Hannon: Limerick must put two performances together

Upwards may be out of the question for Limerick after missing out on promotion from Division 1B. But onwards is now the target in this league campaign and Declan Hannon has underlined the importance of emulating their win over Dublin in Sunday’s Division 1 semi-final.

TJ Ryan’s men responded well to critics in the county by becoming the first team to beat Dublin in Parnell Park since 2011. But backing it up with another display of high quality is necessary for Limerick’s development, says Hannon.

“We need to pull two performances together, two solid performances, and not just one here and there throughout the year. That’s not good enough if you’re to be competing with the likes of Tipp and Kilkenny. Kilkenny do it day in, day out against any team or whoever they have available to play.”

Hannon has called on the county to move on from the disappointment of failing to make the long-awaited jump to Division 1A.

“In Limerick we have been bogged down about getting out of Division 1B. It hasn’t happened, we have to park that now because there’s no point in talking about it or worrying about it. Our next focus is Waterford.”

He admitted: “We were awfully disappointed after the Clare game. We are giving out in Limerick that we are stuck in 1B but at the end of the day it is our own fault. We had enough chances to come out of it but we haven’t and that’s down to us.”

Hannon didn’t place too much emphasis on Ryan’s “vultures” comments after the Dublin game. “I heard bits and pieces but as players you are only concentrating on training and trying to improve and focusing on performances.”

The winning mentality of the Na Piarsaigh players and the U21s upgraded to the senior panel has given a fresh boost to the group, reports Hannon, but some tactical thinking will also be in order against a team like Waterford this weekend.

“It’s a hard system to play against I’d say,” estimates Hannon, who didn’t face Waterford in the league game last year. “They don’t seem to deviate from it too much. It’s been working for them so why would they change?

“We’re going to have to come up with a plan to counteract that and it’s up to the players and managers to implement it on the day. All these games come down to a mistake or a bit of luck. Take last year in the league semi-final, Tipperary looked as if they had it won but maybe a bit of panic set in or something like that. It’s about patience. We’ll have to come up with a game plan and just stick to it. If it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work. We’re going to have to try something.”

Hurling has changed utterly since he was introduced to the seniors as a fresh-faced 18-year-old five years ago.

“We had a game-plan but there was not much talk about the opposition, what they’re going to do, are they going to play a sweeper or play this fella here or there. It was kind of 15 against 15. Now, positions seem to be irrelevant with some teams. Corner-backs and corner-forwards can be in around the middle of the field throughout the game.”

It doesn’t mean Hannon has lost any of his admiration of the game. “No, I still love it. It kind of adds to it. As a player, you’re being told to do this job or that job and you’re doing it for the team.

“I think that’s massive in Limerick this year — everybody seems to be buying into the idea of ‘it’s a team, it’s a team, it’s not the individual’.”

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