HOW WILL JOHN Allen start preparing for Limerick’s All-Ireland senior hurling semi-final date?
Well the Limerick boss will head down to Páirc Uí Chaoimh next Thursday night to see The Boss play a few tunes and then he’ll think about hurling after yesterday’s Munster final triumph.
“We’re off to Bruce Springsteen on Thursday night first, but it’s great. I suppose we have to try and keen a handle on the hype as best we can.
“We’re only as far as a semi-final, the next game is August 18th and we’ll prepare accordingly.”
Allen heaped praise on his players for their achievement in winning the county’s first provincial crown since 1996.
“It’s the players’ achievement really. As I said during the week I’m the conduit or the facilitator of what happens. I’m very proud of the Limerick players.
“It’s a great achievement and just reward for a team that has been very honest in everything they’ve done, on and off the field, in gym work, nutrition and anything we’ve asked them to do.”
League Progress
Limerick’s feat is all the more admirable after they coping with perceived handicap of plying their league trade in Division 1B this spring. Allen shares in the surprise at the progress of his team and Dublin, their conquerors in April’s Division 1B final.
“I am of course. Somebody said to me that the teams in 1A were afraid to make too many changes for their league matches because the margins were so small.
“We didn’t make too many changes in our league matches either, the margins were tight enough there as well so I wouldn’t put that down as being any sort of an advantage for us in terms of trying out players.
“If you’d come down here on a cold evening in February and saw us playing Carlow or Antrim, it wasn’t a case that we were trying out fellas.
“We went out with our strongest available fifteen most days but I suppose it is a bit amazing that two Division 1B teams have won the provincial titles.”
“If you’d asked me halfway through last year, I felt there was a huge gulf between where we were are now and what we were at then. I’ve said this before, we played Kilkenny a few weeks before the Tipp game, we played very well that same night.
“I think that night a bulb was lit inside a few players. This team knew it was good enough to compete, had an impetus and I think we’ve proved that since.”
