Gap closing but Treaty should aim for six on the trot, says Hickey

The former Limerick stalwart says the county should make hay while the current special crop of players are in their prime.

TUNED IN: GAAGo presenter Grainne McElwain with former Limerick hurler Seamus Hickey at the media launch of the streaming platform at Croke Park. Picture: Eóin Noonan/Sportsfile

Seamus Hickey reckons Limerick should be eyeing up a Liam MacCarthy Cup six-in-a-row in 2023 though acknowledges that the gap between them and their closest rivals has narrowed.

Former All-Star Hickey retired after the 2018 All-Ireland breakthrough and said that while the win was perhaps 'ahead of schedule' for a young group, he was then surprised they didn't retain the title in 2019.

Kilkenny dethroned the Shannonsiders at the semi-final stage that season, prompting John Kiely's crew to dig deep and pick off each of the next three available All-Ireland titles.

Hickey, who will work as an analyst for Championship broadcaster GAAGO next season, said that at times Limerick have been unstoppable during their glory era though he feels 2022 offered evidence that the pack is closing in.

Limerick drew twice over 70 minutes in the Munster championship and were pushed to within two points by Kilkenny in the All-Ireland final.

"I agree that the gap is closing," said Hickey. "Limerick got beaten three times in the National League which to me was hard to imagine 12 months previous so I think on a game to game basis, six teams could definitely win it, by winning a once-off game against Limerick.

"I would argue that they are still favourites but the gap, without question, has narrowed."

Hickey believes that, like Brian Cody's four-in-a-row Kilkenny side previously, and the six-in-a-row winning Dublin footballers, there isn't the talent coming through in Limerick to sustain the dominance indefinitely.

But he reckons the core of the team still has age on its side to keep going for several more years.

"If you are talking about supply level and talent, I do think there is an excellent structure in Limerick for academies but the generation that has come in and is currently there are in their mid- to late-20s now, I don't think you replicate that. Kilkenny did not replicate that. Dublin football, you see with them now, you win as much as you can and then you try to sustain it beyond that with fresh blood that comes in - but you will need that blood. Limerick aren't at the rebuilding stage yet but I do think the core of that team is still incredibly special."

Hickey said he hasn't been surprised by Limerick's coming of age over the last few years and the amount of All-Irelands they've won.

"The only surprise to me the last four years was that they lost the semi-final to Kilkenny in 2019. Genuinely. In 2018, I felt we achieved ahead of schedule. They were an ascending group of players. The U-21s, the All-Irelands that they won, they didn't just win those, they dominated them. To me, that was telling, the physical stature of the players coming up.

"So you had physique, pace, skill - the trifecta that you can't design, that either comes through in a generation or it doesn't.

"Kilkenny came through in a generation like that. When you're talking about the likes of Peter Barry, Martin Comerford - size, speed, skill. Henry Shefflin. If you had a prototype hurler, well, Limerick had seven or eight of them come along together. To me, the writing was on the wall. And they were ambitious, hungry to succeed.

"They had come from colleges and schools programmes, Harty Cups, Fitzgibbons, groups they were used to nothing but winning. It was very hard for them then to step into a county setup and accept losing."