McCarthy back in Croker with unfinished business

HE’S BACK in Croke Park for another All-Ireland hurling semi-final, this time with a different team, but driven by the same enduring passion for the game which has literally dominated his life for close on half a century.

This time last year, Justin McCarthy was confined to coaching at club level in his native Cork after the Waterford players decided they had enough of him midway through the season, but he was never going to be inactive for too long.

Around the time Waterford were licking their wounds after their humiliating experience at the hands of Kilkenny in the All-Ireland final, McCarthy was ready to make a speedy return to inter-county management at the helm in Limerick after the County Board decided against sticking with Richie Bennis.

Two years ago, Bennis and McCarthy had twice been on the opposite side, firstly when Waterford won the Munster final in thrilling fashion (when Dan Shanahan bagged three goals). Then, they renewed their rivalry in the All-Ireland semi-final and this time it was Limerick who came out on top, after the Déise had been taken to two games by Cork in the quarter-final.

Earlier in the campaign, Limerick and Tipperary had met three times before a winner was declared, with Limerick triumphing 0-22 to 2-13 after extra time.

McCarthy hasn’t had the best of luck in semi-finals, losing four times with Waterford (2002, 2004, 2006 and 2007). With Cork, he was successful in the only one that he played in — against London in 1972 — and 12 years later he was coaching the county when they defeated Antrim on the way to victory in the Centenary final.

Ideally, when Limerick faced up to Waterford in the Munster championship on June 14, he would have wished his team to be in the state of preparedness they are currently in, taking on favourites Tipperary in the second of the All-Ireland semi-finals in Croke Park on Sunday.

Looking back, he says that they weren’t ‘as ready as they thought’ at the time.

He points out that they had been missing a few players through injury at the time and that in the interim period a number of them have ‘picked up on their form.’

“We set out to win the Munster championship and that didn’t happen. So we had to go ‘route two.’ We picked up the pieces. We re-jigged the team and the games brought us on.

“We had a tough game against Wexford, Laois gave us a bit of a surprise and Dublin were always going to be a threat. So, there was going to be no easy game there. We’re very happy to get the chance to be in Croke Park... it’s a bonus really.’’

The bigger picture is what interests McCarthy. Clearly, he wants Limerick to be successful in terms of winning trophies, but he and co-selectors Brian Ryan and Liam Garvey are also committed to ‘building’ the team as well.’

He explains: “We have a lot of young lads down there. We want to try and bring new talent into Limerick and give them an idea of ‘better preparation’ and try to bring them on as inter-county hurlers.

“The ‘older fellows’ are there, of course and they stuck by us. Certainly they put their shoulder to the wheel and the younger fellows responded.”

While prepared to concede that Limerick haven’t progressed at the same rate as Tipperary, he takes encouragement from their display in Croke Park against Waterford in the 2007 semi-final. “There’s no doubt, they struck a great day that day in Croke Park. They played some great hurling, they were full of fire and movement and got some outstanding scores.

“Waterford were caught a bit flat-footed after a Munster campaign and other hard games coming up to the semi-final. Limerick were ready for action, ready for revenge I suppose after losing the Munster final. They are a ‘gritty’ side and I don’t want to change that. They are certainly very proud of their own county and of their tradition and that has stood to them.

“The qualifier games have brought us on; there’s nothing like a bit of success,’’ he commented.

“Limerick hadn’t beaten Wexford since the early 1900s and hadn’t won in Thurles for a long number of years. That was a bit of a weight off their shoulders and they came out and expressed themselves that bit more.’’ And, they did it without the services of one of their best forwards, Niall Moran, who broke his finger in the game against Wexford. Without firmly ruling out the possibility of him playing some part on Sunday, the Limerick boss said that while every day marked progress in the healing process, it wasn’t something that ‘could be pushed.’

Something else that’s ‘definite’ is his assessment of Tipperary as powerful opposition and his view that his own team will have to play exceptionally well to reach their standard. “I have watched Tipperary hurling over a long number of years and I have watched this team being built and developed,’’ he commented. “I saw Tipperary coming back two years ago as a big hurling force and I have no reason to doubt that.

“They have a team with a lot of talent, with a lot of movement, a lot of young players and certainly a lot of experienced players as well. So, there’s nobody going to fool me and say they are ‘this, that or the other.

Offering the view that it’s easy to compare one year with another — “maybe we look back on history a bit much” — he doesn’t disagree with the view that Tipperary have more to offer as an attacking force and that Limerick’s real strength lies in defence. Obviously then, the real test will be to get the balance right on the day. “These games are fought out with great intensity and there are a lot of good players on both sides that could swing it.

“Anything could happen. It could just be the break of a ball, because most games are lost by mistakes. I think it will come down to that. We are not under-estimating the huge challenge which Tipperary will throw at Limerick.

“All I can say is that we will give our level best and hope that we can improve from our last championship outing.”