THE LIMERICK senior hurlers kick start their National Hurling campaign this Saturday night as they face Waterford at the Gaelic Grounds (throw in 7pm).
TJ Ryan’s men have had a good preseason, winning the Waterford Crystal cup, but Ryan knows that this weekend is when the real work starts.
“The real action begins now and it’s a good tough test on Saturday night, a good opening round test and from our point of view we would hope to win it and build a platform for the rest of Division 1B,”
The pressure once more is on Limerick to win Division 1B and secure a spot at the top table of League hurling for next season. It is seen as beneficial by all that Limerick return to 1A, but Ryan knows that each game this season needs to be approached in the right manner.
“We will be approaching all games in the right frame of mind as we would if we were playing any of the top teams in the county. From our point of view we would like to win it and will be going out to win it but I wouldn’t see it as the be-all and end-all. The format piles plenty pressure on because only the top team is promoted – there is no room for mishaps as we found out to our detriment in the last couple of years.”
This weekend, Limerick will be without their Kilmallock stars who qualified for the All Ireland club final last weekend, however Gavin O’Mahony may play again this weekend for Limerick having missed out on the club win over Portaferry due to suspension. Ryan will also have to plan without Kevin Downes and Seanie Tobin, however David Breen trained this week and could be included.
One of Limerick’s strengths this season has been their ability to win games with a large number of squad members being blooded.
Teenage stars such as Cian Lynch and Tom Morrissey could feature this weekend and their manager believes there will be more young guns coming through in the very near future.
“We have new guys in who have done quite well in the month of January and we will be looking for that to continue and it’s an opportunity for them to stake a claim for down the road. Division 1B might be a better place to give younger lads a chance, so we will look to do that in the coming weeks. Competition is key and we have more of that now than we did last season.”
