Limerick's hurling season on the line against Tipperary

LIMERICK'S senior hurlers are back in action in the Munster Senior Hurling Championship on this Sunday afternoon when they make the short trip to take on Tipperary in Thurles.

John Kiely's side are badly in need of a win after the one-point defeat to Clare in their last game. Limerick currently sit in fourth place in the Munster SHC round robin table, behind Clare, Cork and Sunday's opponents.

Limerick will be without Seán Finn for the remainder of the season after he suffered an ACL injury in that defeat to Clare. Mike Casey replaced Finn for the second half at the TUS Gaelic Grounds and would be favourite to step in for the Bruff club man.

Elsewhere, Kiely could opt to refresh other areas of the team after an underwhelming start to Limerick's defense of their Munster and All-Ireland titles.

Kiely has enjoyed a good record over the Premier since he took over the manager role in 2017. Under the Galbally man, Limerick have beaten Tipperary five times from their six meetings, two of which came in Munster Finals, 2021 and 2019.

The sides last met in the Allianz Hurling League semi-final in March, with a superb second-half display seeing Limerick to a 1-28 to 0-25 win at the TUS Gaelic Grounds.

Tipperary come into Sunday's game with an impressive start to their first Munster SHC under the stewardship of Liam Cahill.
Two goals apiece from Jason Forde and Jake Morris, as well as one from Sean Ryan, helped Tipperary to five-point win over Clare in their first game.

An epic contest against Cork followed in their second game with Shane Kingston's injury time point stopping Tipperary from coming away with a second victory.

Forde is likely to miss Sunday's clash in Thurles with a hamstring injury picked up in the draw with Cork. UL Fitzgibbon star Gearóid O'Connor took over the free-taking duties from Forde after the left the field injured and could be in line to do the same on Sunday.

Limerick will likely need two wins from their two remaining games to have any hope of reaching the 2023 Munster Final.
A win for Cork against Clare in the earlier game on Sunday would see Limerick needing a victory over Tipperary to remain in contention of finishing in the top three, even before they finish their round robin fixtures against Cork on Sunday week.

Kiely's charges had a bit of time off in the days after the loss to Clare, their first defeat in Munster since Tipperary beat them in the 2019 round robin.

The Limerick manager will be hopeful that his side would have learned from that loss to Clare last time out. Limerick never really got going and Kiely pointed to the accuracy in front of goal as one of the main reasons that his side were on the wrong side of the one-point defeat to the Banner.