Limerick’s young guns mix mettle and mastery

RARELY does league fare take centre stage in the imagination of hurling folk, especially not outside the top tier, but such was the interest in this crucial Allianz Hurling League Division Two final that Ennis on Saturday evening bore all the hallmarks of a championship encounter.

The crowd was so large that the throw-in was put back five minutes. There were shenanigans before the throw-in when both teams took up the same position behind the pipe band for the parade, and neither side would then give in and marched around almost arm-in-arm. And at throw-in time the Limerick attack grouped on the 40 in an effort to sow confusion in the Clare defence, before then taking up their allotted positions (lining up as per the programme).

Heavens, even the weather was summer-like, blue skies and warm sunshine; and the intensity – from first whistle to last, was intense with no quarter asked or given as the hits went in. This was good old-fashioned hurling facilitated by the sympathetic refereeing of James McGrath from Westmeath.