Enda McEvoy: It's not personal, Limerick, serial winners inevitably attract snipers

The shine of Limerick's success has worn off for the neutral and people now want to see them taken down a peg or two? Big deal. Comes with the territory.

CIRCLE OF TRUST: The Limerick team huddle ahead of last year’s All-Ireland SHC final win over Waterford. 'If the established powers are affronted when a new team happens along, incidentally, the aspirants don’t like it on every level either,' writes our columnist. Picture: Daire Brennan/Sportsfile

Amid all the damage done to the ozone layer by the hurling community this past week – the claims, the complaints, the accusations, the apologies, the “game is gone” guff and the predictions of the imminence of the apocalypse - one observation passed largely unnoticed.

It was incisive, it was original and it was furnished by Danesfort’s Paul Murphy, a man who knows something about the realities of coping with success. The crowd, he mused, are beginning to turn against Limerick.