Quaid keeps the bar raised

STRIVING FOR PERFECTION: ‘We feel that when we’re hitting a high intensity and working really hard, that’s when we play our best hurling,’ says Nickie Quaid. Picture: INPHO

As Limerick reached the promised land last year, they won three tight games — Kilkenny, Cork (after extra-time), and Galway.

Goalkeeper Nickie Quaid describes the experience as “a security thing” that can be a comfort but points out games must still be won.

“In the back of your mind it probably does help that we might have been in that position before and we have closed out the game.

“It’s like a security thing, that you know you have done it before but the other side of the coin then in that what has gone on in the past has no relevance to this weekend.

“You still have to go and try and close out these games. You still have to put in the work and make all the right decisions on the home stretch. It can be a help that you have the experience of closing out these games but you still need to go and make sure you do it again the next day.

“Just because we did it last year doesn’t mean you are going to do it again this year. It is a positive, you can rely on those experiences but you have to perform and bring those to practice every time you go out.”

Last year’s All-Ireland quarter-final win over Kilkenny was a significant milestone for Limerick, but Quaid says it has no bearing on this evening’s clash.

“There was a lot made of it after the game, I think it was the first time we’d beaten them in Championship since ’73 or whenever it was but I didn’t even know that record going into the game.

“We were just focused on getting the best out of ourselves having gone through the backdoor and obviously we were meeting Kilkenny and we knew we needed to be at our best on the day.

“Is it going to have any relevance to the weekend? No, I don’t think so. If anything I think they’ve strengthened their squad and got better from last year so I’d just like to think hopefully we’ve done the same but last year has no relevance.”

So, how have Limerick improved this year?

“We’re just trying to up our workrate and our intensity. I suppose we feel that when we’re hitting a high intensity and working really hard, that’s when we play our best hurling so working at a high level consistently is the key against top opposition,” says Quaid.

“Kilkenny down through the years have always probably prided themselves on that, their workrate, their intensity, and their competitiveness.

“We’ve been looking at them for the last 10-15 years and trying to match them and it was obviously a winning formula for them for a long time, so we just see ourselves that when we don’t work hard and don’t bring intensity to games you don’t really get the results. That has the biggest bearing on every game we play and it’s probably the biggest thing that we look to hit, what we pride ourselves on really, our workrate.”

The man in the opposite goal brings workrate and intensity to it, certainly. “Eoin Murphy, sure he’s a brilliant keeper,” says Quaid. “He displayed that last year and this year. I suppose he had one of the best displays of goalkeeping last year against us, unfortunately it was against us, but he’s a brilliant keeper.

“Hopefully we can get a few past him and hopefully he won’t have his best day.”

Limerick don’t appear to be suffering from second-season syndrome in 2019: Quaid credits John Kiely and his backroom.

“It’s down to the management really. They’ve managed us really well and haven’t really let any softness or any of that kind of thing seep in. We’re not listening to our own hype or any of that kind of stuff, we’re basically concentrating on the next game and the next training session and constantly pushing each other to get the best out of each other and that’s the only way forward really.

“Inter-county careers are getting shorter and shorter and there’s only a small window that you can be hopefully playing at the top level, so every time we come here for training you’re just looking to push yourself and you’re pushing the fella beside you to try and get the best out of him and the best out of yourself — which ultimately will drive the team forward, hopefully.”

Does playing more games in Croke Park help? “I don’t know — you just get familiar with the travelling arrangements and that kind of thing,” says Quaid.

“I think I’d only won there once before last year so... maybe the week leading up to the game that might come into your mind, but once you get there and go through your normal routine or normal warm-up, whatever it is, you forget those things and you concentrate then on the game. But at the end of the day when the ball is thrown in it’s four white lines and two goals and green grass.

“This time last year maybe it was (a bigger deal), having a younger squad and a lot of lads hadn’t been there. But having played three or four games there and having positive experiences there, it should maybe make some lads a bit more relaxed.”