IT’S QUESTIONABLE EXACTLY how much revenge you can take in a league game, but there was a sense of Cork exorcising some of their All-Ireland final hurt when they gunned Limerick down by 13 points in February.
The Rebels can expect to face a different animal when they renew acquaintances with the back-to-back All-Ireland champions in Sunday’s Munster SHC round-robin opener between the sides.
Gearoid Hegarty indicated this week that Limerick underwent a heavy block of training during a stuttering league campaign where they lost three games, drew with Clare and defeated Offaly in a de-facto relegation semi-final.
He made all the right noises about the hunger in the Treaty camp and how he personally feels in the best shape of his life.
Cork, on the other hand, reached the league final before suffering a deflating loss to Waterford. For most of the spring it looked as though Kieran Kingston’s team had addressed some of their greatest flaws, yet some familiar issues were exposed by the Deise.
Limerick timed their run to perfection in 2021, after initially struggling to find anything near their best form in the spring. It took them four games to get their first win of the league last year, yet their 3-22 to 1-22 All-Ireland final mauling of Cork in August displayed a team peaking for their most important game of the year.
Given the April start to this year’s championship and the length of time this team have been on the road together, it was no surprise to see Limerick put all their eggs into the championship basket.
“The management have their plan,” says corner-back Sean Finn. “As players, you’re working and training as hard as you can.
“For the games, of course you want to perform well. The result mightn’t be the priority as such but you still want to perform as a player and make sure your name is in the mix when they’re picking teams for the championship.
“As a player, it was never any different to what it was other years. we didn’t treat the league any differently. But the championship has to be considered a bit differently this year considering it’s in April this year. I don’t know what the management’s plan is but as a player, I just try to put my best foot forward when I was picked to play.
“We progressively improved throughout last year,” he continues. “At the start of the league last year we were lucky to draw with Tipperary. If we didn’t draw that game we would have had three losses on the go as well. but we were progressively improving. (We got) a lot better then in each championship game.
“When you compare that then to the league campaign this year, we were getting better during the Munster league – we were strong in that – played two good games at the start of the league – the Cork game was the outlier there which we were quite disappointed with.
“Then look, we brought it up again and we were decent against Clare and we were strong against Offaly. It’s up to us now to continue that upward trend and be that bit better in when we play Cork and hopefully it’ll be an opportunity to progress that into the championship.
“I suppose the outlier there is the Cork performance this year. When you compare it to last year, it was a significant dip in performance that day. It was probably a false reflection of how our year was going. Hopefully we get an opportunity to get that trend going again this year.”
Cork certainly laid down a marker in that February encounter. They roared into a 2-13 to 0-5 interval lead, in a tie where they were superior in every facet of the game.
“We were good in patches but below average in a lot of aspects of our game,” he explains.
“Cork came down with a ferocious intensity that we failed to match. I think that was the big difference. They were a lot more up for that game. As a result we were punished.”
Limerick have gone unbeaten on their run to the last two Liam MacCarthy Cup titles, however is it a realistic prospect to get through Munster unharmed this time around?
“I’m sure it’s possible but things are so competitive in Munster that you might be tipped to win a game and might under-perform and you might be clipped. It’s possible to win all games but will we win all games? I’m not too sure. You’d hope so.”
They had Seamus Flanagan sent off that evening against Cork and also saw Hegarty and Aaron Gillane dismissed so far this year.
Disciplinary issues have been a talking point around this Limerick side for sometime. Kiely’s team have few chinks in the armour, but there is a sense that they can overstep the mark on occasions.
“It’s not something we highlighted too much,” says Finn. “Players know that they need to be a bit more disciplined. You’re not going to tell your forwards not to tackle and to be careful.
“You still want forwards tackling but it’s up to the player to be a bit more disciplined in the tackle. As a result you’re not putting yourself in a position of getting sent off and you’re also not putting the referee in that position.
“I think the onus is on the individual to be careful because there could be serious consequences if I do get sent off and the season could be on the line. You can be unfortunate.
“Your best intentions might be to make a good tackle but you get caught with a high hurley around the neck and the referee might see it as a high tackle and give you a red card.
“Another referee might say there wasn’t much force in it and give a yellow card. Obviously t ere’s an element of subjectivity when it comes to referees but again it’s up to the player to be more disciplined.”
Indeed on their last visit to Pairc Ui Chaoimh in 2018, Gillane was sent-off during a thrilling draw.
“It was a great game. Jeez, it was brilliant. It was on a Saturday, a beautiful evening in a fabulous stadium. We lost Declan Hannon early (to injury). A lot of things went against us that day but we dug deep and got a point out of it.
“It set up our year really. It’s a great place to go, particularly in good weather.”
-Sean Finn is a John West Féile Ambassador
Highlights from The42 Membership / SoundCloud
