Limerick manager Kevin O'Hagan proud of minor hurlers honesty in championship exit

LIMERICK minor hurling manager Kevin O'Hagan has stressed the future is bright for the 2021 crop of county U17 hurlers.

His side lost by 10-points to Cork in Tuesday's Munster minor hurling semi final but the Mungret man is confident they will wear the green of Limerick again.

"They want to learn and drive on and hopefully represent their county at senior level," he outlined.

"I am really really proud - that would be my real emotion now. These are really good fellas - they have an honesty, every time they turned up for us they were honest and answered questions, took the learnings and drove on. While obviously disappointed I am hugely proud of our work with this fantastic group of young boys, nearly men, who will go on to represent Limerick again," stressed O'Hagan.

The defeat means it's just the second time in nine years that Limerick won't contest the Munster MHC final.

"There is obviously disappointment and I feel sorry for the lads and that is a very quiet dressing room in there and they are lads that aren’t always quiet. They put everything in what happened out there but it didn’t go our way - it’s a cliche about the bounce or break of the ball but we didn’t win the breaking ball. I can’t fault anyone of them - we had 20 in for the end and they all gave their best when they were on the field," said the Limerick manager, who had coach Ger Barry (Killeedy) and coach-selectors Liam Reale (Hospital-Herbertstown), Mark Keane (South Liberties) and Liam Hammersley (Cappamore). The S&C coach was Darragh Droog (Mungret St Pauls) with goalkeeper coach Aaron Murphy (Hospital-Herbertstown).

Cork now play Waterford in the Munster final. The Rebels were 40-point winners over Clare in their quarter final and then 1-24 to 1-14 winners over Limerick.

"They were an excellent team and we saw them here against Clare but we thought we had a match for them but we didn’t on the day. I wouldn’t fear having to play them again but they are an excellent team and down the middle they have some superb hurlers," said O'Hagan.

Covid-19 meant a reduced straight knockout format for the 2020 and 2021 championships but this Limerick side looked like a group that would benefit from the usual four round robin group games. 

"What these young fellas want to do is play hurling. More games and more opportunities in a competitive atmosphere would have brought them on. Cork for the 12-weeks they had, they got their system right. We probably needed another couple of weeks to hone ours I would say. We would all love another couple of weeks but with Covid we are all just delighted to be out here to represent the county and to be hurling which we all love."

He continued: "They (Cork) are a big teams, a fast team, a lovely team with huge potential going forward and we had seen them, at U14, U15, U16. I think we have the same chances going forward. They (Limerick) want to learn and drive on and hopefully represent their county at senior level".

Limerick actually started well and it was 0-5 each at the end of the first quarter. 

"I thought we were doing really well - we had a good level of aggression and intensity. The ball wasn’t sticking inside as much as we would like early in the game. I think we controlled around the middle of the field and broke out really well from the backs. At that stage we would have felt we were in a good place at that water break."

But by half time Cork were 0-13 to 0-7 ahead.

"I was impressed with how our lads turned around after half time. We got a couple of scores but missed a few frees and maybe our discipline giving away frees cost us as well because," recalled the manager.

At the second half water break it was 0-20 to 0-12 and then came a Cork goal. 

"They went from defence to attack and that’s a principle we have worked on ourselves and Cork did it to a tee. They were up the top of the field in 10-12 seconds and back of the net and you have to applaud them for that," said O'Hagan of the goal which came seconds after Shane O'Brien and Mark Riordan almost combined for a Limerick goal at the other end.

"In the last quarter when we ran at them we started to get a bit of bite back into it again - maybe we should have made a few changes earlier because the lads that came in did really well," said O'Hagan. 

"They (Cork) had a lot of height and runners - most impressive to me was that they had serious runners with the ball. I thought their pace in the half forward line was exceptional and they ran at you and made good decisions which ultimately led to scores."