TJ Ryan: Limerick are basically a combination of all hurling's changes over three decades

Limerick’s Tom Morrissey and Gearoid Hegarty 

There’s a nice thing happening around Limerick hurling at the moment — people are nearly looking around for ways to hand out credit for the current success.

Whether it’s the academy or the board or the sponsors, there’s kudos going for everyone.

A lovely message landed via the Examiner this week, from a Limerick listener to Dalo’s podcast. And he was praising me for trying Gearóid Hegarty in the half-forward line in 2016 after he had starred up along as a half-back.

God knows, I’ll try to take any credit that’s going, though that was simply a case of looking for someone to catch a ball for us. Mind you, Hego seems to have got the hang of the position alright.

But it just shows the remarkable change around the place — it’s not long since the county was searching everywhere for somebody to blame and finding plenty.

You must factor all that in when judging this team. How they’ve changed the whole mindset of the county. Limerick have won 42 titles in 128 years. Eight All-Irelands, 21 Munsters and 13 National Leagues.

In three years, these boys have won five — two Munsters, two leagues and the big one.

Limerick won the All-Ireland in ‘73 with a very good team, brilliant players like Hartigan, Grimes, McKenna, Cregan. But you have to go back to the Mackey era — the 1930s — for a period of Limerick dominance.

So by any fair measure this is a great Limerick team.

But life is about more than medals. That famous Dutch soccer team of the 1970s won nothing but are regarded as great for the impact they made, the entertainment they gave, and how they changed the sport.

I’ve always loved that Cruyff line: “Quality without results is pointless. Results without quality is boring.” And this Limerick team isn’t boring. They hit big scores every day. They play a lovely brand of hurling and they’re playing their own part in the evolution of the game.

There’s been a few transformations in hurling over the last 30 years. The physicality of Kilkenny, the running game of Cork, sweepers arrived, then the football orientated mid-teens, where everything became crowded and condensed.

Limerick are basically a combination of all those changes over three decades. A big, strong, physical team, that runs the ball when they have to and uses it exceptionally well. They mind it.

They’ve mastered the set-pieces, their own puckout and the opposition’s. There’s a bit of Klopp in there, in their collective press. How they shut down the channels and are well educated on putting pressure on at the right times, to force turnovers. It’s manic, but it’s not madness, there’s method behind it.

Sometimes you can judge greatness too by the way other teams react. Are they modifying their systems to counter yours? Is there that little of fear? Limerick don’t change how they play for anyone. They just try to make plan A better. In future, maybe the Limerick method will be copied by others.

TJ Ryan as Limerick manager in 2016 Photo by Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

DOG CHASING A CAR

You often hear it said round here: So and so is like a dog following a car. What’s the plan if they ever catch up?

A lot fell into place for Limerick. The academy threw up big, physical, skillful players. For once, everyone is on the same wavelength — board, backers, clubs.

But it could all have gone to waste without the right plan. You can’t give enough credit to John Kiely. And then there’s the Kinnerk factor, and how he came up with a style that really suits them.

And they stuck to the plan. In the early part of this journey, I’ve been in the stand where lads were shouting at them to ‘let it in’, to ‘drive it’. The old-school wanted to go back to the ‘Limerick way’, which was basically bombing ball down on top of Joe McKenna.

Not that this team has abandoned their heritage. They have the physicality of teams of the past, they can win the ball in the air.

But the ball only goes 80 yards if it’s the right ball, if it’s better than 50/50. This team believed in the plan and they trained to trust it. And if you take out the blip in the first half against Kilkenny in last year’s semi-final, this has been a really good three years.

They’re honouring our past and shaping our future. And keeping an eye on the present too. Even when this group caught up with the car, they weren’t knocked down by it. They wanted more. And that’s the legacy they are leaving for future Limerick teams. Consistency. Workrate. Belief in your gameplan. Buy-in from everyone.

GLASS HALF FULL

Do they need to win another one to be great? They’re already great to me.

I played on good Limerick teams. I came on the panel at 18 in 1994 and we made an All-Ireland final. So I always felt that Limerick could dine at the top table and could be competitive. I played to 2006 and every year part of you thought this could be the year. Though my wife tells me I’m a glass-half-full man. We had no history of playing county in the family. The journey was a pure thrill and still is. I’ve no All-Ireland medal but I’d do the whole thing again in a heartbeat.

But I know that optimism wasn’t always shared around the county. And I know, or I sensed anyway, there were players in other counties saying ‘ah, we’ll beat Limerick’. A bit like Ferguson in the United dressing room — ‘Lads, it’s Tottenham’.

The greatest pride I can take right now is that Limerick hurling at club and county level is up there with the best of them. This team has built a real strong respect for Limerick hurling around the country. And I’m thrilled for them they have their All-Ireland medal.

I’m chairman of the Bord na nÓg at home. We want to make hurlers of the future to go on and play for Garryspillane and Limerick and to win All-Stars. To do that, those youngsters need heroes and it’s marvelous to see how much they look up to this team.

These players and management have given us so much already, in how they’ve performed and how they carry themselves. I’m certainly not demanding they prove anything. But I’ve no doubt too they want another one badly for themselves, as any great team would.