Richie Bennis wants players to find that Limerick ‘cut’
Richie Bennis, who guided the Shannonsiders to the 2007 decider, stopped well short of agreeing with another former manager, Tom Ryan, who last weekend labelled Limerick’s season so far ‘hopeless’.
In fact, Bennis said he will travel to Thurles for tomorrow’s All-Ireland qualifier against Dublin with “a bit of confidence”.
He also downplayed the stuttering first round win over Westmeath, claiming it was a lose-lose situation for Limerick, who were expected to win easily.
But Bennis did concede that Limerick must begin to deliver high-quality performances consistently before they can truly think about kicking on and progressing from last season’s All-Ireland semi-final appearance.
“On any given day Limerick will beat whoever they play if they play the Limerick way, with that bit of cut and thrust and fire,” said Bennis. “It was lacking big time against Tipp and they obviously just did what they had to do against Westmeath.
“The Tipp game was worrying because we allowed their half-backs the freedom of the park. We tried to play too much tactics when I don’t think we really have the players to do that.
“We don’t have the resources other counties have. There’s about 20 or 25 players there you’re working off, but if they play the traditional Limerick way, they have enough to challenge any team.
“That’s the challenge for them now, to bring it out more often and show some bit of consistency.”
Dublin have enjoyed two significant wins over Limerick recently in Thurles, the 2011 All-Ireland quarter-final and the Division 1B league final two years later. By the same token, Bennis noted that Limerick’s best hurling has generally been saved for Semple Stadium.
He’s not overly worried about the lethargy shown against Westmeath last weekend, though he conceded a defeat would have crushed the county’s spirit for a long time to come. Limerick eventually scored an unanswered 1-5 late on to kill off the Lake County.
“When there was four in it with a few minutes to go, if Westmeath had got another score I’d say doubts would have crept into Limerick’s minds and naturally enough Westmeath would have got a push going. A loss there would have set Limerick back a long time,” said Bennis.
“I wouldn’t be overly concerned by it though. I think they were going to be praised if they won well or won by a bit. It can be very hard to motivate yourself for a game like that, really getting the win is all you’re after.”
Bennis offered support to rising star Cian Lynch after two difficult outings since bursting onto the senior scene with a Man of the Match display against Clare. He was taken off after 44 minutes against Westmeath.
“People forget he’s only a young lad who was an unknown quantity against Clare. He was bound to be targeted after that and it’ll take a bit of time for him to get used to that. I see him as a fella with a wise head on young shoulders, a clever fella, he’ll find his feet.”
As for Dublin, Bennis isn’t quite sure what to make of them.
“They’re hot and cold,” he said. “Above in Croke Park in the league we played them and they were way better than us, beat us off the park and then you see them collapsing like they did against Galway. It’s hard to quantify.”
