Limerick ‘moving in right direction’

Graeme Mulcahy is enjoying life.

Living at home in Kilmallock, working a short commute away in Charleville, having just graduated as an architect, and hurling for the Limerick seniors. Summer is here and that only means one thing.

But the 22-year-old is a little uneasy, for recent summers haven’t been kind.

It’s his fourth year as part of the inter-county set-up, having graduated from the U21 grade last year, and his pockets are virtually empty in terms of silverware.

He does have the memory of that Munster U21 title last year to cherish, but precious little otherwise. “Last year was a huge stepping stone for us,” he recalls. “Donal O’Grady came in and settled us, he put a good set-up in place and against Dublin we could have pushed on and won that game easily by three or four points. We’d have been in an All-Ireland semi-final and things would’ve been really good.

“Then against Waterford in the Munster semi-final we lost by a last minute goal, they’re one of the top teams in the country, but we should have beaten them. This year, again in Munster against Tipperary, we threw it away in the last seven or eight minutes. It’s just that extra tiny bit that, had we had it in the last three years, we could’ve actually won something. We’re moving in the right direction though.”

That Tipp defeat, came as a crushing blow and the silence afterwards gave the loudest message possible that the chance was lost, again.

“After 60 minutes you’re thinking ‘we have this won, just push on and get another score’, We’d have done some serious celebrating. But it just fell apart. Everyone was gutted, there, wasn’t a word said, there was nothing anyone could say. It was our own fault we let it slip again.”

But he’s keen to park that defeat and reckons within “two or three years” they will challenge again, and regularly, and not just in Munster.

“We’re young but at the same time, we have experience, we know what it takes to win. The next two or three years will tell a lot. Give it two or three years and if we keep training like we are, with a good work ethic and with a good man over us, there’s no reason we can’t win something. “I’d say give it two years, get young lads like Shane Dowling settled into it.

“There’s other younger lads too, get them settled in and we’ll have a very strong panel and we can definitely compete with Kilkenny and Tipperary all the time.”

But first, it’s Laois and a preliminary round qualifier that everyone is expecting them to win. Hardly surprising given the latter’s annihilation by Dublin.

“We don’t underestimate Laois, our approach is the exact same as it was for the Tipperary but at the same time, the public out there expect you to win so it’s a lose-lose situation.

“They’ve some good hurlers like Willie Hyland and we’re aware of the strengths that they have and we’ve worked on a game-plan for the match today.”

Last time they played, in the Allianz Hurling League in March, Limerick marched to an easy win and Mulcahy notched 0-6 points in a devastating 35 minute spell. But he knows it won’t be like that this evening in the Gaelic Grounds.

“On the day it fell into place for me,” he reasons.

“The first 15 or 20 minutes went well. Today is the championship and they’ll have their homework done and they’ll be watching us closer and I’m expecting it a lot harder.”

The company he works for, Response Engineering, have taken him on board for a three month spell where he’s hoping to impress to secure something more permanent. How appropriate that a Limerick response to that Tipperary defeat today could see them extend all their summers three months longer, and horizons maybe even further again.