Ciarán Murphy: Dublin’s leaders prove an old lion is still a lion - and Limerick are roaring now too

Motivation is not too difficult to find at this time of year in the GAA. This coming weekend, the Cork and Waterford hurlers go right to the brink. Win, and you’re still training on Tuesday night. Lose, and you’re un-muting the club team’s WhatsApp group.

Dublin and Galway will both progress to the All-Ireland hurling championship regardless of what happens on Sunday, but a Leinster final for the winners will offer them their best (realistically their only?) chance of silverware this year. Offaly and Antrim are fighting for survival in the Liam McCarthy Cup.

Their goals are simple. Survival, progression, a trophy – for Cork, the end of the longest famine in their county’s history. No one has to go looking for their “why”, for their reason to keep going.

What can be a little harder to comprehend is where the most successful teams find their “why”. Watching Limerick and Dublin last weekend, with 14 All-Ireland titles between them in the last 15 years, was a case study in greatness.

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Their situations are slightly different of course. Limerick are bouncing back after losing their shot at a five-in-a-row with almost all of the same team back for more. Dublin’s personnel has changed massively even from last year’s championship.

But what united both of them was a sense of anger in their play, and a sense of utter defiance. Limerick took Cork apart from the first minute to the last. It was as if they had internalised every last bit of analysis which suggested that Cork were the coming side, that the two defeats Cork had inflicted on them in 2024 had robbed Limerick of their status as kingpins.

Limerick played as if the thought that Cork would come to the Gaelic Grounds and beat them was some kind of sick joke. It was breathtaking to watch. By the end of the game, it was nigh-on impossible to see any other team winning this year’s All-Ireland.

Watching from the terrace in Salthill on Saturday, Dublin’s anger appeared not to be aimed at the outside world. They had fallen far, far short of the standards of Dublin football in this century last time out against Meath. And the way they attacked Galway from the first whistle suggested a refusal to allow that to happen again.

If Limerick’s excellence was in the collective, Dublin took inspiration from individuals – and Ciarán Kilkenny’s display on Saturday was one for the ages. It was a privilege to watch.

[ Limerick’s devastating display against Cork was clinical, cohesive and composedOpens in new window ]

You don’t have to have played intercounty football for a decade to know what leadership looks like, because every team has its standout players. And when you see your standout player, your leader, the guy who has nothing to prove to anyone either inside or outside the dressingroom, refuse to contemplate defeat, it is galvanising.

Imagine being Killian McGinnis, who might have an All-Ireland medal but didn’t make the 26 for the 2023 All-Ireland final, looking at a man with eight All-Ireland medals empty himself for the cause. Forget about what Kilkenny’s “why” was, lads like McGinnis surely just wanted to make sure they didn’t let Kilkenny, or Con O’Callaghan, down.

Cork’s Tim O'Mahony and Brian Roche close in on Limerick's Cian Lynch in the Munster hurling championship. Photograph: James Crombie/Inpho

Limerick may have taken a few games to get there, but it looks like they have settled upon what is their preferred set-up for this season, with Kyle Hayes at six, and Cian Lynch at 11. Both of those players were magnificent on Sunday. They have balance in both half-lines, they still have Gillane, they have an embarrassment of riches in the full-back line. And they have Nickie Quaid back in goal, way ahead of schedule. And however difficult it may be for us mere mortals to understand, their desire to win appears unsated.

When Kilkenny’s drive for five failed in 2010, they came back and won in 2011, and 2012. When Cork failed in 1945, they came back and won in 1946. The shock of losing to Offaly in 1982 reverberated into the following year when Kerry were taken down by Tadhg Murphy and Cork in the Munster final … but they came back and won three more in a row after that. We shouldn’t be surprised that the more you win, the more you want to win.

The core of the team is still very similar to that which won their first All-Ireland in 2018. Ten of the team that started that day against Galway started this weekend against Cork, with two more who came off the bench seven years ago starting also.

But no one can say that they are past their peak; they certainly have not played better than that any more than a handful of times. Cork may not have expected to beat Limerick four and five times in a row in championship hurling, but the nature of this defeat was different. It was a statement of murderous intent.

[ Conor McManus: The West’s a wake but it’s resurrection time for DublinOpens in new window ]

Dublin’s calculation is rather different. Can they sustain that level for five, or maybe six, more games to win an All-Ireland? That is still unknown. The smart money would still probably lie elsewhere. But that was a performance to be proud of on Saturday.

When the entire history of this Dublin team comes to be written, Salthill on a baking hot May weekend may only be a footnote – but if nothing else, their leaders proved on Saturday that an old lion is still a lion. And Limerick are roaring now too.