I FOUND this a little harder than the football equivalent because there were many more games to choose from.
Trying to whittle it down to ten is practically impossible, but by using a number of the top hurling counties’ best games, I just about managed. I will surely have arguments over this. Anyway, here goes ... again, in no particular order.
No 1: Limerick v Clare, 16 June 1996. All-Ireland champions Clare lined out against Limerick at the latter’s Gaelic Grounds in the first defence of their title. This was an energy-sapping game played on the hottest day of the year. Twelve months earlier, Clare had unexpectedly hammered Limerick by 1-17 to 0-11 at Semple Stadium to win their first title since 1932. This time, it was Limerick in the role of underdog. It was tit-for-tat, end-to-end stuff, which kept the crowd glued to the action. With time running out, Clare were leading by 0-15 to 1-11 when Pat Tobin levelled and the game looked set for a replay. From Davy Fitzgerald’s puck-out, however, Limerick’s captain Ciaran Carey gathered, balanced the sliotar on the end of his hurley as if it was stuck to it and set off on a 70-metre solo run, before sending over what is generally considered to be the greatest match-winning point of all time to give Limerick the victory in what most people consider the best hurling game ever.
No 2: The 1971 All-Ireland final between Tipperary and Kilkenny is rated probably the best ever, and definitely the best of the ’70s. It was the first televised in colour by Telefís Éireann. Some years later, it was discovered that RTÉ had taped over the only copy, due to cost-saving measures. This was a match which saw Kilkenny’s Eddie Keher score a record 2-11 and still end up on the losing side. The game is also remembered for Tipperary’s Babs Keating discarding his boots and playing the last quarter barefooted. Keating had bettered Keher’s final tally by hitting 2-12 in the semi against Galway. He was also Tipp’s top scorer in the final with 0-7. Tipperary had two very lucky goals, which set them on their road to victory. One was when the ball went between Ollie Walsh’s (whose last game for the black and amber this would be) legs and into the net – a rare slip from the man who made his debut for the Cats in 1956. This was the 13th time these teams had contested the final, with Tipperary 7-5 ahead, and one draw. At half-time, the Premier County led 2-10 to 2-4, the goals coming from long range efforts by Noel O’Dwyer and John Flanagan; Eddie Keher and Mossy Murphy replied for the Cats. Keher, Byrne and Purcell goaled for Kilkenny in the second half, but it was not enough, as Roger Ryan with two and Dinny Ryan goaled for Tipp, as they ran out winners by 5-17 to 5-14. This put Tipperary back on top of titles won, with 22. However, Cork matched this by beating Wexford in 1970, but it would be 18 years before Tipp would win their next title.
No 3: No list would be complete without a Wexford/Kilkenny game in there somewhere. I have selected the 1993 Leinster final, which went to a replay. Kilkenny were defending Leinster and All-Ireland champions, whereas Wexford had reached the National League final, and it took three games before Cork eventually beat the Model County. Scores in these games, which were all played at Semple Stadium in Thurles, were 2-11 each in the first, 0-18 to Cork and Wexford 3-9 in the second, with Cork winning 3-11 to 1-12 in the third. Back to Leinster. Just to mention that, in the semi-final, Kilkenny had beaten Carlow by 5-19 to 0-16 at Dr Cullen Park. The Carlow line-up that day was R Kielty, C Kealy, T English, M Farrell, J English, J Nevin, B Lawler, N Bambrick, J Carey (0-1), J McDonald (0-4), J Byrne (0-2), B Hayden (0-3), D Doyle (0-1), D Murphy, P Murphy. Subs: J Hayden (0-5), B Murphy and S Foley. The final, which was played in Croke Park on 12 July, ended in a draw – Kilkenny 2-14 to 1-17 for Wexford. Eamon Morrissey was top scorer for Kilkenny with 2-3, with DJ Carey adding 0-5, while Tom Dempsey hit 0-9 for Wexford. This was a good, exciting game. In contrast, the replay was a damp squib. Kilkenny ran out easy winners by 2-11 to 0-11, with DJ Carey scoring 1-5. PJ Delaney added the second goal, and Dempsey was again Wexford’s leading scorer with 0-6.
No 4: The All-Ireland final, which was played on 2 September 1990, is well regarded as the best of that decade. This was Cork’s first final in four years, while Galway had beaten Kilkenny in 1987 and Tipperary in the following year’s final. Cork had a dream start when Kevin Hennessy netted after 48 seconds. Galway soon settled and, from then on, scores were exchanged on a regular basis. Cork hit a purple patch and went four points up. Galway responded and a Joe Cooney goal, after his first shot was blocked by Ger Cunningham, had the Tribesmen back in the match and they went on to lead 1-13 to 1-8 at the break. Galway scored two early points on the restart. This, however seemed to inspire Cork. Tomás Mulcahy and Mark Foley twice found the Galway net. The sides were level as the game entered the last few minutes. John Fitzgibbon goaled for Cork and Brendan Lynsky did the same for Galway but the Rebels were ahead 5-15 to 2-21 at the final whistle.
No 5: This would have to be the Leinster final of 1980, which saw Offaly – in their sixth decider – win it for the first time by defeating Kilkenny 3-17 to 5-10. The Cats led 3-6 to 1-10 at half-time. And the final quarter was tense and exciting, as the lead changed hands several times before Offaly emerged one-point winners. If we look at history, you will see how big a shock this result was. In the semi-final, Offaly had beaten Dublin for the first time since 1909 and had never beaten Kilkenny (the reigning All-Ireland champions), whom they had first played in the championship in 1898. They had won an U21 title in 1978. Only 9,613 witnessed this historic occasion. Offaly would lose their All-Ireland semi-final to Galway by 4-9 to 3-10, with the Tribesmen beating Limerick in the final by 2-15 to 3-9.
No 6. We will stick with Offaly for this one, and their saga with Clare in 1998. Offaly were beaten by Kilkenny in the Leinster final by 3-10 to 1-11. The qualifiers had been introduced a year earlier, so Offaly would take that route. Meanwhile, in Munster, Clare and Waterford played a thrilling draw, but an acrimonious replay saw Clare win easily by 2-16 to 0-10. The semi-final saw Clare beat Offaly by 1-16 to 2-10. However, referee Jimmy Cooney blew the full-time whistle two minutes early and a replay was ordered. This was also won by Clare but the result was overturned and Offaly marched on to the final. Here, they overturned the Leinster result, beating Kilkenny by 2-16 to 1-13.
No 7: Next up is Cork v Wexford in the drawn 2004 All-Ireland semi-final, when Rory McCarthy’s goal two minutes into injury time brought the sides level, with Cork’s 2-20 to 3-17 for Wexford. The replay was one game too many for Wexford, however, and they were beaten by 3-17 to 2-7. Cork lost the final to Kilkenny by 1-14 to 1-11.
No 8: 2004 as well. And Cork again. This time, it was the Munster final against Waterford, the latter winning by a single point (3-16 to 1-21) in what is described as one of the best-ever Munster finals. Waterford’s big guns were to the fore, with Paul Flynn scoring 1-7, Dan Shanahan 1-3 and Eoin Kelly 1-1. Joe Deane was Cork’s top marksman, firing over nine points. While Cork would go on to contest the final, Waterford would fail by a point to Kilkenny in the semi-final.
No 9: We will have to include the 2009 League final, when Kilkenny defeated Tipperary in a see-saw epic that ended on a scoreline of 2-26 to 4-17.
No 10: 2010 and the amazing victory by Tipp over Kilkenny, who were chasing five titles in a row, in as good a final as you could ask for. The previous year, Kilkenny had triumphed over the Premier County in the final and were confident of doing so again. But this was a stronger, more determined Tipperary, who ran out comfortable eight-point winners on a scoreline of 4-17 to 1-18 before a record TV audience of 1.236 million viewers. A reminder of the late Nick Rackard to finish. Nick holds the record for the highest score in a championship match (7-7) in the 1954 All-Ireland semi-final against Antrim.