Limerick hurlers' attention quickly shifts to Munster Championship

AN ALLIANZ Hurling League title for Limerick concluded a successful spring for John Kiely’s side.

Not that there will be too much dwelling on the six-point victory over Cork at the TUS Gaelic Grounds.

Kiely made clear that attention immediately turns to the Munster SHC - where the ‘Rebels’ are Limerick’s first opponents.

"We'll use this week as a reset now, absolutely,” Kiely said after the league final win over Cork. “The league finishes today. There's a full stop there, it's done.”

It needn’t be said that this victory - great as it was - will count for little if the result doesn’t go the way of the men in green when the pair do battle at SuperValu Pairc Ui Chaoimh in just over two weeks time.

But winning always has to be better than losing and anytime you get one over the ‘Rebels’ is a day to savour.
And savour it the Limerick faithful did.

The scenes on the pitch after this Allianz Hurling League final are ones we have become accustomed to in the last decade with five All-Ireland wins and six Munster titles in a row under Kiely’s leadership.

Considering the county won just six provincial titles in the 45 years between All-Ireland wins, it’s easy to see why every success is celebrated so profusely.

While league medals don’t compare to Munster and All-Ireland titles, heading into what promises to be such a competitive championship, getting spring wins over Cork (twice) and a number of other major All-Ireland title contenders will give the Shannonsiders a boost ahead of the intense Munster SHC schedule.

While Clare have been somewhat under the radar plying their spring trade in Division 1B of the league, the ‘Banner’ looked sharp at times in Sunday’s curtain raiser. Shane O’Donnell in particular looked dangerous when the ball came his way with corner forwards Shane Meehan and Mark Rodgers looking in fine nick with championship fast approaching. Clare’s inside trio combined for 2-16 in the win over Dublin.

However, they struggled to get over the line so they will want some fine-tuning before they open their Munster campaign at home to Waterford - their last match before Limerick travel to Ennis.

Tipperary and Waterford are waiting in the long grass, the Deise suffering relegation to Division 1B despite a win over Limerick early in the group stage.

The ‘Premier’ county will be satisfied with three wins out of six as they prepare to defend their All-Ireland title.

But consistently all year, the message from Kiely has been of an insular focus - let the opposition look after themselves and he will do similar with his Limerick players.

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With that in mind, he gave a squad update after the league final win.

“From an injury perspective, we have only one man that's out at the minute, that's Tom Morrissey. He's nearly back,” Kiely revealed.

“He's done a huge amount of work to get back and I have no doubt when he does he'll make an impact.

“That's a great place for us to be.

“We have a couple of lads involved in the 20s so they're busy at the moment as well.

“But overall the group is in a good place and days like today are a big help in terms of the morale of the group.”