CORK, Ireland — For decades, the story of Limerick hurling was a tale of failure so filled with off-field drama and on-field defeat that it verged on farce. And it was a farce played out on the country’s grandest, most public stage. The conclusion looked so foregone that Limerick fans left their seats and headed toward the field, anticipating pandemonium. Offaly scored 7 points in a frenzy. Limerick won a single All-Ireland title in 1973, after a decades-long drought, and then didn’t win again for more than 40 years.

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