We will fight on, pledges skipper O’Sullivan

WITH Limerick manager Justin McCarthy and his selectors avoiding the post-match inquisitions, it was left to captain Bryan O’Sullivan to provide the Shannonside reaction to events in Páirc Uí Chaoimh.

The Kilmallock man led his teammates into battle in difficult circumstances but they avoided the hammering that had been forecast with a brave display.

Such plaudits and praise didn’t wash with O’Sullivan. In his eyes this was another provincial hurling loss for his county to bear, as their wretched record over the last decade was extended.

“Look, Limerick’s record in the Munster championship for the last decade just isn’t good enough. We were talking about that beforehand. We’ve only won two first round Munster championship games in the last 10 years. For a proud hurling county, that’s not good enough. Today is a hard day for Limerick hurling. We have to regroup now and improve that record over the next few years.”

Suggestions that Limerick had surprised people with their ability to stick with Cork for vast chunks of the game were regarded as patronising by O’Sullivan. Their future looked grim after a 31-point hiding by Dublin in the league in April but O’Sullivan insisted there were signs of improvement in recent weeks.

“Those people weren’t watching us as we’ve improved a lot since the league. I don’t think that Dublin game did us justice, we’re a lot better than that. Going out to the game, we thought it was very important in the first half to be in with a shout.

“We started well but I suppose the first goal from the first penalty was a bit of a killer. But then when they got the second penalty and we saved it, it gave the team a huge boost. We went out and got a penalty ourselves, but missing that gave them a bit of a chance. I suppose the sending off made it hard for us then.

“But we regrouped at half-time and came out again to give it our all. That’s all I’m looking for in this team, to give it their best shot. Cork are that bit better and the scoreline proved that. Cork are a really good team and they’d punish you even if you had 16 players. At this level, playing with 14 players is always difficult.”

Limerick began the game with nine newcomers to senior inter-county championship hurling and gave debuts to five other players over the 70 minutes. It was a vastly inexperienced side and being pitted against some of the country’s elite performers will be hugely beneficial going forward.

“It’s definitely going to give them experience,” said O’Sullivan. “Playing against the likes of John Gardiner and Sean Óg O hAilpín, will help them. Of course it’s going to increase the levels and standards of our play. Coming into this game, of course we’d have hoped to have won it. I think we underperformed, only played at 60%. But you know during the game, the breaks went against us. I just feel that might have been a bit of a factor.”

An All-Ireland qualifier date beckons on July 10 against one of the triumvirate from Leinster – Galway, Offaly or Dublin. O’Sullivan is adamant that Limerick can regroup and make an impression.

“We’re just going to have to regroup next week and get ready for the qualifiers. We just have to keep the heads down and work hard. This team has great potential and there’s more in this team. We just want to improve.”