HE’S RETIRED FROM hurling now, Eamonn Cregan insists.
He’s happy to coach his grandchildren instead, and take up the offer of a round of golf, normally on a Friday, at a minute’s notice.
Cregan guided Mary Immaculate College to an historic Fitzgibbon Cup victory earlier this year and exited stage left almost immediately. Job done.
“A group of lads came together at the right time,” he reflects. “But the surprise is over, now everybody is aware of who you are.”
The challenge facing Mary I in 2017 is to retain the Fitzgibbon Cup but Cregan won’t be around to help them.
And one of the heroes of Limerick’s last All-Ireland senior hurling championship win back in 1973 won’t be in Thurles tomorrow either, when the Shannonsiders do battle with champions Waterford for a place in the Allianz Hurling League final.
Cregan made a vow to himself that when it was over, it was over at all levels.
“I’ll probably watch it on TV,” he smiles.
“I’m at the stage now where I need to be calm, relaxed, and allow the blood pressure to go down.”
“I couldn’t to go Thurles any more. I’d be playing the match.”
As always, he’s straightforward on Limerick’s prospects, and recent history.
“I think it’s an absolute disgrace that we’ve gone (almost) 45 years without winning an All-Ireland,” he says with typical honesty.
“We’ve been to All-Ireland finals but failed to win them. This is why the academy situation was brought into being. People were tired of watching Limerick being beaten and beaten and beaten.
“The whole idea of academies is to produce a production line of quality players, that’s the way to go.
“But it’s not the be all and end all of everything. Some that haven’t been in academies will come through anyway. But we’re moving in the right direction and lads are beginning to play at the top level.”
Since 1973, Limerick have contested All-Ireland senior finals in 1974, 1980, 1994, 1996 and 2007, losing them all.
Most famously of all, Cregan was in charge of Limerick’s 1994 conquerors Offaly and while Na Piarsaigh were crowned All-Ireland club champions in March, he has his reservations about the local club scene.
“One particular reason I think, and it has a big bearing on it (lack of success for Limerick), is the fact that our standard of club hurling is not where it should be.
“It’s not good enough.”
We point out that Na Piarsaigh went all the way to GAA HQ and won the biggest prize in club hurling but Cregan counters: “Na Piarsaigh are an unusual club in the sense that they’re 48 years in existence.
“They’ve worked at it and with the local national and secondary schools (most notably Ardscoil Rís), they have a huge pick, whereas Claughaun, St Patrick’s, Old Christians have a very small pick. They’re in areas where hurling is not traditional, where there’s also rugby, soccer and Gaelic football.
“Na Piarsaigh just play hurling and football is secondary. They have won the All-Ireland club and that’s another notch, another step up (for Limerick hurling).
Players are beginning to believe in themselves but they must all have the basics. We have major problems with trying to score. Look at Kilkenny and even the All-Ireland colleges team (St Kieran’s), the ease at which Kilkenny teams can score.”
We remark upon the aerial ability of Kilkenny teams, even down to colleges level where St Kieran’s excelled once again in this area during their march to a 21st Croke Cup crown.
Cregan becomes animated.
“Why can’t we do something different to stop them from catching the ball? Why do we have to go up and catch every ball against guys expert at it? If you’re not able to beat them by out-catching them, you must try something else.
“If you don’t do something else, you’re not thinking straight.
“You must push the Kilkennys to play a different brand of hurling, move them around, run at them, don’t let them break the tackle.”
Our conversation turns back to Limerick and how hopeful Cregan is about the summer that lies in store.
“I was very optimistic up to the Clare match and then they set me back on my backside,” he says.
“I can’t understand how Clare got 40 shots on goal. Where the hell were the Limerick players? My game is simple – it’s a back’s job to defend and clear the ball effectively. The half backs are the dominant line, they start everything and move the ball into the forward line properly.
“I would play three full-forwards, not two. I’m very critical of coaches. If you’re going to play your forwards 40 or 50 yards from goal, they’re never going to score. You don’t see Kilkenny doing it.”
But Cregan does concede that Limerick have potential – and plenty of it.
“To realise it is the next step,” he adds. “You’ve got to play a game that suits Limerick. Go back to the All-Ireland semi-final (2014), the day Limerick played in Kilkenny’s face. They didn’t allow them to settle. Why can’t we go back to that game, go back to three half forwards and three full-forwards and when we’re without possession, we all defend?”
Cregan believes that modern-day trends have “over-complicated” hurling but does concede that detailed analysis can help to overcome a resolute opponent.
In that regard, he pinpoints the work of former Cork dual player Jamie Wall, who was on board with the Mary I backroom staff this year.
Cregan explains that Limerick IT, Mary I’s Fitzgibbon Cup semi-final opponents and also managed by Davy Fitzgerald, played a similar way to Clare.
“We counteracted it,” Cregan smiles. “Jamie did a tremendous analysis on it. “We played with three full-forwards which meant that LIT must bring back two more (players). It opened up midfield. We were very lucky but we won and we counteracted that particular plan.
“Players must have the skills, must know the game, must be intelligent, must be playing for one another and mustn’t be selfish.
It’s basic. Ger Loughnane was talking about this Kilkenny team going for three in a row. The reason they are is that the rest of us aren’t good enough. If we were, they wouldn’t be going for three in a row.”
We suggest that Loughnane was slightly harsh in his analysis of Kilkenny, when the former Clare boss described them as “functional” and over-reliant on Richie Hogan and TJ Reid for inspiration.
“He possibly might have been,” Cregan nods. “But you know what he’s trying to do? He’s trying to gee up Clare.”
We ask if Cregan has anything up his sleeve that might ‘gee up’ Limerick ahead of tomorrow’s clash with Waterford.
“They’ve no fears of Waterford but they must play an intelligent game,” he suggests.
“Waterford have great runners and speed. I assume our fellas should run with them, play one on one, don’t let them break the tackle, don’t give away frees.
“If you play one on one, who’s the spare man? If there is a spare man, someone hasn’t been doing their job.
“I look at Kilkenny, who have been a fantastic side. When they’re blocked going forward for goals, they turn around and there’s always a loose man behind. They pass the ball 30 years, not this five yard handpass, to a man in space, and he puts the ball over the bar. We (Limerick) seem to be behind in that thinking.”
Food for thought but then again, with Eamonn Cregan, there always is.
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