Eamonn Cregan embarrassed by Limerick’s 'pitiful' All-Ireland record

Today marks two years since John Kiely guided Limerick to a first Liam MacCarthy Cup in 45 years

Former Limerick hurling manager Eamonn Cregan. Photograph: Liam Burke/Press 22

Limerick legend Eamonn Cregan says the county’s total of eight All-Ireland SHC titles is “pitiful” and “a real pain in the butt” but he is buoyed by the current amount of talent.

Today marks two years since John Kiely guided the county to the Liam MacCarthy for the first time in 45 years. Cregan was part of the team that itself ended a stretch of 31 years without an All-Ireland in 1973 and naturally he doesn’t want them waiting as long for a ninth crown.

Limerick are 20 titles behind third-placed Tipperary in the all-time roll of honour and Cregan admits he is embarrassed by his county’s total. “I am, of course. We have contested All-Ireland finals and lost them. I won’t give you the reasons for some of them but we’re at eight and that’s simply not good enough for Limerick.

“We are a hurling county that plays football too but we are a hurling county and our number of All-Irelands is pitiful. We should have a lot more and we haven’t and we have to accept that.

“The work currently being done in the academies should help us challenge for more in the future but we have had too many barren spells. I read a lot of PD Mehigan or Carbery as he was known and the articles about Limerick stopped at 1940. From then on, it was nothing and you were wondering what happened and a lot of things did happen in Limerick.

“A few of us came along and the (Limerick) CBS won four Harty Cups on the trot and two All-Ireland colleges. We began to get confidence in ourselves and Ardscoil Rís were the same. They didn’t win Harty Cups then but over the last 10 years they certainly have (five).

It’s a real pain in the butt that we only have eight All-Irelands. It’s our own fault that we should have won more. We’ve won 20 Munster titles but when it’s come to All-Irelands we have failed.”

Cregan isn’t too down in the mouth, though. Even though this season has been arrested, he still believes the momentum of the 2018 success is still there. “There was momentum for us in ‘74 but we didn’t have people in charge who could see the bigger picture. A lot of people went their own way and up the ladder in some cases but what the county board failed to do was get hurling played throughout the county and I mean everywhere.

“The academies nowadays are casting the net wide and bringing players in from clubs you would never even think of. They’ve brought them in and coached them. Players from say Crecora that wouldn’t get a chance to progress in the normal championship would be playing at a high level in the academies.

“The schools have worked together too. (Seamus) Flanagan was playing with Feohanagh but when the schools amalgamated to make West Limerick Colleges they had a Harty Cup team and they got a taste of what it was like to play better players.

I would have always scanned the Fitzgibbon Cup teams in Limerick to see how many Limerick players are involved and the numbers had been rather small but not anymore. 

“Limerick at one stage had 29 players who have been involved in Fitzgibbon. Playing at the top level each step of the way is so important. You’re not going to improve any other way.”

What Cregan has seen during the group stages of the county championships gave him cause for optimism. “Even in the teams that have been beaten there has been positive signs. What impressed me most is the quality of the hurling. The players’ ability to strike the ball left and right and their movement stood out.

“In our day, we thought all our games were fantastic. I look back on a colleges final and I say to myself, ‘Was I that bad?’ Even though we’d won. I’d pull on the ball and it would go five yards. That day has gone now. Sometimes they don’t pull on it at all but they move it, their first touch is good and their striking is good and that’s all down to the academy and the quality of the coaching.”

Looking ahead to the delayed Championship and beyond, three-time All-Star Cregan bemoans the inter-county retirement of Shane Dowling to injury as “a huge loss” but hopes Kiely’s panel can continue to be replenished.

“We’d all love to win another All-Ireland but what I would like to see is a steady stream of hurlers coming through from U17 and U20.

“Providing this keeps going and no egos get in the way, we will have more chances of success.

It’s all about Limerick doing well and the whole unit doing well. It’s not about personalities and I certainly think they’re on the right road at the moment.”