Five of the best Leinster hurling finals

Galway will attempt to topple the might of Kilkenny this weekend in a Leinster hurling final that will do well to live up to some of the classics from the past. Here are five of the best.

1957 Kilkenny 6-9 Wexford 1-5

In the recently released book, The Godfather of Modern Hurling, a biography of former Kilkenny hurling manager Monsignor Tommy Maher, the 1957 Leinster Final is described as “the most significant hurling match in the second half of the 20th century”. And it’s hard to argue with that logic when you consider that Kilkenny, who had been beaten in the previous two Leinster Finals by Wexford, got revenge over their southern neighbours with a comprehensive 19-point victory at Croke Park.

Playing a revolutionary brand of hurling inspired by Maher that had never been seen before, the Cats went on to win the All-Ireland that year, six of the following ten Leinster titles and three All-Ireland titles during the 1960s.

Significant? Just a little.

1972 Kilkenny 6-13 Wexford 6-13

Any game that delivers an aggregate score of 62 points must be half decent and the 1972 Leinster Final was certainly high on entertainment, even if it couldn’t have been easy to watch for fans of either side at times.

The great Eddie Keher struck 2-5 for the Cats, with Jack Berry and Dan Quigley top scoring for Wexford with 2-1 and 1-4 respectively. Despite a massive effort in the drawn game, Wexford couldn’t keep up with Keher and company in the replay, which Kilkenny won by a fairly comfortable eight-point margin. Hardly surprisingly, they also went on to win the All-Ireland that year, an all too familiar tale for the challengers to their throne.

1980 Offaly 3-17 Kilkenny 5-10

The 1980 Leinster Final was a hugely significant occasion for hurling in Offaly as it marked their first provincial triumph and paved the way for a breakthrough which saw the Faithful County land nine Leinster titles and four All-Irelands in less than two decades.

Up against reigning All-Ireland Champions Kilkenny – who else? – Offaly trailed at the break but a stirring comeback led to a heart-stopping final quarter when the lead changed hands on several occasions. Diarmuid Healy’s side held on to win by a point and a new era in Offaly hurling was born.

1996 Wexford 2-23 Offaly 2-15

My strawberry munching colleague Sean Nolan would never let me away with it if there wasn’t reference to at least one glory day for Wexford in this list, but the 1996 final warrants a mention in any case.

In 1996, Offaly were between their All-Ireland successes of 1994 and 1998 and somewhere near the peak of their powers, but were blown away by a Wexford side masterminded by Liam Griffin, who went on to guide the Model County to the All-Ireland (their last) and duly stepped down afterwards.

Wexford were well worth their eight-point victory in this game, one of the many occasions inspirational ‘keeper Damien Fitzhenry strode forward to deliver the goods at the other end.

1999 Kilkenny 5-14 Offaly 1-16

We mentioned 1980 as a breakthrough year for Offaly above, but the last year of the last millennium was an even more important one for Kilkenny hurling as it marked Brian Cody’s first year in charge. They’ve been partying like it’s 1999 ever since.

With DJ Carey striking 1-4 and a then little known chap by the name of Henry Shefflin scoring 1-6, Kilkenny trounced an Offaly side that had won their second All-Ireland in four years less than a year previously and the game was over as a contest well before the final whistle blew with the Cats ten points to the good.

Kilkenny failed to win the All-Ireland that year and thankfully for the other contenders in Leinster and beyond, Cody faded from the hurling landscape with little trace after his first year in charge.

If by little trace, you mean eight All-Irelands and 12 out of the 13 Leinster titles since then, of course. And he’s far from done yet.

If you happen to be heading to Croker on Sunday make sure to go easy on the hard stuff. Our friends over at drinkaware.ie have been rolling out a series of snappy little hurling-related ads, such as this one: