Patrick Horgan: Is Kiely calling it straight or trying to butter up referees?
BEING HONEST? Limerick manager John Kiely. Pic: Ryan Byrne/Inpho
This year’s Munster final has a lot to live up to after last year’s edition. Extra time and penalties made that game an epic encounter: will we see the same on Sunday?
I hope so. Quite a few people have asked if the Munster championship has been as good this year as in previous seasons. I don’t think so.
That said, the two best teams are in the final, and they’ve been a good bit better than the other counties in Munster this year.
I don’t expect that quality to drop in the final, either, because you could argue both Cork and Limerick have been as good so far this year as they’ve ever been.
The fact that there seems to be a slight gap back to the other teams might be a slight concern, but I wouldn’t be too worried about that. We’ve seen in the past that those gaps don’t last long.
Clare won the U20 All-Ireland last weekend so they have a good pipeline of young talent, while Tipperary have had good minor and U20 sides for a couple of years as well. The quality is coming through.
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After this weekend, everyone’s attention will turn to the All-Ireland series, and what pairings we can look forward to when the provincial championships are over.
But for Cork and Limerick there’s just Sunday’s game and nothing else right now. That’s all they’re thinking of, guaranteed. Both sides are all out to win the game for the silverware, obviously, but also to maintain their momentum.
If you lose the Munster final there’s that sensation of building up to a game for weeks, then going through a gruelling test and not getting the win at the end of it.
There’s a toll when that happens, certainly. All teams want the shortest route to a title, and any speed bumps or diversions along the way can present problems, as Limerick found out last year when they ended up losing to Dublin at the quarter-final stage.
When it comes to preparation and getting yourself up for the next game the direct route is always the best. That’ll be a huge motivation for both teams this weekend.
I saw John Kiely quoted last week talking about how hard it is to referee games in hurling, saying Limerick are trying to give refs the best day they can.
Is he trying to butter up the referees or is he just being honest?
We can often complain about managers or players not being straight when they comment on the games, so we probably shouldn’t give out when John says it’s hard to referee games, because it is.
Mind you, I don’t think that’ll stop him from roaring in at James Owens if a decision goes against Limerick.
He’s also been proactive when it comes to Limerick’s discipline. Don’t forget that his comments came after Limerick had a player sent off in a couple of their Munster championship games, and in both cases I don’t think anyone had an issue with the ref’s call.
But John was quick to act in their last game, against Waterford, when discipline was an issue. That day Adam English got a yellow card early enough in the game and Limerick took him off - they didn’t want to take a chance he’d get a second yellow so they took action.
Management can’t really plan for something like the Cian Lynch sending-off against Cork - they might have sent a message to the group when they didn’t start Cian the next day out - but in Adam’s case against Waterford they showed that they’d taken the lesson on board when it comes to second yellow cards.
Limerick play right up to the limit of the rules, which is where every team aims to play, but when you do there’s always a risk of a card or two. They’ve shown that they have a plan in place for that and that they’ll put it into practice quickly if needed.
The one thing is that he was ruled out a couple of weeks back so it’s not like he went over on his ankle in the warm-up and the whole team is upset. The messages for the team in the last week or two probably focused on the opportunity that his absence gives someone else.
Cork were very good against Clare, which shows that the opportunity was taken. That strengthens the panel in the long run, and when Fitzy does come back into you know you have someone else on the bench that can put in a performance.
Obviously Cork would prefer to have him fit and ready for Sunday, every team in Ireland would, but there are positives to take out of it, too. Building a stronger panel is a key objective for any manager and that’ll be Ben O’Connor’s perspective here.
Cork were slow out of the blocks against Limerick the last time they played, and what really changed the tempo of that game was Shane Barrett's goal against the run of play.
Within a minute or two of that goal there was only a point in it again, even though Limerick had done most of the hurling up to that point.
That’s the way these games can go: one team is capable of running up an eight- or nine-point lead over the other, but both of them have such firepower that even a lead of that size can be reeled in very quickly.
The players know that, of course, so they won’t panic if their side falls behind at any point. I’d expect both teams to enjoy purple patches at various times.
The challenge is to maximise the return when you’re on top and to break down the opposition, with the team under pressure in the period trying to break the other side’s momentum.
They’ll want it played at a ferocious pace from start to finish - to get puck-outs away quick, to keep the ball in play for long periods, and to run Limerick around the field.
That’s when Cork are at their best, when they can get their opponents moving around and chasing them - they’ll want defenders tracking the likes of Shane Barrett, Diarmuid Healy, Barry Walsh, because the knock-on effect is to create space inside for the full-forward line.
That manic, free-for-all game is what Cork will try to impose on Limerick from the very start. Of course, Limerick will have plenty to say about that.
