Eight hurling championship observations: Limerick can hurt you in every way imaginable
Limerick can mix the short game with the long. Pic: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile
As Limerick’s panel endured a punishing running session on the Gaelic Grounds field, manager John Kiely made his way out of the dressing room and began to identify the issues they encountered during the National League. One stood out above all else.
“It was a very poor performance really. Just lacked energy,” he said after the defeat to Wexford last March. “Flat as you say, lacked intensity.” Energy. Their secret sauce. That night Kiely spoke about the massive challenge that is ahead of his group. When asked about some silver linings, he pointed to Darragh O’Donovan’s return: “That is a positive out of tonight. His energy was good.”
Fast forward to last Saturday, outside the dressing rooms in Waterford. In the post-match huddle, Kiely referenced energy five different times. His target audience stretched far beyond the gathered media. He had a message that he wanted his own team and future opponents to know.
“We are in great physical condition. Really happy with where we are at. The numbers they are producing are just through the roof,” he stressed. “Just really happy with where we are at.”
Managers across sports have always used motivational techniques masquerading as a media soundbite. Say something enough, empower it with complete conviction, put it into the ether and watch as it starts to feel real. This is one of the few realms where everyone believes what they are told. Limerick look in supreme shape. Limerick claim to be in supreme shape. Limerick must be in supreme shape.
Was it true when Warren Gatland consistently claimed as Wales manager that his team were the fittest in the world? Possibly. Does it matter? Not particularly. It will be believed by those who need to believe it.
This is the foundational art of management. At its core, the task is marketing. Can you sell your core ideas to a group? Mayo football manager Kevin McStay touched on this unspoken reality last Sunday when asked if he is confident that he will get a response from his outfit after a devastating provincial final defeat.
“I have to be,” he said. “Unless I believe in what we are doing I can hardly sell that to the players but I don’t have to because I know they will react.” Confident or doubtful, fit or not, it doesn’t matter. All that matters is what the players believe. Right now, Limerick are a machine. They know this because the manager told them so.
Here are eight observations from the hurling championship.
In Walsh Park, Limerick and Waterford set out their stall immediately. Limerick won the throw-in and tried to work the ball, but blue and white jerseys descended to turn them over. Stephen Bennett turned and pumped a delivery towards his full-forward line. It was four defenders against three forwards. Limerick ate that ball up before Diarmuid Byrnes drove over a beauty.
So it went. A long puckout on top of Barry Nash was returned with interest in the form of a Shane O’Brien point. And again for O’Brien’s first wide. Over and over. Limerick scored six points from Waterford’s puckout, twice what the home side sourced from theirs.
Ever since Cork’s surge and the manner of Clare’s dramatic comeback in the first round, old-school long deliveries have been destined to make a comeback. Saturday showed that tactic requires sophistication and size. Michael Kiely was brought on for Patrick Curran as Peter Queally sought a solution to their long ball woes.
“If you are leaving Limerick with a plus one, even two or three at times here, you have to go short around the middle,” urged Kilkenny great Tommy Walsh on GAA+ commentary.
“If you are going long, you need to go up with numbers. Bring all your six forwards up.”
This was a statement victory for the Munster champions, who completely bared their versatility and strengths. Take a snapshot of Nash’s point as a typical example. Dessie Hutchinson pulled his shot wide from the sideline. Nickie Quaid was reaching for a sliotar before the umpire had made his signal. Wing-forward Tom Morrissey dropped deep for the quick puckout. He laid off to Gearoid Hegarty and his flick found Nash for a simple point.
From the Waterford restart, Billy Nolan went long. Hegarty broke it on his own 45. John Kiely’s side are the masters at covering for each other; Nash had driven up the field so he slotted in at wing-forward and Hegarty covered back. Nash went up the line to Reidy who flicked to Cian Lynch. His wonder-pass sent Adam English away.
O’Brien’s goal chance stemmed from a Bennett free that dropped short. After the sliotar hit the post, Waterford went long again where Quaid swept it up. This time Limerick would make no mistake and forced a tap-over free.
They can mix that short game with the long as well. Mike Casey amassed two assists with direct deliveries. Byrnes’ first point was a long range effort. He was replaced due to a yellow card but Colin Coughlan came in and hammered off a huge point of his own. Afterwards, Kiely’s demeanour was one of delight. This was a timely reminder. Limerick can still hurt their opposition every way imaginable.
It felt like a sorry sight. In the closing minutes of the 2022 All-Ireland quarter-final, Séamus Harnedy exited the action with his head bowed. The number 11 did not score and Cork’s summer was over. A new manager was on the way. It remained to be seen what that would mean for the then 32-year-old.
The 2024 All-Star marked his 60th championship appearance against Tipperary with five remarkable points. The only Cork player with more games played than him is Patrick Horgan. In every single championship game since that 2022 defeat, Harnedy has scored. His total now stands at 9-144.
Tadhg de Búrca plays a crucial role for Waterford but Cian Lynch showed what he can do with space once again. The centre-forward was named man of the match last weekend. He has now scored four points in two games without a wide. He also has eight assists. Twice in the first half he had the commentary team exclaiming in awe thanks to exquisite flick passes.
Peter Queally wasn’t making any excuses when he cited the six-day turnaround yet he was right to claim it was a factor. Historically teams haven’t fared well from the short gap against a team who have had a rest. Would the fact that the game was fixed for Walsh Park make up for that challenge?
Limerick became the first team to win away in the 2025 Munster championship. In the six years of the round-robin format, there have been 55 matches. A team have won away from home 17 times.
It should be noted that Waterford did not have any home advantage for two years because of reconstruction work. In 2024, they were unbeaten at home.
With his first touch in Tullamore, Cathal Mannion collected possession in the corner-forward slot with Ciaran Burke hanging off him. He rounded the defender and snapped his first point on his left. Minutes later, a short puckout to Burke went too high and Mannion took advantage. He opted for no play and struck a goal with his left.
The Galway number 11 has scored 2-18 so far in championship, half of that from play. He has hit 1-9 from 15 shots from play. It is a remarkable level of accuracy. For comparison, Conor Whelan has scored 0-3 from eight shots.
The Ahascragh-Fohenagh man is 30-years-old now. His last two years have been injury blighted. Mannion came on as a second half sub in their championship exit to Dublin last year as he continued to battle a hamstring issue. In invasion sports, teams build their gameplan around getting one player open shots. Mannion can be to Galway what Stef Curry is to the Golden State Warriors.
Micheál Donoghue is a man who returned with a plan. One forward is at the centre of it.
At the 10th time of asking, Kildare finally secured a Joe McDonagh cup win with a 3-24 to 2-21 victory over Westmeath. They now travel to Carlow this Saturday where they will be significant underdogs. When the sides met in 2023, it ended in a 19-point defeat. That invaluable success, though, means they will bounce into it.
“I said there, it would be tough now for two weeks training with two defeats behind you,” said manager Brian Dowling.
“It is brilliant that we have a win. I think the lads will bounce into training on Tuesday night. They will get great confidence from this.
“We want to push on now in this competition. We don’t just want to make up the numbers. We want to keep it going.”
At a recent media conference in Croke Park, GAA National Head of Hurling Willie Maher provided an update on the 45 new hurling units established across the country in 2024 and 2025. The majority of them are hurling units in already existing clubs that previously only catered for Gaelic football. Each club receives a hurling starter pack with hurleys, helmets, sliotars and additional training equipment. A fascinating map of the new clubs was also provided. The locations of the 45 new hurling clubs are marked with red dots.
What that means was that in places like Boyle, Roscommon, they now provide hurling training for U8s, U10s and U12s. Membership for football and hurling are included as one price. The club is also requesting coaching assistants.
The next stage of Maher’s work will see the rollout of development roadshows in all four provinces, starting this Friday, May 9 in Belfast. Further information can be found on the GAA website.
Since the breakthrough Leinster win in 2005, Dublin have won another five provincial crowns. The last of them came in 2018 when Fintan Clandillon was manager. This week, Clandillon’s U20s knocked out reigning All-Ireland champions Offaly with a seven-point triumph in the Leinster quarter-final.
It means Dublin now face Galway in a semi-final clash next week. That will be the fifth successive year Dublin have made the final four. They have reached two more finals since their 2020 success. Post-match, Clandillon called on supporters to come out to O’Connor Park in force.
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