THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK

THIS is the weekend the empire strikes back.

- BY GARRY DOYLE

The revolution may not be over but it is certainly taking a year off. Limerick, Clare and Galway are gone; Tipperary, Cork, Kilkenny are back.

You could say they were never away, Cork appearing in last year's All-Ireland final, Kilkenny getting to that stage the year before, Tipp winning it as recently as 2019.

Yet in the history of the game, there has never been a lengthier drought for the Big Three and while the 90s were coined the Revolution Years, an argument can be made that the last decade has seen the old order suffer like never before.

To start with, there are now teenagers in Kilkenny who have no recollection of their county winning an All-Ireland, a discomfort no teenage Cats fan has suffered since the 1930s.

Cork, meanwhile, are still in the middle of their longest ever drought - 20 years and counting - and while Tipp have won two All-Irelands in the last decade, they have not been to a decider since they last won the Championship in 2019.

To put all this in perspective, consider that since the first Championship was played in 1887, the Big Three have won 94 All-Irelands but only twice, from 1994 to 1998 and 2020 until now have the rest of the hurling world kept Liam MacCarthy away from the clutches of Kilkenny, Cork or Tipp hands for longer than a two-year period.

Gut feelings normally lead to nothing more than indigestion but this time it is fairly safe to trust our instincts and state the revolutionary period is over and the establishment will retake power.