Dowling backs Limerick to learn from defeat

Limerick star Shane Dowling has predicted further progress for the Shannonsiders in 2013 — and backed his team-mates to bounce back from yesterday’s All-Ireland quarter-final defeat against Kilkenny.

The Treaty men may be plying their trade again in Division 1B of the league but acquitted themselves well in this year’s championship.

And Dowling, who has enjoyed a stellar debut season, heaped praise on boss John Allen and his backroom team.

“John is a very cool guy. He leaves a lot up to the players,” said Dowling, 19.

“There are great players in there in that dressing-room. The management team has been very good.

“There’s no doubting that but there are fantastic players there as well to back that up. I suppose coming in, I’ve been looking up to lads and what I expected is what I’ve got so I’ve been thrilled with it.”

Limerick could have taken Tipperary in the Munster quarter-final but recovered to contest an All-Ireland quarter-final, having seen off the challenge of Clare along the way.

But free-scoring Dowling, who bagged four points yesterday, admitted that Kilkenny was a massive step-up in class and intensity.

“It was a whole new ball game and I thought personally it was the most intense game that I’d played all year,” he revealed.

“They’re physically strong and big, and they hurl at a very intense level. It’s a learning curve. If you look at our team, I don’t think, bar maybe one, that there are going to be any retirements. It’s a very young team and it’s a learning curve for us. We’ll look forward to next year already.”

At half-time, Limerick trailed by just a single point but Dowling insisted: “I don’t know was it a small bit unfair to go in at half-time a point down. I thought we did very well but you just can’t be giving Henry Shefflin room like that. He scored the first goal into an open goal and then put away the second one brilliantly.

“If they didn’t go in with a few points lead at half-time, it could have been a different story. But look, Kilkenny did what they do to most teams. In the space of 10 minutes the game was over in the second-half and that was that.

“I genuinely don’t think there was a person in the country that could say they were a better team than us at half-time. They did beat us and comfortably enough in the second-half. They got the breaks, they got the space and they got the goals. That was a factor at the end.

“They’re super at putting away teams in the blink of an eye. It’s what tells at the finish of games. Their ruthlessness is just outstanding. There were a load of rumours of backlash that were being spoken about during the week, but I thought we handled it fairly well anyway.”

Dowling added: “I’ve been lucky to thankfully get a spot in the forward line.

“It’s something that’s been very nice and something that I always dreamed of. But I’ve dreamed of beating Kilkenny and that didn’t come true today.”