Limerick U20 hurlers begin Munster championship campaign against Tipperary

THE LIMERICK U20 hurlers begin their Munster Championship campaign this evening against Tipperary at 7pm in Semple Stadium, Thurles. 

The game will be shown live on the TG4 YouTube channel. Sean Casey, Darragh Langan, Hugh Flanagan and Fintan Fitzgerald have all seen gamtime with the Limerick senior hurlers in 2025. Fitzgerald captains the Limerick U20's this year. 

Twenty players from last year's squad are part of the Limerick U20 38-man panel this year. Meanwhile, 18 new players have been included in the panel. 

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

“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.

“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.

Alan Kelly, Stephen Walsh, and Tony Power are all part of Loftus’ backroom team for the second year in-a-row. There are 21 clubs represented on the 38-man Limerick U20 panel.

Loftus will be hoping his side can put last year's disappointing campaign behind them. Limerick only managed to win one of their four Munster championship round-robin games last year.

The Ballybrown native 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.”

The Shannonsiders travel to Waterford on April 9. Loftus’ side finish their round-robin campaign off with home games against Cork and Clare.

Second and third-placed teams after the round-robin series will meet in the Munster semi-final on May 7. The winner will take on the team that finishes top of round-robin series in the Munster final on May 14.