Because nostalgia cares more about feelings it is sometimes more powerful than memory. You might remember explosive scores and heroic deeds from the hurling championships of the late 1990s but if you were devoted to a team from that time or if you simply had a catholic interest in the game what you really remember is how it made you feel. If you were in Thurles for Clare in 1995 or Croke Park for Wexford in 1996 or on the march with Offaly in the late summer of 1998 your heart was on fire. You couldn’t forget.
That period is celebrated as a precious decade in the history of the game which is where memory butts in and begs us to remember: how long did