Vital refereeing decisions went against us, says disappointed Limerick boss

THE Limerick dressingroom was less than 50 metres down the corridor from Waterford’s but in truth it may have been on another planet.

The contrast with that ecstatic Waterford dressingroom was stark. Players sat with their heads in their hands. Clearly wanting just to get out of the place as quickly as possible.

This defeat very obviously hurt, with the backdoor of the qualifiers only a small consolation.

The talking was left to manager Dave Keane, and to his credit he was as accommodating as anyone could be in his position.

Fulsome in his praise of Waterford, the Limerick boss made no attempt to conceal his disappointment at the overall refereeing performance of Wexfordman Dickie Murphy: “I thought we got nothing from him and a lot of vital decisions went against us”, he said.

Most crucially of all was the sideline cut from which Paul Flynn gained possession and fired home the only goal of the game.

“That’, he said, “should have been a Limerick sideline, no doubt whatever about that.”

The Limerick manager also claimed that the first half incident which resulted in the retirement of Niall Moran and his subsequent departure to hospital was “an off the ball incident.”

“This is not sour grapes, and I wish Waterford well”, he added. He said that overall Waterford were the physically stronger side and Limerick just couldn’t get the goal they so badly needed.

“Picking ourselves up after this defeat will be a new challenge for us, but for many of our players it has been a learning process and they will not want to experience defeats like this again”, he said.

Keane also said that the absence of Andrew O’Shaughnessy, the teenager he describes as “a very special talent”, was a big blow to their victory hopes but at least they could now look forward to his return the next day.

“We’re disappointed yes, but there’s still a lot to play for, and that’s exactly what we’ll do”, said Keane.

O’Shaughnessy has made himself available to the Limerick under-21 hurling selectors for Wednesday’s opening defence of their Munster and All-Ireland crowns at Kilmallock, when against Waterford.