Limerick set for seasonal adjustment

Try this one on for size: Limerick — hurling’s best championship team? Bear with us. Name a team, any other team, who has undermined their league form come business time as much as the county this decade.

Before you start, their annus horribilis of 2010 doesn’t count. That strike season deserves to be neglected in these considerations as it should be forgotten. It has no bearing nor is any reflection on what Limerick have achieved in distancing their shimmering summers from their snoozy springs.

A combination of factors — relegation, a competition restructure and an illegal player — have contributed to them languishing in the second tier of the league these last five seasons. Primarily, it’s their poor or auto-pilot early season form that has been at fault, yet with the coming of the cuckoo they have been transformed. In the past four years, they have reached the All-Ireland quarter-finals without fail, making the last four at the last two times of asking.