Limerick's Nickie Quaid and William O'Donoghue reflect on sixth Munster final win

LIMERICK showed true character on Sunday to pull through and claim an extraordinary sixth Munster senior hurling title in-a-row with players like Nickie Quaid and William O’Donoghue stepping up to be some of Limerick’s top performers.

Quaid, yet again, was nearly foot perfect in goals, pulling off a number of crucial saves over the course of the exciting contest.
The Effin clubman made crucial stops throughout the game, like in the 17th minute, as Mark Rogers set up Aidan McCarthy with a goal chance.

However, Limerick netminder Quaid produced a very smart save to deny the Inagh-Kilnamona attacker and again as Clare set up the shot which eventually fell into the hands of Duggan.

These top class saves showed the country again why he is regarded as one of the best goalies in the game of hurling. Speaking to RTÉ's Sunday Game Live after the Munster final victory, Quaid said: “Hego’s (Gearoid Hegarty) goal in the second-half gave us a bit of breathing space and we had a stiff enough breeze with us then so we were able to push on them thankfully.

“We are extremely united as a group and we are so together. I suppose all we want to do everyday is go training and try to push ourselves and raise our standards every time.”

There will be plenty of time for standards to be raised as the Shannonsiders turn their attention to their All-Ireland semi-final set for Sunday, July 7 in Croke Park.

Limerick are two wins away from claiming a record fifth successive All-Ireland senior hurling final win. Another pivotal player in Limerick’s line-up was midfield powerhouse William O’Donoghue who made a handsome contribution to the side's convincing victory over the Banner.

The Na Piarsaigh star also spoke after the game to RTÉ TV stating: “It’s a 75/76 minute game and there is gonna be a whole lot that goes wrong. I wouldn’t call the Clare goal a sucker punch but we definitely felt like we could have dealt with it better. We showed good characteristics throughout that second-half where we didn’t panic and we stuck to our principles.”

Limerick's half-back line of Diarmaid Byrnes, Declan Hannon and Kyle Hayes have been getting high praise for their performance since the game and O'Donoghue said of their defence: “The strong defence of that platform comes from the boys putting a lot of pressure on up top.

“Like you saw one or two times when Barry or Kyle intercepted and turned them straight into scores.” The entire Limerick squad were a credit once again to themselves showing resilience and character throughout to retain the Mick Mackey Cup and secure the county's 25th Munster senior hurling title.