Dodge salutes O’Grady for Treaty turnaround
You see, there’s Donal O’Grady, and then there’s Donal O’Grady. One is the new manager, brought in from Cork after his heroics with the Rebels in 2003 and 2004 when he led them from turmoil to All-Ireland glory. The other is the long-serving midfielder, from the Granagh-Ballingarry club.
“There is a small bit of confusion,” admits the latter, “though I’d go by the nickname ‘Dodge’. He (Donal) still calls me Donal, which I find surprising — I thought if anyone would call me by my nickname it would be him.”
Manager Donal doesn’t go in for that kind of familiarity, which is not to say that — unlike his predecessor Justin McCarthy, who ultimately fell on this particular issue — that he doesn’t communicate well.
“The opposite,” says Dodge. “He’s an excellent communicator. Everyone is treated exactly the same, he spends the same time with everyone, trying to improve their game. And his attention to detail is unbelievable. He’s very particular about mastering the basic skills. Everything is done precisely and repeated until he feels we’ve mastered it. It’s been great so far, everything is in order and everyone is happy with the way things are going.”
Such a sea-change from last year in Limerick, when the county was torn apart, polarised around the previous manager. O’Grady wants the past to be parked. He continued: “It’s great to be back at this level, great to get back into the swing of things. There’s a good mix of youth and experience, a great atmosphere in the camp after the league campaign, though we won’t know where we are until the 12th of June, after the Waterford game.”
That will be the Munster championship semi-final, a date locked into the consciousness of all Limerick hurling fans since the draw was made last year, but surely they’ll also have a good indication of where they really are after this evening’s Allianz Hurling League Division 2 final against Clare in Ennis.
And O’Grady is wary of a Clare side, packed with several talented hurlers from the All-Ireland-winning U21 team of 2009. “Definitely. That win gave those lads a lot of confidence, and they’re in the same boat as us in that they will be putting a huge emphasis on this game — they want to get back to Division 1 hurling next year. And they’re one-up already with the match being played in Ennis.”
Which game is bigger, this league final or that Waterford date in June? “That’s a hard one to call! It’s vitally important we’re promoted, you don’t want another year in Division 2, but Waterford on June 12th is always at the back of your mind. Promotion is the target this week and sure whatever happens after that is for another day.”
“Division 2 is very competitive, a lot of tough matches,” says O’Grady. “In fairness to Clare they managed to beat a few teams by 20-odd points but we didn’t. We’re unbeaten to date, which is a positive, but then you look at Clare, they topped the league last year and still ended up not being promoted.” !!
first time these two meet in this year’s league things didn’t go well for Clare as they were crushed We let a lot of people down today with our display,” said manager Ger O'Loughlin. “ Though another defeat followed against Laois, they are now where they planned.
Limerick are coming back from the dead, a lost season last year after internal fighting, but no better man than new manager Donal O'Grady to pull a team together and get them back to basics. Limerick haven't lost a game this year – could this be the day?
Verdict: Limerick
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