Limerick’s Leo O’Connor slates ‘crazy’ colleges turnaround

Limerick minor manager Leo O’Connor has described the instant turnaround from colleges hurling to intercounty championship as “crazy”.

February’s Harty Cup decider was without the involvement of a Limerick nursery, allowing O’Connor an uninterrupted run in preparing for this evening’s Munster championship first round tie.

His predecessor Brian Ryan was robbed of several players in the build-up to Limerick’s opening Munster bout last spring as Scoil na Tríonóide Naofa, Doon and Ardscoil Rís progressed to the latter stages of the All-Ireland championship.

The Limerick boss empathised with the Thurles CBS hurlers — Jack Skehan and Enda Heffernan — who will line out for Tipperary in their quarter-final clash five days after the schools Croke Cup loss to St Kieran’s.

“In one way it is a help that there was no Limerick school involved beyond Munster,” said O’Connor.

“The Harty Cup is a great competition and every secondary school student interested in hurling wants to play Harty Cup, but it is a crazy, crazy system the way one competition bleeds into the other.

“Thurles CBS only finished playing colleges on Saturday and some of them are involved on Wednesday. If you go well in the Harty Cup and the All-Ireland colleges, players will be found guilty of success. Are they not deserving of a break? That is the system that is there at present, that isn’t going to change, so all you can do is put your head down and drive on.”

The Treaty are chasing an unprecedented three-in-a-row of Munster titles and O’Connor insists the county’s hurling academy is driving their underage renaissance.

Anthony Daly came on board as academy head coach before Christmas, the next generation of Limerick hurlers responding to the wealth of experience the two-time All-Ireland winning captain has brought to the table.

“This is the gig in town in Limerick at present, as big as the Munster rugby academy. Young fellas that are playing hurling want to be in the academy, they want to be training under ‘Dalo’ asserted O’Connor.

“We have really seen the academy’s worth over the last two years in that we have won back-to-back Munster titles.

“I worked with the U15s in recent years and it was of great benefit to know what is in front of you and what is coming behind you because we would have played the U14s and U16s in challenge games on Saturday morning. At minor then, you know there are two teams, minor and U17, comprising of 48 players working within the system that are at your disposal. That is a big advantage.”

He added: “Everything is centralised in the North Campus of UL on a Saturday morning. The minors are there from 9-10.30am, then the U16s come in. It is booked up until 3pm.

“There are so many facilities at your disposal in UL that no session is the same. We could be indoors one weekend working on strength and conditioning, outside then the next weekend. We are trying new stuff the whole time. Hence, we have caught the imagination of the young fellas because they are willing to work.