Houlihan happy to be facing Kingdom

WITH all due respect to Kingdom folk, few would argue that Limerick received the plum draw in the All-Ireland hurling qualifiers when their name came out of the hat opposite Kerry’s three weeks ago.

However, it’s the timing of the tie, as much as the opponents, that has found favour Shannonside.

Two high profile games in quick succession against Waterford took its toll on Dave Keane’s talented young greenhorns and the 20 days between that replay defeat and Saturday’s trip into the Kingdom have reinvigorated Limerick, according to keeper Timmy Houlihan.

“We needed the break of the three weeks and we were thankful of that the night of the draw,” he said. “Clare were out six days after losing to Cork and after losing David Hoey already and Seanie Mac and then Colin Lynch.

“It just shows it’s very tough to come back six days after a match against a team like Galway. It really is unfair. We had the chance to get things going again and we played club championship last weekend.”

Talk of Kerry is diplomatic, but there is a recognition that this weekend offers Houlihan and his team-mates the chance to let off some steam after the Deise defeat.

“We had a chance of getting into a Munster final but we were very disappointed with our performance on the day. We played badly but we have a chance now to get a bit of reconciliation this weekend. I think it’s going to be Kerry’s fifth game this year, which is a record for them, and it’ll be down in Tralee so we’re going to give them the respect they deserve.”

Limerick may be entering the second-chance saloon, but it’s a situation Houlihan is familiar with having dropped off the panel before this year after a slump in form. The bad times have sharpened his edge though.

“It was disappointing last year, but I only had myself to blame really,” he said. “The form wasn’t the best after the Wexford qualifier a few years back. I had a bit of a bad spell with the club but I went back to UL, back to the Fitzgibbon team where Ollie Moran and Eamonn Meskill were over us. They spent a lot of time with me, getting my confidence back.”

Houlihan is also thankful that Kerry’s defeat of Derry in the preliminary round final allowed them to avoid a time-consuming trip to the North.

Primarily though this is a cleansing exercise, a chance to banish the ‘what ifs’ and ‘maybes’ of the Waterford tussles and focus on the summer ahead. Yet three weeks later, Houlihan can’t put his finger on where it all went wrong for them in the second game.

From my viewpoint standing in goal, the Waterford forwards dragged out one or two of our backs and that left a lot of room in their full-forward line. It’s always going to be difficult for a full-back line down on a pitch like Thurles, especially against the likes of John Mullane, Ken McGrath and Paul Flynn.

“As well as that, we lost Niall Moran with 10 minutes gone and Andrew O’Shaughnessy was doing the Leaving and they’re two of our main threats up front. On the day, we had a chance to win it and we just didn’t take it.”

For now though, Limerick’s hurlers are very much drifting at the edge of the public’s radar screen as the county’s footballers gear up for a Munster final crack at Kerry. For Houlihan it’s a welcome summer’s respite from the pressure cooker atmosphere that usually surrounds the hurlers.