Bennis ‘couldn’t have asked for more from maligned players’

RICHIE BENNIS enjoyed All-Ireland glory as a player in 1973.

Yesterday he guided Limerick to a dramatic victory over Tipperary in the Munster semi-final second replay and reckons the emotion to be up there with anything achieved inside the white lines.

Said Bennis: “I have said it already and make no apologies for repeating myself, but that game out there today by those two teams was enthralling.

“As their manager I couldn’t have asked for any more.

“All of us involved from players to management have been much maligned by the media but today we answered our critics. There is possibly two or three more years left in this particular team and they got together at the beginning of the year and decided to give it a right go.

“After today maybe now we’ll get the credit we deserve.

“Limerick hurling is just as good as it is in any of the other counties. It’s just a case of having the belief, heart, the hurling, the commitment and the will to win.

“We have all those now and we’ll be hard to beat from here on.

“I’m delighted for our supporters in particular. They stood by us when things weren’t going our way and you saw yourself what the victory meant to them. They couldn’t contain themselves toward the end of extra time and there was a mini pitch invasion.

“That was born out of sheer frustration at not winning. You have to remember this was our first championship victory since our win over Waterford in Páirc Uí Chaoimh in 2001. Maybe the omens are good.

“This was our third competitive game on the trot and to produce another classic beggars belief. Both teams deserve every credit for the show they put on.”

Despite the see-saw nature of the scoring, Bennis claimed he never feared a loss.

“No I never though it was gone from us. Games like that are never lost until the referee blows the final whistle. We hung in there when Tipperary were at their best, rode our luck a bit and then came storming into the game twice. It was nerve-wrecking stuff watching from the sidelines.

“We went into this game with a plan and it worked well for us. Gary Kirby, Dave Moriarty and Anthony O’Riordan were the men who devised it and they deserve as much of the credit as the players who carried it out do.

“There were players out there who went through the pain barrier for Limerick. The character and leadership some showed was unnatural. Look at Andrew O’Shaughnessy — he missed a couple of easy frees, never lost his nerve and came good in injury time.

“That takes some balls. Look at Mike O’Brien, a soldier through and through. He lost his hurley, recovered the ball and then won a free. That takes massive commitment.

“They were just two players who gave their all for their county, but this was a team effort and they all deserve every credit for winning.

“If we were to lose the match we’d lose it ourselves, not Tipperary win it. It was nip and tuck all through but with five minutes of normal time to go I felt we had it when we led by three points, but I’ve seen so much hurling in my time not to take anything for granted.

“Tipperary lost a 10-point lead last week. It just goes to show just how fickle the game of hurling can be. One minute you think you have it, the next it’s gone from you.

“People can never imagine the amount of effort we have put into winning these games. Ever since the draws were made back last October, this was the one game on our minds. It occupied us totally and to have finally emerged winners from it is something worth cherishing.”

Asked if it would be difficult to focus on the final in a fortnight, he smiled. “Right now we’ll savour this win for a day or two, get the players back down to earth and then concentrate our attention on Waterford.”