Never has the future of Limerick hurling looked so bright. Yesterday in Thurles the county's under-21 team won their third consecutive All-Ireland title by a dazzling 18 points.
Just last week manager Dave Keane was appointed successor to Eamonn Cregan with the county's senior side, and with yesterday's victory he brought Limerick into the elite club of Cork and Tipperary as the only counties to achieve three under-21 titles in as many years.
Opponents' Galway found themselves hopelessly chasing down a far superior team yesterday. The final score read 3-17 to 0-8.
With so many of the enthusiastic crowd in Thurles on their side, Limerick couldn't put a foot wrong. Andrew O'Shaughnessy's 2-2 return and Mark Keane's 1-5 did most damage on the scoreboard but from goalkeeper Timmy Houlihan to full back Eugene Mulcahy and all the way on up to full forward Patrick Kirby, there was simply no stopping Limerick's unwavering desire for victory.
Elsewhere in Croke Park, the Tipperary camogie team were attempting to join an even more elite club, those counties who have won four All-Ireland titles in succession. Up to halfway they seemed well on course before Cork went on a goal-scoring spree that saw then come out deserved winners, 4-9 to 1-9, in front of a crowd of 13,287.
Heading into the last 15 minutes, team captain Una O'Donoghue struck the first fatal blow to Tipp's ambitions with a goal that suddenly put Cork 2-7 to 1-8 in front. In the next eight minutes Fiona O'Driscoll added two more goals, giving her a hat-trick for the afternoon and a crucial contribution of 3-2. Cork thus won back the title for the first time since 1998.
In another All-Ireland tournament at the weekend, Mark Herbert of Kildare won a third successive Kick Fada title at the Bray Emmetts club, with a kick of 61 metres. Monaghan's Vourneen Quigley won the women's event with a kick of 43 metres.
The Kildare football championship controversy, meanwhile, concluded at the weekend with county champions Sarsfields being reinstated into the competition. The decision by the GAA's Management Committee overturned that of the Leinster Council, which last week had thrown Sarsfields of the championship for allegedly fielding an illegal player in their quarter-final win over Round Towers.
In a statement last night, club chairman Brendan Ryan welcomed the Management Committee's decision and also paid tribute to the Kildare County Board in appealing the decision of the Leinster Council.
"Throughout this time, we have endeavoured to uphold the rules," said Ryan. "Kildare County Board recognised this and we applaud their attention to detail in explaining the circumstances to the Management Committee." Sarsfields now play Leixlip in the semi-final.
