Despite a disappointing league campaign, the champions are ‘in a great place’ in the words of manager John Kiely but Déise danger is tangible
As is the modern fashion, much gossip around this year’s National Hurling League tended to run along dark lines of suspicion.
Limerick’s pursuit of a 14th crown was sufficiently anaemic and salted with irritability to suggest they might still be in blocks of heavy training mid-competition, their eyes firmly on a championship arriving down the tracks with unprecedented velocity.
To say they looked disinterested would be an understatement.
An Ennis draw with Clare in round four was, frankly, the only discernible stirring of a competitive will in John Kiely’s men, who open their Munster Championship defence with an April 17 visit to Páirc Uí Chaoimh against the opponents so brutally filleted by them in last year’s All-Ireland final.
Chasing a fourth All-Ireland in five seasons, the bookies still consider Limerick odds-on to achieve the feat and that particular industry is seldom sustained by naivety.
Kiely declared his team “in a great place” after closing out their league campaign with an almost desultory 24-point rout of Offaly in the Gaelic Grounds, his words ringing with palpable conviction about the path ahead.
“I can see that bit of freshness and energy increasing with every session,” he revealed. “And that is where we want to be four weeks out from championship. We will get it right.
“Everything has been geared towards April 17.”
Notable too, though, to see him sitting with Paul Kinnerk in Thurles on league final night as Waterford devoured Cork, despite missing Jamie Barron and the suspended Austin Gleeson.
In any rational assessment of the threats looming for Limerick now, Waterford must sit front and centre.
The teams meet at the Gaelic Grounds in round two of this Munster Championship, a Saturday evening throw-in that many will expect to be reprised on provincial final day.
Winning just Waterford’s fourth National League title delivered tangible proof of what has been extraordinary development under Liam Cahill and his backroom team of Mikey Bevans, Stephen Frampton and Tony Browne.
It also, naturally, justified Cahill’s decision to resist the winter approach of his native county and stick with a group that struggled physically to sustain a positive opening against Limerick in last year’s All-Ireland semi-final.
Waterford eventually lost that game by 11 points, but they appear to have taken substantial strides since, specifically with Tadhg de Búrca’s return at centre-back, Patrick Curran’s spectacular second coming as a county senior and the blistering form that made Stephen Bennett the undoubted player of the league.
Cahill’s straight, no-nonsense style will douse down any hysteria within the county and he will certainly be on a mission to get off to a round one championship flier against his native Tipp in Walsh Park.
Waterford’s apparent lust for physical contact is precisely the quality Cork’s preferred running game tends to come unstuck against and the evidence of April 2 calls into question what real progress Kieran Kingston’s men have made since being obliterated on the biggest day of the hurling year last August.
Conor Lehane’s return to the county ranks has been successful thus far, but doubts remain about the deployment of Mark Coleman at number six and how well that can work against opposition attacks happy to bring the ball into contact.
Shane Barrett’s development is promising, but Cork need more of a goal threat in their inside attacking line in order to go toe-to-toe with the championship big guns, with the two biggest just now coming their way in rounds one and four.
The evidence of the league final (and much of last year’s championship) suggests that Shane Kingston needs to be restored to a starting position, as perhaps does Jack O’Connor if they are to summon that threat in front of goal.
Seventeen years since their last senior All-Ireland win, Cork’s priorities will be plain enough, for now, specifically escaping their final group game (against Tipperary in Thurles on May 22) with a place in Munster’s top three safely secured.
Tipp find themselves broadly ignored in any debate about championship potential this summer and it’s unlikely Colm Bonnar will interpret that as a personal slight.
His first year at the helm demands a process of transition in the Tipp dressing-room that, hand on heart, probably should have commenced long before now. Liam Sheedy’s loyalty to a core group that delivered All-Ireland wins in 2010, ’16 and ’19 was entirely understandable.
But it also made inevitable a painful process of reseeding the Tipp dressing-room.
Apart from a single-point victory over Kilkenny in Thurles, their league campaign was underwhelming and it seems probable that Séamus Callanan will now miss their opening two assignments in Munster, Waterford in Walsh Park and Clare in Thurles.
Given the likelihood of defeat in the former, Bonnar will fully understand the importance of lowering the Banner one week later if his team is to hold out sustainable hope of finishing in the province’s top three.
Should Tipp have two defeats to their name on the evening of April 24, their chances of a meaningful championship impact will look threadbare with games upcoming against the All-Ireland champions and beaten All-Ireland finalists.
Pretty much the same stark set of circumstances applies to a Clare team that has been leaning unhealthily on the genius of Tony Kelly in recent seasons. With Peter Duggan back from Australia, this HAS to be a summer of tangible progress for Brian Lohan, irrespective of the three-year extension the Clare manager was granted last autumn.
Too often, recent Clare disappointments have been asterisked by an inference of county board issues creating obstacles for Lohan at a time the county’s footballers continue to punch above their weight under Colm Collins.
True, Clare were unlucky to be edged out by Cork in last year’s All-Ireland qualifier and their Munster semi-final defeat to Tipp had that bizarre refereeing decision as an obvious matter of contention, but a serious shot at their first senior provincial title since the flaring summer of ’98 is required to establish any evidence that they are on the right path.
VERDICT: Limerick’s Munster reign to continue.
Munster Senior Hurling Championship county-by-county guide
CLARE
All-Ireland titles: 4 (2013)
Munster titles: 6 (1998)
Manager: Brian Lohan (3rd season)
Captain: John Conlon
Biggest Asset: A 27-year-old hurler from Ballyea who continues to present opponents with an almost unsolvable puzzle. But it’s beyond high time that Tony Kelly had some meaningful support.
A Question That Concerns Them: Can they establish the defensive solidity to match their attacking potential?
A Good Season Is/A Bad Season Is: A long overdue Munster title win/failing to make the top three in the province and, thereby, missing out on a shot at the Liam MacCarthy.
Where They Currently Rank In The Province: Fifth
First game: v Tipperary, April 24, FBD Semple Stadium, 2.0
CORK
All-Ireland titles: 30 (2005)
Munster titles: 54 (2018)
Manager: Kieran Kingston (3rd season, 2nd term)
Captain: Mark Coleman
Biggest Asset: Pace and free-scoring talent in attack where, on their day, Cork look capable of winning any game that turns into a shoot-out.
A Question That Concerns Them: How have they processed that disastrous All-Ireland final showing against Limerick last year? On the basis of their league final defeat to Waterford, it’s difficult to escape the suspicion of lingering scar tissue.
A Good Season Is/A Bad Season Is: It’s now 17 years since their last senior All-Ireland win and bridging that gap is an obvious priority/ failure to escape the provincial round-robin would leave Kingston and his men staring at, essentially, a lost year.
Where They Currently Rank In The Province: Third
First game: v Limerick, April 17, Páirc Uí Chaoimh, 4.0
LIMERICK
All-Ireland titles: 10 (2021)
Munster titles: 22 (2021)
Manager: John Kiely (6th season)
Captain: Declan Hannon
Biggest Asset: Complete trust and belief in the system they’ve developed under Paul Kinnerk and evidence of ready-made options – already schooled in that system – breaking through the likes of Colin Coughlan and Cathal O’Neill.
A Question That Concerns Them: Did the league throw up a true picture of their appetite for battle this year? The suggestion that they were still in heavy training seems the most plausible explanation for a starkly underwhelming campaign.
A Good Season Is/A Bad Season Is: Limerick measure themselves only on All-Ireland success these days/failure to make it four titles in five years would be a crushing disappointment.
Where They Currently Rank In The Province: First
First game: v Cork, April 17, Páirc Uí Chaoimh, 4.0
TIPPERARY
All-Ireland titles: 28 (2019)
Munster titles: 44 (2016)
Manager: Colm Bonnar (1st year)
Captain: Ronan Maher
Biggest Asset: Traditional self-belief and a habit of building momentum quickly means they are unlikely to be disregarded in any serious conversations about where the silverware might end up.
A Question That Concerns Them: Have they clung for too long to a nucleus of once-in-a-generation talents? The task of transitioning players from the All-Ireland winning under-21 and under-20 teams is now a formidable one that may require patience for Colm Bonnar.
A Good Season Is/A Bad Season Is: Winning a first Munster crown in six seasons would be a significant step forward for Tipp/ not making the top three in the province would be a major setback.
Where They Currently Rank In The Province: Fourth
First game: v Waterford, April 17, Walsh Park 2.0
WATERFORD
All-Ireland titles: 2 (1959)
Munster titles: 9 (2010)
Manager: Liam Cahill (3rd season)
Captain: Conor Prunty
Biggest Asset: Huge work-rate instilled in the group by Cahill, Tadhg de Búrca’s return and a genuine sense that they now have strong options in just about every position.
A Question That Concerns Them: Can they take that next step? Waterford threw the kitchen sink at Limerick in last year’s All-Ireland semi-final and looked all but exhausted by half-time.
A Good Season Is/A Bad Season Is: Winning Munster would prove huge vindication for Cahill, who now has that league title to his name/ failure to carry their league form into championship.
Where They Currently Rank In The Province: Second
First game: v Tipperary, April 17, Walsh Park, 2.0
