WITH some serious injury setbacks, the strength in depth of the bench will be crucial to Limerick in the upcoming All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship series.
The loss of four-time All-Star Seán Finn has been covered by Mike Casey, while it’s unclear as to who will fill the massive vacuum at centre-back created by the enforced absence of captain Declan Hannon.
Up front, Cian Lynch’s whereabouts in terms of a comeback for the semi-final is uncertain but manager John Kiely has plenty of options in attack.
Well-established pair David Reidy and Graeme Mulcahy seldom disappoint, while the contribution of several substitutes were key to helping Limerick over the line in the titanic Munster Final showdown with Clare at the Gaelic Grounds.
“I’d be particularly pleased with the impact we got off the bench. Lads came into a really frenetic, difficult game, probably the most I’ve ever seen lads get into. We coped with it really well – Cathal (O’Neill) and Adam (English), particularly,” mused Kiely after the historic five-in-a-row showdown.
The boss has often mentioned how equally difficult it is to select the nine match day substitutes on top of the actual preferred starting selection.
Of late, the likes of Ronan Connolly, Aaron Costello, and Oisín O’Reilly have muscled their way into serious contention, while others such as Barry Murphy and Donnacha Ó Dálaigh are still very much in the upper thoughts of Kiely and his fellow selectors Aonghus O’Brien, Paul Kinnerk, Donal O’Grady, and Alan Cunningham.
Reports from camp on Lynch and his current well-being is that he is in top fettle and could actually be an option at number six, a slot that could also be easily filled by the likes of Diarmaid Byrnes, Kyle Hayes, Dan Morrissey, or even the versataile Barry Nash.
Limerick will have another in-house contest at the Gaelic Grounds over the weekend, after which management will have a better inkling of their starting selection for the Galway outing at Croke Park on Saturday week.
