Seamus Hickey
By John Harrington
Limerick defender Seamus Hickey admits the Shannonsiders need to up their standards after their heavy 7-22 to 1-19 defeat to Cork in the Munster Senior Hurling League last weekend.
Team manager John Kiely said afterwards that their level of performance was unacceptable, and Hickey concurs.
“That’s a no-brainer, we have to put up our standards,” he says.
“You can’t accept that as a normal standard, no question. There will have to be a response.
“It’s not going to be tearing down walls but we have to up what we consider to be a normal standard and what’s acceptable from our group.”
Despite the scale of the defeat to the Rebels, Hickey is optimistic that the Limerick hurlers can have a big year in 2017.
“This is the time of year if you’re not optimistic and you’re not positive then why are you there? I’m optimistic, I’m positive.
“We’ve got a great group inside there. We’re working hard as everybody is at this time of year. We’re very happy with what they’re doing.”
Limerick are away to Wexford in the first round of Division 1B of the Allianz Hurling League on February 11, and Hickey agrees they need to be primed for big performances from the very start of the competition if they’re to win promotion.
“We’ve to hit the ground running and we’ve had to hit the ground running every year and I don’t think it’s an accident that our fixtures are like that,” he says.
“I think the GAA want the league to be competitive from start to finish and they want something up for grabs on the last day and that’s why we’ve got Galway last and Wexford first, which are two huge games for us.
“As will be every game in between because we’ve found in the past that if you take anybody for granted you find your first part of the year is a disappointment and you have to regroup and go for the championship.
“We’ve proved before that league and championship don’t normally correlate and we’ve produced performances but I always like to get out of where we are.”
