Limerick hurling boss TJ Ryan expects to be ‘torn to pieces’

TJ Ryan played down an incident following the final whistle when an angry Limerick supporter attempted to confront him before he was ushered away by a steward.

“That’s passion and I’ve been used to that at this stage. It’s frustration as well. They want to win, the Limerick supporters came here and wanted to win the same as myself in fairness to them. They’re the joys of it.”

Ryan anticipates that both he and Limerick will get filleted for the defeat, their earliest exit from the championship since 2010 when the majority of first choice players went on strike.

“I know we’ll get torn to pieces for the week or two - that’s the nature of the GAA.

“That’s the way the analysts and you guys have gone. When you lose I suppose you deserve that.”

Asked if the criticism will be justified, he said: “When you get beaten, unfortunately it is. You can question everything. Hindsight is marvellous and this sport is brilliant with hindsight.

“I thought we prepared well. I thought we did a good job on Dublin. But we made changes and if you win they’re great but if you don’t everyone questions everything. That’s just the nature of it.”

Ryan was handed a three-year term shortly after Limerick’s narrow loss to Kilkenny in last year’s All-Ireland semi-final but is bound to come under pressure in light of this early exit and the 16-point loss to Tipperary in the Munster semi-final.

Of his future, he remarked: “Today is not the day for that. The term is there alright. I gave every waking hour for the last number of weeks and months and in fairness to the lads I have to credit them. I have to credit the Limerick supporters, they’ve been very good to me. The players have given everything. I have a backroom team that’s fantastic. Unfortunately, when you come up short..........the management’s point of view is you take the credit but you also have to take the kick in the hole too.”

Ryan was unimpressed by Cathal McAllister’s display particularly in the first half when he felt Limerick merited more frees. “I thought the aggression levels and the tackling and the hits were as good as last year at times. For me, maybe I was looking at something different but I thought we got pulled and dragged all over the place. I thought we should have had a few more frees but look that’s not sour grapes; that’s all that I saw. In the end, Dublin got the scores and we didn’t.”

He continued: “I think if you look at the first half, look at the DVD, you won’t need me to be giving out then. Watch the pulling and dragging.”