Christy O'Connor: Why has the most competive province stopped producing All-Ireland winners?

Before Ballygunner met Sarsfields in the Munster final two weeks ago, the Gunners were favourites to win more than just another Munster title – they were also expected to speed to the top of the roll of honour, and pass out a Blackrock side who have occupied that position for 45 years.

That didn’t happen. The Rockies and the Gunners still sit side-by-side at the top with five titles each but Ballygunner’s modern Munster crusade has still been a staggering achievement. Only four sides had previously won successive Munster titles but Ballygunner became the first to win three-in-a-row, with their wins in 2022 and 2023 accelerating them past seven clubs in the process.

Ballygunner have deservedly earned their right to be regarded as one of Munster’s greatest teams but the glaring difference between them and Blackrock is the comparative achievements of both clubs on the bigger stage; Blackrock won three All-Irelands from four appearances between 1972-’79.

Ballygunner have been extremely unlucky not to dominate the only stage that really matters to them anymore; they lost three All-Ireland semi-finals in the last five years to brilliant Ballyhale Shamrocks and St Thomas’ sides that went on to win the All-Ireland.

That Ballyhale side secured three All-Irelands in four years, which would have been four-in-a-row if Ballygunner hadn’t beaten them in the 2022 final with a last second goal. Returning to win the 2023 title just cemented their greatness, but Ballyhale’s status as the greatest club in GAA history, having won nine All-Irelands, has long been undisputed.

Along with Portumna, they are the only club to win three titles in four years. The Shamrocks are also one of six clubs – alongside Portumna, Sarsfields Galway, Athenry, Birr and Cuala – to win successive All-Ireland club titles.

With the Galway champions not having to negotiate their way through a tough provincial campaign, does Ballyhale, Birr and Cuala’s achievements deserve more credit because they had to negotiate their way through Leinster first?

It’s impossible to know but a defining theme in the modern discourse about great club hurling teams is the lack of Munster sides in the conversation.

For the first couple of decades of the club championship, that great Blackrock team, or teams, that won three All-Irelands were regarded as the greatest. But their achievements have since been surpassed, and the passing of time has reduced Blackrock’s presence in the modern debate.

Another contributing factor is the lack of All-Ireland success of Munster clubs over the last four decades; Munster has won just five All-Irelands in the last 35 years. In the same timespan, Leinster clubs have won 16 titles, while Galway clubs have racked up 13 titles.

The great modern anomaly of the All-Ireland club hurling championship is that the most competitive province in the competition rarely produces All-Ireland winners anymore.

The numbers make less sense considering Munster clubs won 11 of the first 17 All-Irelands. When Galway sides took over in the 1990s and 2000s they did have an advantage in being able to peak for an All-Ireland semi-final and final, whereas managing that layoff was harder again when teams had to peak so often to win Munster. The pathway for Munster teams was also often more difficult than the routes the other provincial winners had to take.

There is no easy game in Munster, but it takes an exceptional team to win an All-Ireland. There have been some really good sides in Munster but has there been enough exceptional teams in the last 30 years?

St Joseph’s Doora-Barefield are the only Munster club to have reached successive All-Ireland finals, but they lost the 2000 final to Athenry by four points. Newtownshandrum and Na Piarsaigh were brilliant sides that went close to winning a second All-Ireland in three years in 2006 and 2018 respectively, but Newtown were beaten by Portumna, while Na Piarsaigh went down to Cuala after a replay.

Those St Joseph’s, Newtown and Na Piarsaigh sides had the ideal amalgam of power, athleticism and class that a lot of Munster winners have lacked. Ballygunner looked like the most complete team to ever come out of the province, but they’ve still come up short in their quest to win that second All-Ireland.

On the other hand, no club from the province has managed to win a second All-Ireland since St Finbarr’s in 1978, with Blackrock and Glen Rovers already having secured a second title earlier in that decade.

Only four Munster sides have won an All-Ireland in the last 25 years – St Joseph’s Doora-Barefield, Newtownshandrum, Na Piarsaigh and Ballygunner. Sarsfields have a great chance now of winning such an open championship but can they get to the final first? That’s been a huge challenge in the last 25 years; the Munster champions have had just a 40 per cent success rate in semi-finals in that timespan.

A golden opportunity knocks in a whole new world 

In the history of the All-Ireland club championship, there had never been such a sustained period where four teams had a grip, or a perceived stranglehold, on their county and province at the same time as Ballyhale Shamrocks, St Thomas’, Ballygunner and Slaugthneil had over the last decade alone. In that time alone, those four clubs amassed a colossal 33 county titles, 13 provincial titles (which would have been more if Galway clubs played in Connacht) and seven All-Irelands.

After maintaining such an iron grip though, it was inevitable it would finally began to loosen. Ballyhale came up short in Kilkenny in the last two years. St Thomas’ secured a record equalling six-in-a-row in Galway last year before going on to win the All-Ireland, but their crusade was finally halted by Cappatagle in the Galway semi-final six weeks ago. Ballygunner were aiming to win four successive Munster titles but were finally taken down in the province two weeks ago by Sarsfields.

Slaughtneil are the last of the big four still standing now as they go chasing a maiden All-Ireland club title in the most open All-Ireland club championship in 21 years.

This is the first time in over two decades that a new All-Ireland champion is certain to be crowned. The last time that happened was back in 2004 when Newtownshandrum, O’Loughlin Gaels, Portumna and Dunloy squared off in the All-Ireland semi-finals. Dunloy had been in three All-Ireland finals in the previous nine years but had never won a title. They did make it back to the 2004 final but were beaten by Newtownshandrum.

One of the most robust trends of the club championship is that the big clubs keep coming back. In the last 35 years, there has only been six years (1988, 1991, 1992, 1995, 1997 and 2004) where there was the potential to crown a new champion.

And yet, the big clubs were still often a part of that process. The last four in 1995 included Athenry, Birr, Kilmallock and Dunloy, with Athenry, Birr and Kilmallock having all contested All-Ireland finals in the previous few years.

Birr finally made the breakthrough that year while Athenry, who lost that 1995 semi-final to Dunloy, returned to win their first All-Ireland in 1997. Between 1995-2003, Athenry and Birr shared seven of the nine titles on offer.

Two decades on and all the big All-Ireland winning powerhouses of recent years have moved off the stage. Slaughtneil and Loughrea have been here before, with Loughrea the only side to have previously reached a final. But that was back in 2007, with a totally different squad.

With Sarsfields and Na Fianna having won a first provincial title two weeks ago, this is a whole new world now, one laden with golden opportunity. And every side – Na Fianna, Loughrea, Sarsfields and Slaughtneil - will be desperate to grab it.

Score-shy Loughrea coming in under the radar  

Late on in the Galway final, when Loughrea were struggling to get away from Cappatagle, a goal from Anthony Burns finally gave ‘The Town’ the oxygen and energy to push on and win a first title since 2006.

It was no surprise that Burns (who won man-of-the-match) got that key score because he has been Loughrea’s go-to scorer all year, hitting 4-17 from play in the Galway championship, 2-7 more than Loughrea’s second highest scorer from play, Tiernan Killeen. When Loughrea were under pressure late on in the semi-final against Clarinbridge, Burns’s goal ensured their safe passage through to the final.

Loughrea have been even more reliant on Burns because only five of their players managed to score more than 0-5 from play across the Galway championship. Even at that, the combined total of Loughrea’s top ten scorers from play is a colossal 7-58 less than what Na Fianna’s top ten scorers from play accumulated in Dublin and Leinster.

Na Fianna have played more games but they’ve still been averaging 3-20 per game, which is 0-5 more than Loughrea. On the otherhand, the Galway side have been conceding 0-2 less than the Dublin side. That still gives Na Fianna a three point advantage.

So can Loughrea make up that deficit on the scoreboard?