Declan Hannon, left, and William O’Donoghue of Limerick leave the pitch after victory over Tipperary in the Munster SHC semi-final at Páirc Uí Chaoimh in Cork.
By John Harrington
Hurling against this Limerick team in their current form must be a thoroughly demoralising experience for their opponents.
Like a platoon of green-shirted Terminators they just keep coming no matter what you throw at them in attack or how hard you battle in defence.
The panic felt by some of the Tipperary players in Sunday’s defeat to the Shanonsiders was palpable at times.
Limerick’s hooking, blocking, and general scrapping for possession was savage in its intensity, and it just wore their opponents down.
Tipperary ball carriers knew they would be swamped by tacklers if they didn’t move the ball on almost immediately, but by trying to avoid this Limerick press they were often hurried into a poor pass or jittery first touch.
That’s the effect of this Limerick team has on you. They don’t just beat you up physically, they get inside your head and break you down mentally.
It was well flagged in advance that a winter championship might suit this Limerick team because of their sheer strength and athleticism.
They have certainly out-muscled both Clare and Tipperary now so far in their campaign, but size wasn’t their only obvious advantage in both of those victories.
The skill-level of John Kiely’s team is of the highest calibre too, and it really came to the fore in the wet and windy conditions that prevailed in Páirc Uí Chaoimh yesterday when their first touch and striking was much better than Tipperary’s.
Their nine-point winning margin in no way flattered them, though John Kiely wasn’t inclined to agree it was a comprehensive victory in its aftermath.
“Not at all, I wouldn't call that comprehensive,” he said. “Up to seven, eight minutes to go, a break of a ball left or right and there's a ball in the back of the net, particularly in those conditions.
“We had to work really, really hard for every single ball. It was a great battle. We really ground it out, though the conditions were part of that.”
Limerick hurling team manager, John Kiely.
Kiely is understandably trying to prevent the Limerick hype train from building up too much steam after what happened them in last year’s All-Ireland semi-final against Limerick, but it has already left the station.
Legendary Limerick hurler Ciarán Carey told Off The Ball this morning he believes this generation of players can now dominate hurling in the same way that Dublin have dominated Gaelic Football for the best part of ten years.
Time will tell, but you can easily understand why Carey’s confidence is high.
The age profile of this Limerick team is perfect, they’re superbly coached, and they have greater strength in depth than any other team in the country.
That was vividly illustrated once moer against Tipperary when substitutes Seamus Flanagan, David Dempsey, David Reidy, and Pat Ryan all made telling impacts after their introduction.
“They all contributed well,” admitted Kiely. “It took them a few minutes to get settled into it, given the conditions it’s very hard to come into a game like that, so to contribute as they did, I’m very pleased.
“We had some tired bodies at times - second week out and a lot of hits, but it’s a panel effort, that’s the bottom line.
“The more they can give off the bench, the more competitive, the more thoughts then myself and the boys have to give to picking the team. Hopefully that’ll continue.”
Seamus Flanagan of Limerick, left, celebrates with team-mate Pat Ryan after scoring his side's third goal during the Munster GAA Hurling Senior Championship Semi-Final match between Tipperary and Limerick at Páirc Uí Chaoimh in Cork.
The versatility of these Limerick players is another string to their bow.
Kyle Hayes has made his name as a centre-forward but was one of Limerick’s best players on Sunday as a wing-back, while the decision to switch Cian Lynch from midfield to centre-forward also paid off.
"It is not that different really for Cian because he’s coming into that middle third anyway,” said Kiely.
“He gathered a lot of ball in areas that he would ordinarily be gathering ball anyway. For Kyle, he came back last year in the All-Ireland semi-final, he came back centre back and more than acquitted himself there, for him to go wing-back is a very natural thing to do.”
The first box you must tick when playing this Limerick team is to match their work-rate, which is a lot easier said than done.
It’ll be interesting to see how well Waterford do in that regard in the Munster Final, because their own work-ethic was also very impressive in their semi-final win against Cork.
Liam Cahill seems to be getting a nice tune out of his team, and Kiely is expecting a tough battle.
“They were fantastic yesterday, super performance from them yesterday,” said Kiely of Waterford’s win over Cork.“We saw that in the league, I think there was only four points between us in the league.
“They really impressed me in the league, they are very organised, very hard working, same again last night, very organised, very composed and very hard-working last night is what I would say. It’s going to be a big challenge.”
Deafeating Limerick will be a tall order for Waterford.
But, at the very least, ever other county left in the Championship will hope they can at least make Limerick's Terminators look human again.
