Declan Hannon: A lot of the pre-championship narrative about Limerick was false

FALSE NARRATIVE: All-Ireland winning captain and eir ambassador, Declan Hannon. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

Given that Limerick don’t yet know who they’ll play in the All-Ireland semi-final and given that Declan Hannon already knows he won’t be playing in said All-Ireland semi-final, we thought it made more sense to look back rather than forward when chatting to the Treaty captain on Wednesday afternoon.

Before all that, mind, a quick update for those asking on the knee injury keeping Hannon out of next month’s last-four clash.

While we’ll deal with it in greater detail further down, the top line is that there’s no ligament damage to the knee and Hannon hopes to be back for the All-Ireland final, should Limerick successfully negotiate their last-four clash.

Now, back to the Munster championship. And what a breathless and blockbuster Munster championship it was.

Three of the 10 round-robin games drew crowds in excess of 35,000. Two more were watched by 30,000. Limerick on the brink heading into Round 4. Limerick back in the Munster final at the end of Round 5.

Tipp with one foot in the Munster final after Round 4, Tipp almost having both feet removed from the championship on the final day.

An average winning margin of just three points. Two draws, and four games, including the Munster final, decided by a single point.

Eir's Poc Tapa challenge will see the fastest team in the country win 5,000euro for their club and a chance to play at Croke Park.

Given the pedestrian pace at which Leinster trundled along until its closing act, there’s an argument that the Munster counties are eating themselves alive such is the ferociously competitive and unrelenting nature of their provincial round-robin.

The consequent argument about late summer freshness will be tested in the coming weeks and whether the likes of Galway and Kilkenny benefited from a Leinster campaign of little jeopardy and even less stress.

Is there a solution to even out the road to the All-Ireland series? An open championship? Cross-provincial ties? Hold your horses, shouts Hannon.

“I wouldn’t be getting rid of it any time soon anyway, I think it’s fantastic,” replied Hannon to suggestions of tweaking the Munster model. “The games this year, a lot have been sellouts. You look at Tipp and Cork below in Páirc Uí Chaoimh, it was a serious occasion. So, I’d hate to lose that.

“Even after the match in the Gaelic Grounds last week with thousands upon thousands on the field after, I’d hate that that would never be seen again. The Munster Championship is absolutely fantastic. Being involved in it anyway is amazing, so I’d be holding onto it.”

As we mentioned, Limerick teetered on the cliff edge of elimination heading into Round 4. They’ve never endured such an uncomfortable round-robin. Hannon can’t say he was surprised by such.

“A lot of the narrative [pre-championship] was a bit false in terms of Limerick should be winning games by seven, eight points. Like, you see some of the goals that Kyle, for example, scored in the last number of years.

"It’s not a thing that happens every single game, and you’re expecting miracles if you think that is going to happen in an intercounty match every time.

“We were just in a good rhythm last year and our performances were really good. We weren’t overly happy so far this year with how we are performing, but we are still getting the results which is most important.”

If Hannon’s view was that the pre-championship conversation was incorrectly predicting sizable Limerick victories, Darragh O’Donovan’s view post-Munster was that the conversation was incorrectly focused on their supposed demise.

“Everyone said we were done and buried,” remarked O’Donovan after the Munster five-in-a-row had been completed. Did Hannon also feel that Limerick obituaries were being printed and circulated?

“Maybe they were like, yeah. But I don't care. We've enough going on within the camp to focus on, so whatever is being said outside is kinda irrelevant to be honest with you.”

Returning to his injury, Hannon described it as “a bit of a nick on my knee”. Rehab is day-to-day, rather than pinning a July date on the fridge and frantically working towards that.

“I'd try and play some part if I can at all, if they throw me in there,” answered the four-time All-Ireland winning captain when asked about potential involvement in the All-Ireland final, should Limerick reach a fourth decider in succession.

As for a semi-final without him or Seán Finn manning defensive walls, Hannon has every faith in those who’ll occupy the shirts numbered two through seven.

“We’ve a really strong panel of players who have been involved over the last number of years. They mightn’t have played on the pitch in All-Ireland semi-finals or finals, but they’ve been involved in all the training in the lead-up to this.

“So, they’re primed to go whenever they’re called upon, and you can see the impact our subs made in the Munster final. Look at David Reidy, he got his chance two weeks ago and was fantastic. I’ve every confidence that, regardless of the team Limerick put out, they’ll go out and try and hit the standards that we set.”