Like Mike: Casey and Limerick not focused on emulating Kilkenny

LARK BY THE LEE: Mike Casey of Limerick poses for a portrait at the launch of the Munster GAA Championship at Pairc Ui Chaoimh in Cork. Pic: Eóin Noonan/Sportsfile

Game appreciates game but Mike Casey isn’t one for drawing parallels with this great Limerick group and hurling’s last dominators, Kilkenny of the late 2000s.

Although it's a much greener version of The Cats that Limerick face in Sunday’s Division 1 final in Páirc Uí Chaoimh, it’s that Brian Cody team of 2006-09 that Casey and Co will be looking to emulate in July.

“It’s not something that’s ever discussed,” insists the defender. “It’s not something that we really think about. A completely different era, completely different championship, they had four or five games, we have to play that in Munster, so I don’t think so.

“We’re focusing on ourselves. We always have. We always will continue to do that. When the boots are hung up, then we can start making comparisons but, for the moment, that’s for ye to do.” 

Just as Limerick are “not burdened” by the past lives of former players from the county as Tom Morrissey said in 2018, it doesn’t appear their likeness to greats of the game are upsetting them either.

And yet the similarities are there. Iron will, humility and a camp which insists on nothing but sheer honesty about each other’s performance levels.

“We’re a group where we value our panel, not just the 26 on match-day but the 36 or 37 lads that are there,” says Casey. “Every one of them is there fighting for a spot. If you’re not, you’ll be called out on it. You have to be there to fight for a space. That brings a huge competitiveness in the panel and competition is excellent. We wouldn’t want it any other way.

“We demand the best from each other. Whether you have to tell a fella that you’re not at it tonight, you need to start getting at it, that’s done. We’re an incredibly honest group and when we go out on the field, we’re unbelievably competitive with each other and that’s just the nature of the group.

“You don’t want anyone feeling safe and secure in their position. If that starts to creep in, that’s where you can start getting a bit stale. You can see when bodies have gone down in the past for us with injuries, we’ve been well able to adapt and next man in and there’s no nervousness about it. They know their job and they know what they have to do.” 

It might be difficult to believe now but Casey’s first two championship appearances began in defeat, the 2017 Munster semi-final against Clare and the following qualifier against Kilkenny after which, as narrow as the loss was, John Kiely wondered if he would be asked to step down.

Casey can’t say he saw it turning out as it has but he had faith. 

“Whoever works the hardest will get their just rewards and we seemingly just are doing that at the moment. Could you have predicted it five, six, seven years ago? I don’t know. But we knew there was a good group of lads coming that were always going to try and get the best out of each other because we’d done it for years underage.” 

After a small cartilage “tidy-up” job towards the end of last year having felt a click in his knee playing for Na Piarsaigh against Ballygunner in November’s Munster senior club semi-final, Casey is good again. To be sidelined by another knee complaint which kept him out of the 2020 and ‘21 All-Ireland successes before he returned last year would have been cruel.

“There were definitely times where I thought I wouldn’t get that feeling again of being out on the field,” he says of last year’s All-Ireland final win over Kilkenny. “It was definitely a moment to cherish and one that I really soaked in and consciously wanted to soak in.

“It was definitely a season where I was able to put a lot behind me and really contribute to the group because that’s the end goal at the end of the day, try to get in and contribute as much as you can.” 

As the most scrutinised team in hurling, it could be argued it is incumbent on Limerick to keep teams guessing but the 27-year-old doesn’t seem exercised that they have to come up with something new to stay ahead of the pack.

“That, I suppose, is for Paul (Kinnerk) and John (Kiely) and them to maybe come and try and change that but as players we’re focused on what the boys tell us and we trust them completely in how they set us up and what they want us to do.

“That’s not for us to worry about or question. If other teams are trying to mimic us or do something similar to us, then that’s no problem. We pride ourselves on what we do and back ourselves there.”