Hurling homecoming of sorts as big crowd set for Limerick v Galway tie in Allianz League

HENRY Shefflin’s Galway come to town this Saturday evening as the Limerick hurlers attempt to return to winning ways.

The TUS Gaelic Grounds tie will be the first time that John Kiely’s men in green have played a home game without Covid-19 crowd restrictions since the spring of 2020. The hurling heroes have won two All-Ireland SHC titles, two Munster SHC titles and an Allianz League since that March 2020 clash with Waterford.

However, the task at hand on Saturday will be a return to winning ways when Limerick entertain Galway at 7pm in a fixture that will be live on RTE2 television.

Tickets for today's eagerly awaited home fixture for the All-Ireland champions went on sale from Monday had broken the 10,000 figure by Friday morning. Supporters are warned that there will be no cash at the stiles on matchday. Tickets can be purchased online or from from official ticket agent stores and there are 22 such Centra or SuperValu stores across Limerick.

Tickets will remain on sale online and in stores until throw-in. Juveniles (U16) are free of charge and do not need a ticket.

The Limerick team to play Galway was confirmed on Thursday evening - details here

“We just have to play a bit better next week and that’s the bottom line,” said manager John Kiely’s after last Sunday’s round one defeat to Wexford.

“It is never easy coming down here and we have to rebound and bounce back next week. We will work hard in training and get ready for Saturday night,” he stressed after the 1-11 to 0-11 loss.

“Lots of aspects of our game were very good - I thought we defended really, really well and used the ball coming out of defence really well. We were under a lot of pressure there at times and Wexford worked exceptionally hard and were right in our face from the get go and they were good value for their win at the end of the day.”

He continued: “It’s hard to put your finger on it immediately after the game - we didn’t get enough flow going, enough passing going and I think that continuity from the middle third into our finals third - the ball broke down on too many occasions in that sector”.

“We need to do better than that - we will get back and work hard on Tuesday night and it’s just game one. We just have to play a bit better next week and that’s the bottom line,” stressed Kiely.

The Limerick manager outlined how he would continue to utilise his panel of players throughout the league.

“There is going to be a wide section of players used during the whole course of the league. At the moment we have some lads coming back from injury and we are trying to manage lads that are playing Fitzgibbon Cup and Freshers hurling so it is going to be in-and-out. We need these guys hit and healthy down the road and there is only two weeks left it in so we will get through the next two weeks and see then," said Kiely of his players.