Five Things We Learned from the 2018 All-Ireland Hurling Championship

1 It is tremendously tricky to retain the title

Once again in 2018 we saw the difficulty of winning two-in-a-row as Galway failed at the final stage, losing to Limerick by the narrowest of margins.

Galway definitely failed to hit the heights of their 2017 All Ireland-winning campaign, but still somehow managed to make their way to Croke Park and to the final, via replay wins over Kilkenny and Clare.

In fact, it’s arguable that Croke Park didn’t suit Galway last year, as their best performances came in Thurles in those replays.

Limerick will have to be a very good team to buck the trend of All-Ireland winners failing to follow up.

2 Munster is ultra-competitive

All-Ireland champions Limerick finished third in Munster last year. Tipperary didn’t get out of the group and neither did Waterford, the previous year's All-Ireland finalists.

While Waterford had genuine excuses as they were ravaged by injuries, the new round-robin format has shown the quality in Munster and how little there is between each of the sides.

Waterford recovered from those injuries to reach the league final, while a Tipperary resurgence is expected under Liam Sheedy, but any of the five teams have a realistic chance of making the next stage of the championship, which should make for another incredible Munster championship.

3 Galway count on Joe Canning too much

Joe Canning is undoubtedly one of the best hurlers we have seen and many will argue that 2018 was his best season.

He was just pipped to the Hurler of the Year accolade by Limerick’s Cian Lynch, but with Canning's class comes extra responsibility.

In 2018, Galway relied far too much on Canning as he carried them through the championship and almost single-handedly ended Limerick’s dreams. His performance against Clare in the second half of the All Ireland semi-final was mesmerising and his late sideline cut under the stand was one of the scores of the year.

With Canning now out for a large portion of this year’s championship, and only likely to return after the Leinster campaign, Galway will need to find scorers elsewhere and big things are now expected of Conor Cooney and Conor Whelan to step up to the plate.

4 Limerick have strength in depth

With six minutes left on the clock in the 2018 All Ireland semi-final, Limerick trailed Cork by six points and their wait for glory looked destined to rage on for another season.

But Limerick then showed why they are the best team in Ireland right now - their bench. Peter Casey, Shane Dowling, Pat Ryan, William O’Donoghue, Barry Nash and David Reidy came on and hit 2-6 between them.

Cork were finished and Limerick went into the All Ireland final and the rest is history. John Kiely has freshened up his side with new talent such as Conor Boylan and Robbie Hanley while Peter Casey is likely to become a starter.

Limerick’s bench won them last year’s championship and this year’s league. With a rip-roaring Munster Championship campaign, a panel is key to success and Limerick clearly have that in spades.

5 Hurling is the greatest game of them all

The year of 2018 will be remembered for many things; the Beast from the East, the summer heatwave, the World Cup, the Ireland women’s hockey team, and an epic All Ireland hurling championship.

From week to week, we were treated to some classic encounters culminating in an All-Ireland semi-final weekend that featured two draws, two extra-times and one requiring a replay.

We were treated to some classic plays - Kyle Hayes’ equaliser in Pairc Ui Chaoimh, Peter Duggan’s winner under the stand against Tipperary in Thurles, Joe’s sideline against Clare and Nickie Quaid’s ‘flick’ that saved Limerick.

If the new format of 2018 is anything to go by, 2019 is going to be a cracker.

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