2010 final featured again in 2011 with only John Dalton, James 'Cha' Fitzpatrick, John Tennyson and Aidan Fogarty moving on.

Eoin Larkin and Michael Fennelly are the only Kilkenny players who started in all of Kilkenny's All-Ireland finals from 2010 to 2015. Sportsfile.

When Kilkenny beat Tipperary again in the 2014 final, this time in a replay, nine of their 2010 team took to the field, with the original group by and large sticking together.

To Tommy Walsh, the 2011 win stood alone as the sweetest of his All-Irelands, claiming it was inspired by the hurt they felt in '10.

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"It stands as the sweetest because we lost last year," he told the Irish Examiner after the game, "after last year and losing the five-in-a-row it was heartbreaking all last winter and it probably showed out there today how much it affected us."

That's what's ahead of Limerick now.

Will they recover to win a sweet one or will the weight of the loss derail them? History shows that it didn't de-rail Kilkenny.

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John Kiely said the hurt is 'going to be God awful' for them after the game.

He also mentioned that "there will be some people in that (dressing) room who may not be there next year," though only time will tell the extent of the fall-off from that perspective.

 

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Limerick are a young team with Nickie Quaid (35) their oldest player and Declan Hannon (31) their oldest outfielder so one would expect they won't lose many.

The displays of Shane O'Brien and Adam English scoring 0-4 between them off the bench shows that there is a conveyor belt coming too.

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Some Kilkenny fans chirped on Twitter after Limerick's loss that the debate has been settled, that Kilkenny remain the greatest team ever.

 

There are many counter-arguments on either side of the fence. Some will say that Limerick have had tougher routes to finals, others will say that Limerick didn't make it to five finals in a row.

They are clearly both great teams but the reality for Limerick is that until they respond to the loss like Kilkenny did, the chirping will continue.

 

 

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