Limerick U20 hurlers looking to 'right a few wrongs' and get Munster campaign on track

LIMERICK are looking to bounce back from an opening-day loss to Cork as they made the short trip to Sixmilebridge to take on Clare in the Fulfil Munster U20 Hurling Championship on Wednesday night.

While the ‘Banner’ had a bye last week, they come into this game having defeated Waterford in round one. Limerick’s nine-point reversal against Cork in their first outing means Evan Loftus’ side need a result to renew their hopes of a top-three finish in the group.

Conceding four goals in 16 minutes either side of half time meant that - despite a bright start - Limerick are now looking to get their campaign up and running.

To their credit, Limerick didn’t give up in SuperValu Pairc Ui Chaoimh. They fought until the bitter end and outscored the hosts 0-8 to 0-3 in the final quarter to give themselves some bit of momentum heading into the trip to Clare.

“Without that you don’t have anything, that workrate has to be there first and foremost and then you can build everything else around it,” manager Loftus said.

“That was there in the first half especially. Quarter one was very, very good. Quarter two we just weren’t making contact, we were putting ourselves in position we just weren’t making contact.

“The workrate, the honesty was there and I’m really looking forward to going to Sixmilebridge.

“It will be a huge test but we’ll see if we can learn some lessons and right a few wrongs.”

Despite scoring five of the first six points in Cork, Limerick fell to a green flag onslaught from the hosts. While the final margin was nine, Loftus’ side trailed by as much as 14 points early in the second half.

“We are extremely disappointed with the result, we came down here to win, we came to get two points,” he said.

“In relation to the performance, I was happy with a lot of it, two killer blows with the goals ultimately that was the difference.

“It was 2-2 to no score at the start of the second half and they put away the game at that stage.

“To be fair to our lads, they didn’t throw in the towel. For the most part, they were trying to do the right thing and a few things just didn’t go our way but I would be happy with a lot of the performance - we know we have stuff to work on.”

While they only scraped over the line in a 1-10 to 0-12 win over Waterford in their Championship bow, this is a highly regarded Clare team.

This group of players won the All-Ireland Minor Hurling Championship three years ago so Loftus and his side are aware of the challenge they face.

“It’s one that we will relish,” Loftus said. “We had two great battles with them at minor level with this group - we came out the right side of one, the wrong side of the other. A lot changes between minor and 20s.”