McCarthy anticipating ‘fierce game’ against Laois

EXPECT Limerick to advance to the All-Ireland hurling championship quarter-final, but don’t presume for one minute Justin McCarthy subscribes to the view that his team will easily account for Laois in Semple Stadium today.

Shrewdness is one of the hallmarks of McCarthy’s approach to competitive games, but, it’s rare for a county manager to come out in public and pronounce his team will win.

The bottom line for him is that they can’t afford to take anything for granted, all the more so after having been pushed to the limit in the rain in Wexford Park seven days ago.

Not so long ago Limerick were down in the dumps after going under to Waterford in a semi-final replay in Munster and the bonus of the win over Wexford for him was that both teams served up a great game of hurling in dreadful conditions.

“I felt at the end we just about deserved to win. We kept going that bit longer and fought that bit better. And, we got vital scores, so I was very pleased,” he commented.

Understandably, as he was out of a job this time last year, McCarthy is delighted to be involved as we near the ‘the business end’ of the championship.

“We can criticise the backdoor system in different ways,” he says, “but at least we are (still) hurling into the middle of July and that’s great. Every game is a bonus.”

Now, the incentive is to maintain the momentum gained in Wexford Park and he knows that the players are just as keen to get back into action.

The only downside is that they have to plan without key forward Niall Moran, who broke a finger on Saturday and will be out of action for at least a month. “Niall is a big loss, no doubt, because we probably have more backs than forwards,” he added.

McCarthy dismisses the notion that Limerick perform at a higher level than a Laois team which (once more) got a hammering from Galway – only this time in Leinster.

He pointed to results in the Munster minor and U21 championship during the past week where Waterford unexpectedly triumphed over Tipperary in both grades as examples of results not going to expectations.

“My theory on that is every team that’s left in the All-Ireland will feel they have a chance. That is the way it is and Laois have always been hard opposition in my time seeing them, playing against them and with teams I have been involved with.

“They are never an easy team and you know they will throw caution to the wind in Thurles. We’re expecting a fierce game. We just can’t take anything for granted, we know they will give a great account of themselves.

“From our point of view it will be every bit as hard as taking on Wexford. I hope conditions are better but it won’t be an easy game.”