Limerick's Cathal O'Neill: 'It's about trusting ourselves'

LIMERICK senior hurling manager John Kiely and Man-of-the-Match Cathal O'Neill were delighted with their side's 10-point victory over Waterford on Sunday afternoon at the TUS Gaelic Grounds. 

Cathal O'Neill was superb for the reigning All-Ireland champions chipping in with two points from play, winning four puck-outs as well as getting on 17 possessions throughout the game.

“It was seriously tough, Waterford got it back to two or three around 50 minutes and against those elements it's really tough but we battled through,” O'Neill told RTE's Sunday's Game.

“Thank God, we have that trust in each other to keep going and it paid off thankfully. Waterford are such a good team and they were always going to have a purple patch."

“It was just about trusting ourselves, trusting our ability, trusting our gameplan and to keep pegging away and we'll get our chances and we were always going to get chances at the other end and thankfully Aaron and few boys converted them.”

 Before this year, O'Neill has been in and out of Limerick' starting XV but the talented attacker has grabbed his opportunity to impress in 2024.

"It's great and anyone inside in our camp loves it. It's a great camp to be involved in and everyone is pushing each other. Days like this make it all the better."

Manager John Kiely also spoke with RTE Sport after the game. 

Kiely was satisfied with Limerick's performance against Waterford.

“I'm delighted that we got the result and the performance. It was very solid and it was down to a two point game ten minutes into the second half and with the breeze that was there, that was a real challenge for us."

“The resilience that's been shown by the group and the way they've bounced back in the last two weeks is something that I'm extremely proud of.”

Limerick hit 14 wides in the opening half and that was a concern for the All-Ireland winning manager. “When you're hitting a large number of wides, there's always a concern. It can erode confidence but I think the inner belief that is in this group, they don't allow things like that to eat into their confidence.

“They're relentless in the way they play the game. It's next ball all the time and it's something for us to go back after again. The wind was tricky, there's no two ways about it, but we didn't help ourselves at times."

“We shot from maybe a little bit too far out and we just didn't play to the elements. It's a piece for us to go after but all told I'd be very happy.”

Limerick now meet Clare in the Munster Senior Hurling final on June 9 at 4pm in Semple Stadium, Thurles. A win would secure their place in an All-Ireland semi-final on July 7, while a defeat would see them face the winners of the Wexford or the loser of the Joe McDonagh Cup in the All-Ireland quarter-final on June 22.