YOU WOULDN’T BLAME Limerick if they felt they had the latest bout of off-the-field turmoil in their back pocket should they fail to live up to the standards set by winning the Munster Hurling Championship last year.
However, for Séamus Hickey at least, it has to be onwards and upwards for 2013′s beaten All-Ireland semi-finalists.
“You can’t have any excuse against Tipp, you can’t use Division 1B, you can’t use any of the other things that are floating around.
“Championship is championship.
“We showed last year coming from 1B, having the misfortune to lose in the final to Dublin on the day by a point. How related was that game to our first round win over Tipperary? Not really, because we played very, very differently against Tipp than we did against Dublin.
“Championship is like that, you prepare for the team you’re going to play and every team is different.”
That’s not to say the centre-back isn’t sorry to see O’Grady’s go.
“Ah it’s disappointing, like, because we all have a huge, huge admiration for Donal O’Grady.
“That extends right back to 2011 when he came in and did a stellar job and picked us up from where we were and he’s a top-class man whose knowledge about hurling is probably unparalleled in a sense.
“So it was definitely disappointing but at the same time I’m experienced in these matters and just roll with the punches at this stage.”
Sadly for Limerick players and fans, off-the-field issues dominating the action on the pitch are all too familiar. It is a little different this time though, as Hickey explains.
“The thing about this year is that it’s got nothing to do with the players. We didn’t do anything.
“We didn’t do anything right, we didn’t do anything wrong, we just sit in the background and work away. It can’t affect us in that sense so we didn’t let it.
“If you’re looking at it from outside yeah it is frustrating. That’s a public perception and I’d say people in Limerick, people who go to games, are frustrated.
“From a player’s perspective, and I’m not being flippant about it, it doesn’t matter that much when you’ve a set-up that’s got very strong people in it anyway and was coached that way under the previous regime to be very strong in who we are and to drive it internally.
“I don’t think it affects us a whole pile. It is disappointing to have a distraction and that’s what it is and, you know, I can’t do anything about it so I just move on.”
While Hickey didn’t comment on reports that former county hurler Davy Clarke is set to join the Limerick senior hurling management, he was keen to put paid to the notion that upheaval like this galvanises a squad.
“It’s something people say but, you know, if you’re not a tight group and you need something like this to bring you together I personally would ask where was the set-up before?
“I think we’re a tight group anyway. TJ [Ryan] is a man we all have a lot of respect for. A fella who again, from his previous participation in 2011, players have a lot of time for.
“He’s a familiar voice who we’re comfortable with and he’s a very positive guy. We’re very happy with who we have anyway so we just drive on.”
