Evan Loftus looking to help Limerick U20 hurlers develop

LIMERICK U20 hurling manager Evan Loftus says the main goal is to help as many players as possible progress onto the county's senior hurling squad.

Ten of last year U20's squad are part of John Kiely's senior pre-season squad in 2025. Oisin O'Farrell, William Dore, Cian Scully, Fintan Fitzgerald, Con Hayes, Shane O'Brien, Vince Harrington, Hugh Flanagan, Sean Casey and Darragh Langan have all seen gametime for the Limerick senior hurlers in recent challenge matches.

“Now you wouldn't hide behind the development side of things too much. Ultimately that is the main goal of getting these lads up to senior hurling and getting them up to that standard. And getting as many through as we possibly can year on year.”

Darragh Langan, Fintan Fitzgerald, Sean Casey and Hugh Flanagan are all eligible for the U20 grade again this year.

“Ultimately you want them coming with a habit of winning as well and getting results that what we are striving for this year. It's fantastic to see those lads make the step up. There's a good few of them up there at the moment. We'd be hoping that the lads that are with us at the moment are looking at that and they're striving for that. I've no doubt they will be,” Loftus said.

The Ballybrown native is hoping his side can improve from last year's performance in the Munster championship. Limerick only managed to win one of their round-robin games against Waterford.Cork, Tipperary and Clare defeated the Shannonsiders.

“The results didn't go the way we had planned. We took a lot of learnings from that experience. On reflection, you wouldn't be happy with the way the results went, it was fine margins in a lot of cases. It's just a case of staying at it and hopefully right those wrongs now this year.”

Twenty players from last year's squad are part of Loftus' 38-man panel this year. Meanwhile, 18 new players have been included in the panel.

“We'd be hoping that they would have the experience from last year and then incorporating the 18 new lads this year. There's a good blend of lads that would have that experience from last year and fellas coming in fresh this year.”

Loftus feels the biggest challenge for himself and his management team is to get their players into a winning habit.

“It's just about doing the basics right and doing them consistently right. And with that brings confidence. Ultimately, it's a step by step process.

“We just have to make sure all our basics are right and once we do that we can give ourselves a fantastic opportunity to compete. Once we are in that area, results will start to come our way.”

Alan Kelly, Stephen Walsh, and Tony Power are all part of Loftus’ backroom team for the second year in-a-row.

Limerick open their Munster U20 hurling championship round robin campaign against Tipperary on March 26.Two weeks later, Limerick travel to Waterford on April 9. Loftus’ side finish their round-robin campaign off with home games against Cork and Limerick.