Michael Moynihan: Limerick discipline is again under the spotlight — but this time it's different
It's not all blue skies: Disciplinary issues off and indeed on the field have cropped up for this all-conquering Limerick team.
The Limerick County Board press statement was brief and to the point on Tuesday evening.
“On Sunday last a member of the Limerick senior hurling squad was involved in a breach of our team protocols. The matter has been dealt with by management internally and no further comment will be made on the matter at this time.”
The statement’s reference to Sunday last immediately focused attention on the Limerick-Tipperary clash in the Munster hurling championship, which Limerick won on a scoreline of 3-21 to 0-22.
The ‘breach of team protocols’ referred to quickly became an incident whose participants were named by lurkers in the humid undergrowth of social media and message boards, and ‘details’ of what had occurred sprouted with abandon.
It isn’t the first time the Limerick senior hurling management have had to deal with disciplinary issues off the field.
In November 2019 the Shannonsiders were in the United States for the Super 11 competition when two players were sent home early. Footage circulated on social media, which was allegedly shot by one panellist, showing another panellist in an altercation on the street, and Limerick manager John Kiely sent both of the players involved home early from the trip.
“Limerick GAA can confirm that it sent home two panellists early from last weekend’s New York Hurling Classic following an incident,” read a statement issued at that time.
“Limerick expects the highest of standards of behaviour and example from its players both on and off the field and will not tolerate any breach of those standards.
“A disciplinary process has commenced and there will be no further comment in relation to this matter.”
The extent to which that US-based controversy late in 2019 affected Limerick can be gauged by their successes ever since.
They won the All-Ireland the following season, the season after that, and are odds-on to collect another title this year, last weekend’s events notwithstanding.
By issuing the statement so quickly officials in Limerick will hope the controversy dies away speedily, but the round-robin format of the Munster championship militates against that. Limerick are out again this weekend against Clare in Ennis, their last game of the provincial series, and manager Kiely will know well that no matter what happens during the 70 minutes on Sunday in Cusack Park, his post-match interview will be dominated by one topic.
The irony - which won’t be lost on Kiely and his management team - is that questions were asked about Limerick’s discipline on the field of play during the National Hurling League earlier this year.
The All-Ireland champions had Gearoid Hegarty sent off against Limerick, Aaron Gillane sent off in their game with Clare and Seamus Flanagan was red carded against Cork, a series of disciplinary lapses which would surely have distracted a less successful team.
Limerick, however, were able to regain their focus for the Munster championship and have swatted away the opposition in each game so far, but there’s a significant difference between this issue and previous off-field controversies. The latter occurred during the close season. Any competitive games were months away and there was ample time to address the issues involved - and to move on.
Now Limerick must deal with a problem in the middle of a compressed championship while also finding a way past opponents who are all looking closely for the smallest chink in the armour that will enable them to take down the champions.
Will that problem be a distraction? Tuesday night’s statement told us that the matter has been dealt with internally, but media reports referred to a file on the incident being sent to the Director of Public Prosecution.
That being the case, this particular controversy looks like it’ll run and run.
