Former umpire eyes up his 47th All-Ireland final as Limerick seek historic three in-a-row

LIMERICK hurling supporter and former Ahane GAA Chairman Seámus Walsh wouldn’t miss attending his 47th All-Ireland final in Croke Park “for the world”.

Seámus has been attending Croke Park for the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Final since the great Limerick win in 1973, when he was just nine years old, the Treaty’s first win in 33 years and has rarely missed one since.

He described Limerick’s 1973 win as a great thing at the time: “When we won the Munster final [that year] it was like our All-Ireland final, we had a bad run of it in the 1960s with Tipperary beating us, Cork beating us, everyone beating us. So we thought the All-Ireland final was just a big day out, no one actually thought we’d win.”

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There is no doubt in Seámus’ mind who will win on Sunday this time around, however: “Limerick will definitely win it. We were going to beat Galway in the semi-final and Clare in the Munster final, I can’t see them being beaten. They’ll do it by five or six points.”

The former Ahane GAA chairman umpired at the All-Ireland final in 1999 which proved to be a fierce battle between Kilkenny and Cork which saw the latter take home the Liam MacCarthy Cup with just 1 point in the difference.

He also umpired at the 2001 All-ireland final between Tipperary and Galway and the 2003 All-Ireland final between Kilkenny and Cork again.

“In my eyes everyone is bigging Kilkenny up because they beat Clare well but they played a very bad Clare, they weren’t the same team we saw in the Munster final,” Seámus said confidently.