Big Papi
I ❤ Clucko
Fair enough but I don't think Kilkenny are in decline at all, I think over the last decade or so they raised the bar, they took hurling to a new level and it's only now that teams are starting to catch up. The stories I'm hearing about what Anthony Cunningham and this Galway team are doing behind the scenes training and preparation wise this year is remarkable.
Galway, like other nontraditional counties, have to hammer into the training. Clare in 1995 & Wexford in 1996 had to be broken mentally before being re-formed.
In his book, Hurling, The Revolution Years, Denis Walsh said that those lesser lights had to be broken, then re-made.
Offaly had a underlying sense of confidence built on the 1971 win over Galway in the football final. The hurlers came sneaking into an AI win in 1981 and then the footballers won again in 1982. The team in 1998 didn't need to be broken. They were going to do it on their terms, but just needed a conductor for their orchestra.
I think Cork in 1999 needed a semblance of the brutal regime to knock the cobwebs off, but not to remould the team.
Since Offaly's win in '98, the Big3 have carved up 13 titles between them. Kilkenny 8, Cork 3 and Tipp 2. Other counties have been 'fortunate' enough to be on the big stage on the final day on six occasions up to this year.