SPORT is cruel. That is a fact. Sometimes in sport you want time to stand still and other times you want time to speed up. The Limerick hurlers may have lost to Munster champions Waterford by a single point last week, but the positives far outweigh the negatives of such a cruel, cruel blow.
The Munster hurling final on July 10th will go on without Limerick. At that stage, Limerick will hope to have played two more matches. The first round of the hurling qualifiers is scheduled for July 2nd and the third round on July 3rd.
Limerick will face either Wexford or the losers of the Dublin versus Galway tie in that first round. All three sides will be hoping to avoid Donal O’Grady’s men, which in itself is a sign of how far Limerick have come in 12 months.
For the Limerick hurling fans, times look to be getting better. One swallow does not make a summer and one good performance does not make a great team, but the signs of improvement are there. Limerick’s long wait for an All Ireland crown goes on, but this season the green and whites look a lot closer than before.
The loss last weekend was hard to take, but in the cold light of day, Limerick have made themselves a harder team to beat. The Donal O’Grady style of hurling is there for all to see. The Limerick team of last Sunday had loads of similarites to the All Ireland winning Cork side of 2004, managed by the former school teacher.
Wayne Mc Namara, mirrored John Gardiner’s swashbuckling style. Geary mirrored Curran’s cool, calm covering. O’Grady and Browne at midfield were like Jerry O’Connor and Tom Kenny. The men who could run and hit, ran and hit. The men who could harass and block. harassed and blocked. The team effort far outweighed the individual merits. Something that Limerick hurling has missed.
Speaking to Postsport last week, Limerick manager Donal O’Grady said that “by six o’clock on Sunday, we would know where Limerick hurling is” At 18.15 last Sunday, I asked him to tell me where he thought Limerick were. “In the qualifiers”, he joked. “How far can this team go?” was the next question asked, “The next round” was the reply from the upbeat manager.
“The lads are disappointed, but then again if they weren’t disappointed, I’d be disappointed” added O’Grady.
“‘We had five or six players that came into the game without much training, except for the last week, and that began to tell in the end. I’d have to give our players great credit. I think they put up a good show and I think it was a very entertaining match.’ continued the manager who will now be under pressure to stay on longer than his 12 month contract.
The final words for this week, I will leave to Dodge O’Grady, the man of the match in my eyes last weekend. Speaking to reporters under the stand the Granagh/Ballingarry man was in refletive mood.
”There is great spirit in the camp and we knew that if we stayed with them we could rattle them. There is no point in feeling sorry for ourselves. I had a chat with myself coming in there. Life is too short for that kind of thing. You have to keep going to the last minute and more in the championship, we all learned that today, the hard way”
