Puc Fado: The Limerick v Tipperary trilogy of 2007

Limerick and Tipperary go head to head in the Munster Championship at the Gaelic Grounds this weekend and if they can serve up a repeat of what happened in 2007 then we’re in for a treat.

The structure of the provincial championships in both football and hurling has been called into question quite frequently in recent years, but it is hard to dispute the fact that the Munster Hurling Championship is the most competitive and most compelling of all provincial championships in both codes.

It is why, despite Tipp being strong favourites for Sunday’s clash in the Gaelic Grounds, that you can’t predict with any degree of certainty how it will unfold, but if recent past clashes between the sides are anything to go by, we should be in for a corker in the Treaty City.

The most compelling of those recent clashes was in 2007, when the two teams played out 250 minutes of helter-skelter championship action over two weeks and were only separated by three points in the end.

On the first day in the Gaelic Grounds, the teams were deadlocked on 1-19 apiece in what was one of the games of the season, at the end of which the Limerick men had substitute Pat Tobin to thank for a late goal which brought the game to a replay in Semple Stadium six days later.

With home advantage, the Premier would have fancied their chances of completing the job at Semple Stadium and it looked as if they would do just that when they amassed a ten-point lead at the break.

As they had showed the weekend previously, Limerick weren’t going to go down without a fight and this time Andrew O’Shaughnessy proved to be the hero, converting a free in second half injury time to take the game to extra-time and subsequently converting a free in the last minute of extra-time to force another replay after what was yet another rip-roaring encounter.

It was back to the Gaelic Grounds eight days later for the third and final game in what was a gripping saga and as games that merit the ‘saga’ tag tend to do, it somehow finished level once again after 70 minutes. This time it was Tipp with the late comeback, with Seamus Butler scoring the final point in normal time after the Premier had once trailed by three points with only minutes left on the clock.

Willie Ryan pounced for another Tipp goal in extra-time but they could only add another solitary point during the 20-minute period with Limerick scoring seven points in the same time to finally put the saga to bed.

In his report on the game, RTE’s Marty Morrissey said: “If there was an award at the Oscars for Sports Scriptwriting, then somebody should surely nominate whatever God designed the Munster Championship of 2007.”

He added: “As a Munster man myself, we all grew up with the tales and heroics of the great Christy Ring, Mick Mackey, John Doyle and Jimmy Smyth, but since I wasn't around in those illustrious times I can only imagine what these wonderful hurlers were like and how they saved the day for their team and county on different occasions.

“Thankfully, I have been alive and present to witness two of the greatest weeks in the history of Munster hurling.”

Marty’s word is gospel as far as GAA fans are concerned and it is hard to argue with his summation of what truly was a special fortnight in the Munster hurling championship and in the long and storied rivalry between the provincial heavyweights.