Ask the experts: How can Limerick and Kilkenny be beaten?
TALLEST OF ORDERS: Gearóid Hegarty of Limerick during the GAA Hurling All-Ireland Senior Championship Final match between Kilkenny and Limerick at Croke Park in Dublin. Pic: Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile
Bear arms. Disclose it all. With these two there are no dummies or major sleights of hand. Kilkenny and Limerick will go at it like they always do. Both knowing what is coming down the tracks. Both will meet that challenge head on.
It doesn’t take much guesswork when it comes to how they play and who are their pillars. Every individual, all principles and practices are already known. There might be twist in plot but when it comes to the participants this final is an open book.
Their champion characteristics stem partly from nature and partly from nurture. Limerick have green giants, consolidated in the academy and churned out to form the bedrock of a carefully designed gameplan. They use their size to deconstruct the opposition, often demolishing the puckout. They create more shots from turnovers than anyone else. Steel and skill.
Kilkenny have their creed and it has been carried on from Brian Cody right to Derek Lyng. Data provided by expert analysis company GAA Insights demonstrates how their style has only changed slightly this season. Their shots per game are almost identical, 41.6 to 42.0. Their scores per game are up slightly, their goals per game are just down. There is no grand shift in their shooting location or productivity from the short puckout. The 2023 showreel will include defiant moments like Cillian Buckley’s late goal and Conor Fogarty’s stunning block. Kilkenny are still Kilkenny.
What do opposition do in preparation for that? How would a coach aim to set up Kilkenny to beat Limerick and vice-versa? Ask the experts.
It starts and stems from the half-forward line.
“Plan A is always we want to keep our zonal shape and limit the space,” says Francis Forde, a selector with Dublin manager Micheál Donoghue. He was also part of the Galway ticket for the 2017 Galway All-Ireland title.
“Hegarty’s form last year meant you couldn’t keep that shape, you had to send someone after him and that opens up dangerous space. When it comes to stick or twist, you cannot stick. You have to go and naturally that leads to space for Gillane.”
The Munster final is an interesting case study in that regard. Clare’s half-backs pressed up and left Cian Nolan isolated inside with the Patrickswell sharpshooter. For Forde, that approach can work when the right personnel are available. Huw Lawlor must follow in the footsteps of Conor Cleary.
“Coaching in a big game like this is about risk. There is an element of it in everything you do, where will you take the calculated risk? You are more than likely going to be two on two in your full back line at some point. So those matchups are critical.”
Cleary was an irreplaceable loss for Brian Lohan’s side in the Gaelic Grounds. “Brian wanted to get a real squeeze and go at them in the middle third. To do that you have to accept you will be under pressure inside at times. It would have been a really interesting game if Cleary was fit.”
In the 2022 final, Limerick dropped off the Kilkenny full-back line. They are likely to do so again. Therein lies the challenge for Kilkenny. They can compete physically. Can they compete athletically as well?
“Clare for a period, they pushed up and forced Quaid long but then flooded back and ran at Limerick,” explains Forde. “That is a must for me. You have to have the legs to run at them. Make their half-back line defend. Their half-back line is exceptional. They are brilliant but much of that is on the ball.
“Sometimes their half-forwards only come an extra ten yards back, just to get to the break zone quicker. Limerick play a zonal defensive shape. They try maintain that and trust each other to pawn across. Galway’s movement disrupted that shape for a spell. Then Limerick dropped and squeeze a bit more.
“The question is do we have the ability and knowhow to work the short ball? When they drop off, that willingness to keep going at it has to be there. How do you work it through the lines? Well, look at Limerick do it. Really quick handpasses and still release it inside as quickly as they can.”
Limerick often overwhelm teams with their tackle count and intensity indicators. The only chink will come when a team can effectively drop the shoulder in response.
“Ultimately, I think the team who will beat Limerick is a team with pace all over the field,” stresses Forde. “Pace, pace, pace. I could be proven wrong on Sunday, but you need to continually disrupt that defence shape.”
The right characters and the right conditions. A lenient referee and the loss of All-Star defenders Richie English and Seán Finn, as well as uncertainty around Declan Hannon, strengthen the case for Kilkenny.
“I think where Kilkenny might have some success, they will hunt in that defensive third as Limerick try to work it out. It sounds funny but going in hard and fouling there would actually benefit Kilkenny. It gives them time to set up. Anything outside the 45 is Diarmuid Byrnes’ territory but before that, whatever it takes to slow them down through there. John Keenan lets it flow as well. There is opportunity in that for both teams.“
The modern player values proof above all else. Can a coaching setup produce a specific reason that the group should be confident? That is where many foes fall down. Forde points to Galway’s semi-final defeat as an example.
“I think that was psychological rather than tactical. I think if you are going to take on Limerick, you have to go at it for 75 minutes. That comes from knowing you won’t drop off for five minutes.
“Knowing you can do it. You see that in Munster. It is almost a fear of failure, to keep going and going and going. You need to have that foundation to draw on.”
Waterford legend Dan Shanahan was a coach/selector with Laois this year and was recently confirmed as part of Ken McGrath’s backroom team for the Deise U20s.
Eoin Cody is another contender for hurler of the year after his man-of-the-match showing in the semi-final. “Mike Casey might pick him up,” says Shanahan, “but has he been outstanding this year? He is under a bit of pressure. If Sean Finn was fit, would he be starting?
“I think Barry Nash might end up doing that at times. The thing about that corner now, he gets great delivery into his feet. It is a diagonal ball. Adrian Mullen is so good at it. It has worked a treat. Limerick will stop that going in. It’s just pure physicality to stop it at source.”
Per GAA Insights, John Donnelly is the leading puckout outlet and the main creator. He has 29 shots assists for a total of 2-14. “Limerick won’t change much. Their answer there will be to do what they have always done.”
In 2022, Kilkenny only retain possession on 13 of their 32 long puckouts. Limerick were at 25 from 34.
“Limerick put Murphy’s puckout under serious pressure last year. I think the ball was even pucked out over the line at one stage. Those one or two individual mistakes come from all the constant pressure.”
Shanahan has been involved with Kilkenny club Bennetsbridge in recent years. He knows these players intimately.
“You can’t leave Richie Reid free because he will destroy you. Limerick have to upset him by putting Cian (Lynch) on him. When I was playing, I know it was a long time ago, my job was to step onto the centre-back and force him to mark. Justin would say that, push up on Ronan Curran for the first while and then start running off the shoulder left and right.
“On the wings, Tom Morrissey could move and get two points on one side, what do Kilkenny do then? Does Derek go man-to-man, or does the five and seven stay and pick him up as he moves?”
For Limerick it is not about what Kilkenny will do. Their priority and the key to their performance is to keep hitting their own marks. Drill it again and again. Shanahan references Kyle Hayes’ point in the semi-final. He sprinted the length of the field and scooped over, Seamus Flanagan covered back to the wing for the next puckout and Hayes slotted seamlessly in at full-forward.
“That is a gift. As a coach, if you can get a team understanding like that, Hayes knew exactly what to do. He was so tuned in. If one player switches off, it collapses. That’s what Limerick do. They know what to do when they are in trouble, where to go after a score. Regroup and go again.”
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