THEY WILL MEET at the All-Ireland SHC semi-final stage on August 19th and having shared the last three national crowns between them, the latest instalment of the Tipperary and Kilkenny rivalry will be eagerly awaited.

John Allen is in the unique position of having faced both teams in the championship arena this summer and was well placed to judge the merits of the two teams after seeing his Limerick charges bow out against Kilkenny yesterday afternoon in Semple Stadium

“Having played both of them I think that Kilkenny are probably better than Tipperary at the moment. Tipperary are improving. That was a very work-man like performance by Kilkenny and they’ll be very hard to beat on that form.

“There’s no doubt that those Kilkenny players are still the great players they’ve always been. They’re very strong in the air and good at winning possession.”

Limerick certainly have hugely promising young players emerging in their ranks but trying to bridge that gap with the elite is an onerous challenge. Yet Allen feels it is within their capabilities.

“It comes down to intensity and work-rate. We had that in the first half and we didn’t have it in the second half. Are there enough good hurlers there? Certainly Limerick have a few exceptional hurlers and a lot of very good hurlers. Confidence can do wonders and winning a game against Kilkenny or Tipperary, the confidence levels could rise. It’s just making that break and beating one of those top teams.”

“At half-time we were happy enough to be just a point down having played against the wind. I said to the players do we now believe we can win this? We were in the game at that stage, but in the 15 minutes after half-time it was won and lost. We can’t have too many complaints. Our backs were heroic though. Richie McCarthy at full-back was just super.”

After a year where Limerick began by being trounced in their opening league match against Clare and subsequently failing to garner promotion to Division 1A, the championship campaign generated positive vibes in Allen’s eyes.

“From the first day out at the end of February when we were well beaten we have made a lot of progress. Limerick hurling is going in the right direction, but moral victories are no good any more. It’s a matter of knuckling down for all the hard work that it takes to get up there with Kilkenny and Tipperary.”

One of their brightest talents is Shane Dowling and the Na Piarsaigh teenager, in his first year out of the minor ranks, believes there is still huge optimism for the county’s future hurling prospects.

“It’s a learning curve for us,” Dowling told TheScore.ie. “If you look at our team, I don’t think, bar maybe one, that there’s going to be any retirements. It’s a very young team. We’ll look forward to next year already.

“John (Allen) is a very cool guy and he leaves a lot up to the players. The management team have been very good but there’s fantastic players there as well to back that up. I suppose my year coming in, I’ve been looking up to lads and what I expected is what I’ve got so I’ve been thrilled with it all.”

Dowling admitted Limerick had steeled themselves for a Kilkenny onslaught but that the level of intensity they brought to the game was something he had not encountered previously and they displayed their ruthlessness in putting the game to bed during the second-half.

“It was a whole new ball game and I thought personally it was the most intense game that I’d played all year. They’re physical strong and big, and they hurl at a very intense level. I genuinely don’t think there was a person in the country that could say they were a better team than us at half-time. There were a load of rumors of backlash that were being spoken about during the week, but I thought we handled it fairly well anyway.

“In the space of ten minutes the game was over in the second-half and Kilkenny did what they do to most teams. They’re super at putting away teams in the blink of an eye. It’s what tells at the finish of games. Their ruthlessness is just outstanding.”