Countdown to Munster SHC opener on in earnest for Limerick hurlers

WITH Limerick’s title defence in the Allianz Hurling League short-lived, the countdown to the July 3 Munster SHC semi final with Cork is underway in earnest for John Kiely’s side.

Limerick have two remaining Allianz League games – Cork (June 5) in the LIT Gaelic Grounds and Westmeath (June 13) in Mullingar before their championship title defence.

Experimentation is likely to continue in the league in efforts to get all to July 3 in fine fettle – Limerick have used 29 players in their three league ties to-date with 25 getting starting roles. That leaves nine players in the panel of 38 yet to see action. Among these are Graeme Mulcahy and Mike Casey.

Mulcahy is now back in full training after an ankle injury and could yet feature in the league while Casey is still on the road to full recovery after his cruciate ligament operation last November.

Others like David Reidy and Gearoid Hegarty had knocks that kept them out of the Waterford game but neither should be long-term worries.

“We have a week without a game and I would say that all slides will be happy to take a breather from the competitive side of it and knuckle down with a bit of work this week and next weekend and hopefully get ready for round four in two weeks time,” said Limerick manager John Kiely.

“We still have a lot of work to do but we have five weeks together and we will be right,” he vowed.
“I know that we are making great strides and great progress and are very happy with the progress we are making. In terms of our performance levels I am strongly of the opinion that we are moving in the right direction,” stressed Kiely.

After three rounds of the league, Limerick, Laois and Westmeath are the only sides without a victory - indeed it's the first time since 2017 that Limerick have lost back-to-back games.

”Of course we would have liked to (be winning) but it’s very competitive. Look at the group we are in - we have had to play Tipp, Galway and Waterford - last year’s All-Ireland beaten finalists, the previous years All-Ireland champions and the All-Ireland champions and finalists in the previous two years.

"Look at the quality we had to play and they have all loads of work done and are in great shape and playing well - that’s a tough challenge for any team,” outlined the Limerick manager.

He added: “We are just taking it game by game”.