O’Grady still learning, but Wexford test ‘will tell a lot’

AT the final whistle a couple of weeks ago , after John Mullane’s late goal had broken Limerick hearts in the Munster SHC semi-final, it was notable that losing manager Donal O’Grady was dry-eyed and dispassionate.

“I’m too long on the road now to be throwing myself on the ground or anything like that,” he says.

“It doesn’t matter if you’re beaten by one point or ten, that game is gone. It could have turned out differently for us but I told the players – and management – that by the end of the following week, at least, we’d have to move on.

“You analyse it and take what you can out of it for the next day. The big thing is the next game, the qualifiers, and that’s a funny animal. The atmosphere is different, and it’s do-or-die, straight championship, winner takes all.”

O’Grady had warned that playing in Division Two wouldn’t be much help to Limerick in the white heat of the Munster championship. He wasn’t playing mind games, he says.

“I don’t want to harp on about it but playing in Division Two . . . the only time we were put to the pin of our collars was in the final down in Ennis against Clare, and we still won that by five points.

“Going into the championship then, the pace, the speed of thought is such that you don’t have time to dwell on making decisions, which is something you can do in Division Two. If something doesn’t come off for you there you can nearly always have another go.

“In contrast, against Waterford we went out to play a certain way and it didn’t come off, we took a few wrong options, but that’s about gelling as a team. Limerick as a team didn’t play last year so you’re only working with the team at championship pace for the four weeks before the game.

“It’s inevitable that a few things will go wrong, but in hindsight not that many things went wrong at the same time. Inexperience came against us for the goal, we had a strategy that we didn’t carry out, but starting out on the road it’s all about learning.”

A Munster final would have been a major learning curve for Limerick, says O’Grady.

“The team that wins deserves to win because it gets more scores than the other side. You’d take two points to one if you won. I’ve heard people saying that Limerick-Waterford was a good game, a game that maybe the hurling championship needed to get things going, but that’s not much good to Limerick.

“It would probably have been of more benefit to Limerick to get to a Munster final than Waterford. Waterford have been there, while the experience of preparing for a Munster final, the hype, the routine on the day – that would all have been very beneficial to Limerick and experience that you could put in the bank. I know Waterford had a few young lads but a lot of them have been there.”

He’s been heartened by the response of GAA people in Limerick since the Waterford game.

“It’s been positive,” says O’Grady. “It was probably the first time they’d seen Limerick play in a proper championship match for two years.

“If you go back to last year, that was a washout for various reasons, the year before didn’t finish on a high note either. They’re probably looking at the present team and thinking that a lot of them are in their early to mid-twenties, and that has to be a good thing for the future in Limerick.

“It was the first senior championship game a lot of them had played together as a group, so a performance like that was very positive in a lot of ways. But having said all of that, this evening will tell a lot.”

Wexford face Limerick this evening in the Gaelic Grounds, a venue which may suit the men from the southeast, according to O’Grady.

“Traditionally Wexford are strong and physical, and if you looked at much of their game against Kilkenny they were competitive, having hammered Offaly the first day out. I think it’ll be a help to them, playing outside Wexford Park. I think a lot of pressure comes on them when they play at home. I remember a couple of years ago they played Offaly there in the Leinster championship and they didn’t settle. In contrast, they’ll probably feel the shackles are off coming up to Limerick.

“People have this notion about playing in your home venue, that it’s worth a few points to you. It might be, but I think it’s only worth a few points to you when you win!

“This will be the toughest game Limerick have played in a number of years. Look at Wexford’s year – they were staring relegation in the face from Division One but they clawed out a victory against Cork at home in Wexford Park, against the odds, and then clawed out a draw against Tipperary with the last puck of the game in Semple Stadium – when they were up against it on the last day of the league.

“They were in trouble against Antrim in the first half of their game in the championship, but in the second half they tore the Saffrons to shreds. That says a lot about them. They probably have the attitude ‘we did as well as we could against Kilkenny, now for Limerick’. They’re coming into this game in a lovely position. ”

Picture: Limerick manager Donal O'Grady with team liason officer Joe Hannon prior to this year’s Munster SHC semi-final against Waterford. Picture: Daire Brennan/SPORTSFILE