Anthony Daly: Despite brave Waterford effort, Limerick responded like champions
Limerick captain Declan Hannon lifts the cup in front of his team-mates in an empty stadium after the Munster SHC final. Picture: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile
A Munster final day like no other. Silence. No traffic. No colour. Protocols. A sterilised atmosphere. Muted celebrations. And yet, in a weird kind of way, the eeriness of it all can take you closer to the action, and the inner sanctum of the teams, than a raucous, packed Semple Stadium ever could.
At the last water break, I could hear the Waterford players below me as they gathered in a huddle.
They were clearly pumped. Excited. Primed.
But the older players could sense the danger in the giddiness of that mood, as opposed to the cold-blooded and collected response required for the last quarter. It was either Tadgh de Búrca or Kevin Moran who roared: ‘Calm the f*** down’.Â
Up at the other end, the Limerick machine was already ramping up, revving the engine, gently pressing the accelerator in preparation to take off down that home straight.
Paul Kinnerk had already alerted the fourth official to the impending introduction of Seamie Flanagan and David Dempsey.
After Kinnerk went through the gameplan on the tactics board, John Kiely pulled the players in around him tightly. Any discussion of tactics seemed brief enough. Kiely was clearly working off emotion, putting it up to his players that, unless the pace and the physicality went up another level, the risk of defeat was very real.
Up to that point, the difference between both benches, and both managements, had been audible and visible. The Waterford subs were roaring and cheering every ball, every hit, applauding every tackle and turnover. The Limerick bench was much calmer and docile.
Compared to how animated they were on the line against Clare and Tipperary, it seemed like someone had pressed the mute buttons on Kiely and Kinnerk.
I’m not taking away from Waterford but there was a lot of uncharacteristic stuff from Limerick in the first three quarters. No matter how much we try and portray these guys as machines, human nature can infiltrate the mindset of any amateur player, coach or manager.
We all knew that Waterford would come at Limerick with everything but Limerick were still raging favourites. Limerick had already played two huge games against their traditional neighbours north and south of their borders, winning both comfortably for a finish.
In the history of the Munster championship, long before the round robin was introduced in 2018, winning three games had never been an easy task.
And no matter how much you try and guard against any degree of complacency, that tendency to think you’re invincible and on a roll gets inside fellas' heads. Human nature is just human nature.
In that context, it was easy to understand why Limerick were flat early on, both on and off the pitch. On the other hand, Waterford came into this game in the perfect frame of mind. Free. Liberated. Under no real pressure.
They obviously would have targeted the win but Waterford didn’t carry that stress Limerick would have silently felt, where anything other than a win would have been disastrous. Moreover, Waterford knew that an All-Ireland quarter-final, and an opportunity to reach an All-Ireland semi-final, was already secured.
That was nearly the tone of the match up until the last water break; Waterford threw themselves head-first into everything with risk and abandon; Limerick were strong and physical and classy but the machine still wasn’t purring like it can. But when pressure came on, Limerick pressed the accelerator to the floor and sped home.
That last quarter just summed Limerick up. They were ruthless on the pitch and on the line. Peter Casey — who was brilliant in the first half — was whipped off. So was Tom Morrissey. Graeme Mulcahy, who was a front-runner for man-of-the-match, was also subbed, although that may have been injury-related.
Once again, the bench did the business on the scoring board; Flanagan scored a point with his first touch, and set up another score shortly afterwards; Adrian Breen, who hadn’t appeared in the two previous games, further underlined Limerick’s massive strength in depth; the one ball Breen got, he stuck it over the bar.
As the game progressed, Limerick’s big men started to dominate, especially Cian Lynch and Diarmuid Byrnes. Sean Finn proved why he’s the best corner-back in the business.
Dessie Hutchinson threw the first ball he got over Finn’s head, before slotting it over the bar. Hutchinson got minimal ball afterwards but anything that came into his corner or area, Finn came away with it.
Tadgh de Búrca was a colossus again but Limerick never allowed Waterford’s totem in attack — Austin Gleeson — to exert any real influence on the match. Gleeson started well but he petered out once Limerick got to grips with his movement.
Initially, they were stuck in a no-mans-land battle between Declan Hannon going with Gleeson, or Kyle Hayes picking him up when he went to the wing.
Stephen Bennett admirably led the charge up front and Waterford kept going, always hunting for scores. Waterford had a couple of really good goal chances in the last five minutes and, while they were still physically over-powered in that last quarter, it’s a testament to them that they were so close considering the inexperience of the subs they brought in compared to the experience and quality of Limerick’s replacements. Most of those guys are unproven but, given the way this Waterford side are moving, they’ll get plenty of opportunities to build on that experience in the coming years. Because this is a side going places.
It was a performance to be immensely proud of, but Cahill has been around long enough now too to appreciate the irrelevance of moral victories. He’ll also realise that yesterday’s display will be soon forgotten about if Waterford are turned over on Saturday.
The challenge for Liam and his management now is to get the players down from the emotional high of the performance, and back up again in time for Saturday. Galway will have been down yesterday but, I’m sure they already had a discussion, maybe even a recovery session, where that extra day of preparation gives them that additional window of opportunity to mentally build back up again for Saturday afternoon.
Limerick are in a totally different place, and just where they want to be two weeks out from an All-Ireland semi-final. They have dominated the game in the last two years — successive league and Munster titles, and an All-Ireland — but Kiely has enough ammunition now to fire at them, and keep them sharp ahead of their next big test.
John said all the right things afterwards to the media but I’m sure he was delivering a different message to his players.
He probably decided to leave off that speech until Tuesday evening but I’ve no doubt what the tone of those words will be. ‘Some of the stuff was shocking by our standards. Go away and look at the video and see all the balls we spilled, all the possession we turned over, all the lotto shots we took. Anyone here who thinks we’re All-Ireland champions elect, get it our of yere heads.’Â
Limerick are deservedly favourites for the All-Ireland. It will take a serious team to beat them.
But this performance will also have instructed Kiely and his players that Limerick need to go to another level again if they are to get the big job done.
