Enda McEvoy: Limerick’s pragmatism and remorseless functionality to carry the day

Not romantic, alas, but neither are they. It’s part of what makes Kiely’s Limerick Kiely’s Limerick.

Limerick's Graeme Mulcahy of Limerick battles for possession with Waterford's Shane McNulty in the Munster SHC final. Picture: Ray McManus/Sportsfile

Back around May, during the first lockdown, a random thought occurred. Bad enough, clearly, to be living through a pandemic with no hope or hurling on the horizon. But just imagine being a Limerick player or supporter living through said pandemic.

They were the best team in the country in 2018 and they won the All-Ireland. They were the best team in the country in 2019 and they didn’t win it. They were the best team in the country in 2020 and they weren’t going to be allowed to win it. Just when it looked as though the Unlimited Heartbreak days had become an increasingly distant memory… Normality resumed serendipitously for them.