Limerick U20 hurlers face Clare in must-win Munster championship clash

LIMERICK U20 hurling manager Evan Loftus says his side's Munster Championship clash with Clare this Wednesday, April 30, is effectively a provincial quarter-final.

A victory or a draw for Limerick at the TUS Gaelic Grounds, 7.30pm, will see them advance into the Munster semi-final. If Cork avoid defeat against Waterford in their round robin fixture, the Rebels will join Limerick or Clare in the Munster semi-final.

Tipperary have progressed directly into the Munster final. The Premier county sit on six points after their four games.
Limerick are on three points with a scoring difference of (0), Clare have three points with a scoring difference of (-2), while Cork are on three points with a scoring difference of (-4). Waterford sit on the bottom of the table on one point.

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“We welcome Clare, another big test. Everything is still to play for, everything is still in our own hands which is great. Home game which in effect is a Munster quarter-final now. Winners go through to a Munster semi-final, losers that will be that,” Evan Loftus said.

“It's just about regrouping now, working on a few small little things and try carry that through and put in a performance against Clare.”

Limerick's bench made a huge impact in their one point defeat to Cork on Wednesday evening last (April 23).

“It's very much a collective effort, 15 players won't win anybody anything this day and age. We've a big group, they push each other massively at training and stuff. There are lads that are very disappointed not to be in the starting XV and other lads who were very disappointed not to be on the matchday squad. When we go back to training, that'll all surface again and lads have an opportunity. We have the utmost faith in the whole group, so we know when we bring lads in off the bench. We will get a kick off it.”

Loftus is looking for an improvement in his side's efficiency after last week's defeat to Cork.

“There's a few bits and pieces there, our second quarter I thought our energy levels and workrate really dipped. We'll have looked at that and why that happened. I thought we were struggling to get on the front foot especially the breaking ball around the middle third which is something that we normally pride ourselves on.

“We created a lot of opportunities in the first half, but our efficiency let us down. It's easier to correct the efficiency side of things than trying to get the shots off. It's not a massive amount of time but we'll be able to zone in on a couple of litle bits of pieces and see if we can get a bit of bounce on that,” said Loftus.

If Limerick are to advance into the Munster semi-final they will return to action on Wednesday, May 7.