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Finn reckons Limerick's three-week break is ideal

Seán Finn of Limerick celebrates after the Munster GAA Hurling Senior Championship Final match between Limerick and Tipperary at Páirc Uí Chaoimh in Cork.

Seán Finn of Limerick celebrates after the Munster GAA Hurling Senior Championship Final match between Limerick and Tipperary at Páirc Uí Chaoimh in Cork.

By John Harrington

Limerick defender, Sean Finn, believes a three-week break will have the Shannonsiders perfectly primed for the All-Ireland semi-finals.

Their opponents will have had a more hectic schedule regardless of who they play.

If it’s Waterford, the All-Ireland semi-final will be their fourth match in consecutive weekends; if it’s Cork it’ll be their third match in consecutive weekends; while it would be a second match in consecutive weekends for Dublin.

“Three weeks is a nice break,” says Finn.

“It allows you to recover from the first game and then you get a two-week block of training running into the semi-final.

“It can work both ways, if you get momentum there, three or four games in a row, after coming out of the qualifiers and into a semi-final it can work in your favour if you don’t pick up injuries.

“From our perspective, three weeks is ideal.”

Limerick will surely have a spring in their step coming into the All-Ireland semi-final after a dramatic Munster Final victory over Tipperary that saw them turn a 10-point half-time deficit into a five-point win.

“We would be disappointed in some sense in our performance in the first half,” says Finn of their victory. “It wasn’t that bad but the scoreline reflected something very different.

“But at the end of the game it was hugely satisfying to come out of it, considering the position we were in at half-time.

“It was definitely a performance we would have been proud of, and we knew we had in ourselves.

“At half-time, there were 40 minutes left, if you include extra time, so we knew we were still in contention to win the game.

“It was obviously hugely satisfying to come out of the Munster final with a win after that performance and the position we were in.”

Seán Finn and Limerick manager John Kiely celebrate after the Munster GAA Hurling Senior Championship Final match between Limerick and Tipperary at Páirc Uí Chaoimh in Cork.

Seán Finn and Limerick manager John Kiely celebrate after the Munster GAA Hurling Senior Championship Final match between Limerick and Tipperary at Páirc Uí Chaoimh in Cork.

Limerick manager John Kiely declared Limerick’s third quarter performance to be the strongest the team had produced under his watch and Finn wasn’t inclined to disagree.

“I suppose it had to be a performance that was our greatest in the last couple of years,” he says.

“We hit three points in a row at the start of the second half and brought it down to six points, and six points nowadays is very little in hurling.

“From them on it just began to click. The goals of course helped but when we’re flowing and performing the way we expect of ourselves, we’re a difficult team to play against.

“We made a few positional changes, set up that bit differently, and when it did click it was very difficult to stop and the momentum carried through the whole 35 minutes.

“We kind of copped what Tipp were doing in the first 20 minutes, but at that stage we were punished with two goals for not dealing with their puckout.

“We made a few changes for the second half and it stood to us.”