The same protagonists are still likely to be at the forefront when it comes to chasing provincial hurling honours in the coming weeks, according to Shane McGrath.
Several counties have already held their county finals, while the Limerick, Kilkenny and Dublin deciders are among the ones down for decision this weekend.
Ballygunner are the defending All-Ireland club champions and will begin the defence of their Munster crown in the coming weeks, having lifted county honours in Waterford at the end of August.
For McGrath, Ballygunner remain one of the teams to beat down south, with Na Piarsaigh, who face Kilmallock in the Limerick final this weekend, also capable of mounting an All-Ireland challenge.
“You’re coming out of your own county now in Munster and really, you are still looking at the same teams that we’re looking at the last 10 or 12 years,” McGrath said on the latest edition of the RTE GAA Podcast.
“For me, they are still Na Piarsaigh and Ballygunner.
“If you’re drawing one of them in the Munster club hurling championship, you have to be so right and everything has to be going so right for you to beat them, because they’re on a another level.”
Ballygunner have dominated Munster in recent seasons, winning four of the last five titles and have added two All-Irelands beyond the province. Na Piarsaigh, if they win their county final, will chase a first Munster crown since 2017.
“Na Piarsaigh and Ballygunner, I’m sure they’re both setting their sights on winning this Munster.
“I’m sure Na Piarsaigh and some of their guys are looking at this and thinking we want to give this one really good go, you don’t know what will happen with injuries or life.
“And I’m sure Ballygunner are looking on and thinking ‘we won our second All-Ireland last year, we’re one of the best club teams ever, we want to go on and cement it’ and maybe get into the conversation with the Portumnas and Ballyhale, who are the best club team ever in my opinion, but that’s what they [Ballygunner] want to do.”
Na Piarsaigh are the defending Limerick champions, and McGrath expects the holders to successfully navigate this Sunday’s final against a Kilmallock side contesting a first county decider in four years.
“I would think so, yeah,” McGrath said when asked if Na Piarsaigh will win this weekend.
“They’re playing Kilmallock, who are going fine, they’d have huge standards in that club in terms of the culture and it’s not a million years ago since they got to an All-Ireland club final but I just think Na Piarsaigh have been getting better and better with every game
“If Kilmallock are looking at where they can get at them, they might look at the fact that Doon got three goals against Na Piarsaigh in the last game so they might go after that, especially when you’ve the likes of Shane O’Brien and Oisin O’Reilly
“But I just think all over the field, Na Piarsaigh, they have too many fires for a lot of teams to put out all of the fires.
“If you look at the threat they have, when Peter Casey is on, when David Dempsey is on, when Adrian Breen is on, you throw in Kevin Downes into that, Will O’Donoghue in midfield, they’re just so solid, you’ve Mike Casey in the backs, what Shane Dowling does for them, particularly from the restarts.”
On Leeside, Glen Rovers secured a memorable victory over St Finbarr’s in last Sunday’s Cork final, ensuring their first tilt at a Munster campaign since 2016.
Cork clubs, however, have experienced a difficult time when it comes to trying to scale the provincial summit – since the Glen appeared in the 2016 decider, only one club from Cork has made the final, that being Sarsfields in their 2024 victory over Ballygunner.
McGrath says he isn’t sure why Cork club haven’t prospered outside the county but feels their style of playing isn’t suited to a wintry period of the year.
“We’d be similar in Tipp, when we come out, we’d have found it tough to be competitive
“It’s a different championship this time of year to when the first round is played because you’re probably losing ten yards now on a strike, not because of the breeze but because of the temperature, the ball is not going to travel as far when it’s a bit colder, hurling or football or any sport.”
“Maybe the style of play we associate with a lot of the Cork clubs is a top of the ground sort of stuff, where it’s fast and it’s flowing.
“If the Munster Club Championship was played in July or August, you could have a Cork team winning it every year. But I just think the nature of their game maybe is that it’s slick, it’s ball to hand and when it goes to ground this time of year it does become a dogfight
“And for me personally that’s maybe where they’ve found it hard to compete when they do come out of Cork, it’s not that they don’t have brilliant players, brilliant individuals, brilliant set ups, as Sarsfields proved when they went and beat Ballygunner.
“It’s just maybe the style of play, of hurling that they’re playing, is more suited to a finer weather type of a game.”
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