Biggest Hurling Shocks

BQQ wrote: »

Certainties for 2 in a row?
Go away out of that

They only won the final the year before by a point and would have had to play the same team if they had beaten Offaly

Anyway, as you say yourself, Offaly had won an all-ireland only 2 years before
Cork were favourites for sure, but everyone knew Offaly were capable on their day

Antrim making the final in 1989 was the biggest that I remember

Like with anything, its very difficult to put it properly into context 19 years later

Most will look at the records and say, well Offaly won an AI in 98 they can't have been too bad 2 years later, but they had been thumped by KK in 99 and 00 Leinster finals and 98 had a real last hurrah feel to it. Like how KK had an awful campaign in 17, and won an AI in 15

Cork in 00 were like Limerick this year. Kind of came from nowhere in 99 and then picked up where they left off and looked even better the year after.

It was a huge shock at the time.

And Cork were definitely most people's favourites for the AI. Kilkenny hadn't won an All Ireland in about 7 years at this stage, remember (two other Leinster teams had won it in their time). They hadn't come into their 00s pomp yet at all at that stage

The thing about Antrim's win over Offaly in 1989 is that they came from nowhere and didn't just beat, but hammered an Offaly team who were genuine contenders for the title (although I don't think they would have stopped that Tipp team). There was a healthy number of players who had won Leinster and All-Ireland titles in the 80's and there were a handful of players that would form the 90's team.

Aside from 1943 when they defeated Kilkenny and Galway en route to defeat in that years final to Cork, Antrim had never defeated a team outside Ulster up to that point.

Offaly's first win over Kilkenny was referenced earlier; that was a shock at the time but it would soon become apparent that that wasn't some freak once off bolt from the blue as that team went on to win multiple titles.

There's a difference between a shock and a breakthrough. Clare's 95 Munster title would have been a shock had they just fizzled away and gone back into another multi decade famine, but they went on and added 2 more Munster's and 2 All-Ireland's.

Was last Sunday a breakthrough for Laois? I really hope so because we need all the competitive county's we can get in hurling but the jury is still out on that. Their win over Dublin was a surprise more than a shock as such, up to ten years ago there wasn't ever that much between Dublin and Laois and Laois wins over Dublin wouldn't have been that unusual before a decade ago.

That's not to in any way take away from an excellent and committed team performance from Laois last Sunday, based on the respective fortunes of both over the last decade it's a huge win for them, they'll hopefully back themselves to avoid relegation in the round robin next year. And wouldn't it be very interesting to see how GAA HQ would respond to one of the top tier counties being relegated if Laois do well next year!

jr86 wrote: »

Derry won two Ulsters in a row in 2001

Ulster was actually very competitive from the mid 90s - early 00s from what I remember. There wasn't much between Antrim, Derry and Down

Oliver Collins and Gary Biggs were very good players aon that team as were Dual stars Geoffrey McGonigle and Kieran McKeever.

Blinky Plebum wrote: »

Oliver Collins and Gary Biggs were very good players aon that team as were Dual stars Geoffrey McGonigle and Kieran McKeever.

Yeah, they gave Offaly a right scare in 00