“There is no point in hiding”, the words of Limerick manager John Allen as he came out to face the assembled media in the Gaelic Grounds last weekend.Allen had just seen his side heavily beaten by Clare in the opening round of the national hurling league. The scoreline of Limerick 1-13 Clare 2-24 says it all really. Limerick were just not at the races on the night.
“There are no excuses,” continued Allen. “They were far better than us all over the field”.
Limerick started well with a goal from Niall Moran and it looked as if Limerick were going to match the tag of bookies favourites for this game. The good however was only a false sense of security.
“After 15 minutes it looked like we were going to dominate and dictate the game and then they took the initiative and started to dominate in the half forward and half back lines and they over ran us from then on” added John Allen.
“Tonight it was all one way traffic in the second half. We were beaten in so many places. We had Shane Dowling in the first half scoring and threatening, but in the second but we were just terrible”
Limerick did lose Declan Hannon before the game, as well as losing James Ryan from midfield after 10 minutes. A double blow that Limerick failed to really get over. The outlook in the camp remains positive however. Allen finished on a bright note,
“We are behind Clare in terms of fitness and sharpness but we have to keep the heads and focus on the next game. This is over and if we win the next four games we could make it to the final”
Limerick play Laois in round two on March 11th
