SportsJOE’s best games of 2014: Limerick v Tipperary

Here at SportsJOE we've selected the best matches we've attended in person during 2014. First up is Neil Treacy, who recalls a perfect afternoon in Thurles ...

Tipperary 2-16 Limerick 2-18 June 1st, 2014

As last minute decisions go, the June bank-holiday trip to Thurles was right up there. It was one of those all too rare weekends when the gang of us were all back home in Limerick. Saturday had been a scorcher, with golf in the morning, coffee in the Milk Market, a few pucks in Mary I in the afternoon, and beer and barbecue in the evening. There'd been talk of a trip to Thurles the following afternoon, but with our wallets in a bit of a state following a long Saturday, and the bones of a month until the next payday, we reckoned we might have to give it a miss. But when we woke the following morning, the memories of Limerick's epic summer of 2013 kept niggling away at us, and no sooner had we considered it, we'd pointed the car east to the Ballysimon Road. We weren't particularly confident, and why would we be? We'd beaten Tipp in the Gaelic Grounds last year, but not only had we not won a championship match in Thurles since we were seven, we hadn't beaten Tipp there since some of our own parents were seven. It had all the trappings of a classic championship afternoon; there was the few quid to an auld lad offering up his field as an "Official Match car park", sangwiches and tae out of every car boot, and people having a quick puck as they let the lunch settle. [caption id="attachment_6944" align="alignnone" width="600"] A sweet stall outside Semple Stadium[/caption] There were proud fathers and young sons ready for their first trip together to Semple, and even some who had been going since '73 when Limerick last beat the neighbours on their own patch. The intermediate match went to extra-time, and after Tipp nudged past Limerick in a classic the butterflies started fluttering in the stomach, as the green army in the Town End got that familiar feeling all over again. Heartbreak had been our staple. [caption id="attachment_6945" align="alignnone" width="566"] The Limerick team enter the pitch[/caption] But when the game got going, we all started to believe. Shane Dowling set the tone by rattling in a 21-yard free, and Limerick were four clear after 20 odd minutes. But Tipp reeled in the lead, and by half-time, Bonner Maher's goal had the sides level at 1-8 apiece. When Gearoid Ryan goaled for Tipp right after the break, the bubble looked to have been burst, but just as they did in the same fixture in 2013, Limerick found another gear. With around 10 minutes to play and Tipp still up by three, Graeme Mulcahy rattled the back of the net, but the Town End had barely started celebrating before the whistle went for a foul in the build-up. It all felt inevitable. No matter what Limerick did, they couldn't get the breakthrough. The gap was still three with just a few minutes on the clock, and then it happened. Kevin Downes set off through the Tipp defence, throwing a handpass to the unmarked Shane Dowling lurking to his right. The Tipp cover got back in time. Dowling stepped back to make some space, but there was none to be found. Each step back brought him further from goal, and just as everyone started to think he'd run out of options, Dowling had a crack. [caption id="attachment_6946" align="alignnone" width="600"] Seamus Hickey celebrates[/caption] Delirium. Draw game. Three minutes to play. We have them. At the best of times, Limerick fans expect the worst. It's ingrained into us. But for the final three minutes, every man, woman and child in the green and white in Thurles knew this was the day. Tom Ryan split the posts from the left touchline after a couple of scrappy minutes, and with the final play of the game, the Semple pitch opened in front of Seamus Hickey, the corner back finding redemption after nine months of rehab, sealing a first win against Tipp in Thurles in 41 years. [caption id="attachment_6947" align="alignnone" width="600"] Delirium at the final whistle[/caption] The stroll back to the car was an unfamiliar one. Instead of pacing out of the ground in silence, ready to race home, Limerick fans sauntered. I met a relative walking towards me who looked like he could die now and be happy, and we drank in every drop of atmosphere we could drain from a 10 minute stroll. Instead of sitting in the car beeping a horn, waiting to get the hell out of the place, we sat in and tried to digest the couple of hours we'd just lived. And when you have that winning feeling, on a June Sunday in Thurles, well there's no place you'd rather be.