Limerick injury latest: Cian Lynch out for a week, Seán Finn awaiting scan results

Manager John Kiely was speaking at the launch of the Dillon Quirke foundation fundraising drive on Tuesday.

AWAITING RESULTS: Seán Finn of Limerick receives medical attention for an injury at half-time during the Munster GAA Hurling Senior Championship Round 2 match between Limerick and Clare at TUS Gaelic Grounds in Limerick. Photo by Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile

Cian Lynch’s hamstring injury will keep the Limerick hurler sidelined for no longer than a week, but uncertainty still surrounds the severity of teammate Seán Finn’s knee injury.

Limerick corner-back Finn was withdrawn at half-time during the county’s Munster championship defeat to Clare on Saturday, with Lynch joining him on the casualty list three minutes after the restart.

A hamstring injury during last year’s Munster championship kept Lynch out of action for the majority of Limerick’s run to a third consecutive All-Ireland crown. This latest hamstring issue, however, is of a much less severe nature.

“Cian has a minor hamstring injury, should be no more than a week or so,” said manager John Kiely, who was in attendance at Tuesday’s launch of the Dillon Quirke foundation fundraising drive.

As for Seán Finn, the four-time All-Star was scheduled to have a scan on his knee on Tuesday.

Munster GAA Senior Hurling Championship Round 2, TUS Gaelic Grounds, Co. Limerick 29/4/2023

“Initial indications are that hopefully it is not too bad, but we won't know for certain until we have the scan results,” Kiely continued.

The Limerick panel have yet to reconvene and rake over a first championship defeat since the 2019 All-Ireland semi-final, Kiely having left the players to their own devices for a couple of days.

“There is no point in badgering them or going after them to find out what they thought about different bits and pieces. More important is that they get away and relax and do their recovery. In terms of the review of the game, that will all happen in the next couple of days.”

And when they do reassemble, there will be no change to the Limerick routine in response to Saturday’s result going against them.

“We are actually a group that really believe in our routines, we go after them. The result is the result. We won't do anything different whether it is a win or a loss.

“We'll analyse the game the exact same way as we always would. We'll report back to players and management the same way we always would. We'll take the learnings from it, we'll take the positives from it, and we'll move on and focus on our work for the next couple of weeks.”

The All-Ireland champions are not back on stage until Sunday, May 21, when they travel to face Tipp. Their manager is thankful for the three-week gap, and not simply because Saturday went as it did.

“The three weeks will fly. You can't have enough time most of the time in this game. That is the reward we got for the six-day turnaround; we get an extra week of break now. Whilst you are paying it forward before the Clare game, you are getting the time back now. We'll take a few days to refresh, we'll get back to the training ground, and work hard again.”