THE DRIVE FOR FIVE: HOW GREATS TRIED AND FAILED

TODAY, Limerick hurlers set out to become the first team in the 137-year history of the All-Ireland hurling championship to win five All-Ireland titles on the spin.

Only Cork and Kilkenny have ever got within striking distance of achieving the fabled five-in-a-row in hurling, which underlines the magnitude of the task facing John Kiely’s side.

Though they are 4/5 favourites to do it, history is stacked against them. Only Dublin footballers have crossed this GAA Rubicon.

They romped to six consecutive Sam Maguire wins between 2015 and 2020, adding another last year to bring their tally to nine since 2011, and copper-fastening their status as the greatest football team of all-time.

Can Limerick, who have won five of the last six Liam MacCarthy Cups become their hurling equivalent and overtake the Kilkenny 2006-2015 side (eight titles in 10 seasons) as the greatest team ever?

Time will tell, but here we recall the failed five-in-a-row attempts in the All-Ireland SFC and All-Ireland SHC.

HURLING

Cork 1941-1945

World War II wasn’t the only issue confronting the GAA in the first half of the 1940s. In 1941, an outbreak of footand-mouth disease in the midlands had a significant impact on the hurling championship.

In Munster, the Cork v Tipperary semi-final was cancelled at the bequest of the Department of Agriculture and the Rebels ended up representing Munster in the All-Ireland final.

Likewise, in the Leinster championship, the Department of Agriculture ruled that Kilkenny could not play in the Leinster final until they were three weeks clear of the disease.

So, Dublin were nominated to represent Leinster. They beat Galway in the semi-final but were no match for a Cork team which included Christy Ring and Jack Lynch in the All-Ireland decider. It was a pyrrhic victory, though, as Tipperary subsequently beat Cork in the delayed Munster final.

This tarnished Cork’s subsequent achievements when they beat Dublin again in the 1942 and 1944 finals and demolished Antrim in the 1943 decider after the Glensmen pulled off a shock win in the semi-final over Kilkenny at Corrigan Park in Belfast.

But the Rebels’ bid for a fifth title in a row ended on July 1, 1945, when they lost to Tipperary in the Munster semi-final at Semple Stadium.

Kilkenny 2006-2010

Having won back-to-back in 20022003, Kilkenny lost to Cork in the 2004 All-Ireland final and to Galway in the 2005 semi-final, fuelling speculation that Brian Cody might step down. Instead, he revamped the team, making six changes in personnel and halting Cork’s bid for a hat-trick of Liam MacCarthy Cups in 2006.

During the next two seasons, Kilkenny were untouchable – they beat Limerick and Waterford by a cumulative total of 30 points in the 2007 and 2008 finals. However, by 2009, the cracks had begun to appear, and they were really fortunate to overhaul a rejuvenated Tipperary in the All-Ireland final.

But the Cats’ drive for five came apart in the 2010 decider when they were aiming for their 22nd successive championship win. Henry Shefflin started despite having severed the cruciate ligament in his knee in the semi-final against Cork but only lasted 13 minutes of the game.

Tipperary hit overdrive in the second half, with Lar Corbett adding two goals to the one he had scored in the first quarter. But Kilkenny and Cody proved their greatness by capturing four of the next five All-Ireland titles.

FOOTBALL

Wexford 1915-1918

Exactly a century before Dublin began their successful quest for football immortality, the GAA’s first super team emerged. Take a bow Wexford who, in one of the most troubled decades in Irish history, emerged as the dominant force. Up until 1920, most counties were represented by club sides in the All-Ireland championship, with Wexford’s Blues and Whites emerging as the GAA’s first super club.

In the first 15-a-side final in December 1913, Wexford, represented by Rapparees, lost to Kerry’s Killarney, who also beat the Wexford representatives, Blues and Whites, in the 1914 final. But before a healthy Croke Park attendance of 27,000, Wexford won the final, at the third attempt, in 1915 against Kerry.

Not surprisingly, the 1916 final wasn’t played until December, with Wexford, inspired by Seán Kennedy, beating Mayo. The low attendance of 3,000 was because the country was under martial law and no trains were running.

Another December final in 1917 saw Wexford see off Clare, while in the 1918 final – played in February 1919 – Wexford beat Tipperary. Their magnificent 21-match unbeaten run came to an end in the 1919 Leinster semi-final when they lost to Dublin the following July.

Kerry 1929-1933

Football in Kerry played a key role in helping to heal the wounds left by the Civil War. This was particularly the case with the Kingdom’s first four-inrow team which was captained initially by Joe Barrett, who had fought on the anti-Treaty side in the war. In 1931, he handed the honour to Con Brosnan, a captain in the Free State Army during the Civil War.

All-Ireland wins began in 1919 when the Kingdom secured the Sam Maguire Cup for the first time, ending Kildare’s bid for a hat-trick of All-Ireland successes. They demolished Monaghan (3-11 to 0-2) in the 1930 decider, beat Kildare again in 1931, before completing their county’s first four-in-row with victory over Mayo in 1932. They looked on course for the five-in-a-row until they conceded the match-winning goal two minutes from the end of the 1933 All-Ireland semi-final against Cavan.

Kerry 1978-1982

This is by far the most documented of the failed five-in-a-row bids. It began in 1978 in dramatic fashion with Kerry – helped by Mike Sheehy’s famous chipped free over Dublin goalkeeper Paddy Cullen – demolishing the Sky Blues’ bid for a hat-trick of Sam wins.

It all boiled down to two plays in the second half in the 1982 final against Offaly. But the loss through injury of Jimmy Deenihan and Pat Spillane – who only appeared as a substitute – contributed to Kerry’s failure to close out the five-in-a-row.

Offaly goalkeeper Martin Furlong saved a Sheehy penalty before substitute Séamus Darby scored the best remembered goal in the history of All-Ireland finals.