Moran says Treaty support will ‘mushroom’ after Tipp shock

Limerick veteran Niall Moran says Sunday’s win over Tipperary will help hurling in the battle for hearts and minds on Shannonside.

Moran said the hurlingsupport would “mushroom out” in coming weeks ahead of the county’s first Munster final since 2007.

“It’s special for us,” said Moran.

“For the younger guys, over the last five or six years we’ve had some very talented hurlers coming through and I suppose during the week — and for the last couple of years — there have been questions asked about our ability to see out games, about whether there was steel in the team.

“I think Sunday copperfastened the work we’ve done over the last couple of years and the belief in the team.

“To finish it off was huge for the group of players.

“Looking around after the game, people didn’t want to come off the pitch. A lot has been made over the years about the influence of rugby in Limerick, but there’s a cohort of hurling people there, and days like today will mushroom out.

“You’ll see it in Limerick over the next month, two months — look, it’s one game, and everyone’s got to be realistic.

“We haven’t won a Munster championship since 1996, so that has to be the key aim moving forward, but we’re entitled to enjoy this, the people ofLimerick are entitled to enjoy the win and I hope there’ll be a lot more positivity now going forward.”

The Ahane clubman said the three-point victory over hot favourites Tipperary will give the young Limerick players “an enormous amount of confidence”.

“The most disappointing aspect of our year so far is we know we have hurlers, we have the work done, but unfortunately the performances didn’t read that way.

“This will give an enormous amount of confidence. One win for any team will bring them on. We’re going to enjoy this because we are entitled to enjoy it, but Clare or Cork is coming down the road.

“Ultimately, at the end of your career you are going to be judged by what you have won. Myself and Donal (O’Grady) as older players have won nothing in our careers and the same goes for the younger guys.

“That has to be the focus and nobody better than John Allen to reinforce that.”

Moran started on the bench but paid tribute to every player who contributed to Limerick’s win.

“Everybody wants to play from the start. You have to be realistic — last year we didn’t see out the game and it was a harsh lesson. This time we did see out the game.

“You can argue that the bench made a difference and I hope it did, but the backs who started were phenomenal. Above all else, anyone who was out there had that bit of Limerick that was missing for the last five or six years.

“Here the Limerick came back into Limerick — the pride, the passion, the things that mean the most to us. That meant everything to us.

“We were reared on stories of the forties, the seventies, the nineties — well now is the day we start to write our own story. It’s only the first chapter and there’s no point in having a one-chapter book.

“That’s what we have to look at after this. We have to move forward, try to get our feet back on the ground and push on from here.”