Can anybody stop Limerick from completing four in a row?

LIMERICK may be showing signs of vulnerability this season, but it will still probably take a huge performance to deny them their four-in-a-row next month.

The bookies have them as odds on favourites to win the All-Ireland, and they have done so for a reason, as despite the fact that there has been a tangible dip in performance levels from Limerick this year they are still getting the job done.

Cork gave them everything they had in the last match of the round robin stages of the Munster Championship, with that game billed as a straight knock out, even if it turns out a draw would have kept both of them alive thanks to Tipperary’s loss to Waterford, while Clare also rattled John Kiely’s side in the Munster Final.

Ultimately, Limerick managed to win the lunge for the line in both games, winning both by a solitary point. Single points can be the difference between elimination and a place in the All-Ireland semi-final. 

Those are the small margins we are dealing with here.

And with that in mind the odds of 10/11 does not feel that generous. 

Even last year, when Limerick were in full strut mode, their last four results were a draw with Clare, a three point win in the Munster Final over Clare in extra time, after being level after 70 minutes, a three point win over Galway in the All-Ireland semi-final, followed by a two point win over Kilkenny in the final. 

The gap had been closed.

This year, in five games in Munster, their most convincing result was a two point win over Waterford, which easily could have gone the other way. 

It is a testament to their battling qualities that they did enough in the other games to emerge as Munster Champions, but you have to imagine that if they keep getting involved in these close dogfights that they will eventually come a-cropper.

One of the main reasons for Limerick coming back to the pack is that opposition sides have negated the huge influence that the highly decorated Limerick half forward line have had on games.

Twice hurler of the year Cian Lynch is still struggling to get himself back to the kind of form he had in 2021, while Gearoid Hegarty is now very much a marked man. In fairness to Tom Morrissey he is seriously impacting games, and do not be surprised if he ends the year by joining his other two half forward colleagues as a hurler of the year.

The main way that opposition teams have managed to slow down the influence of the likes of Hegarty is that they no longer hold their position and leave him drop deep to get on easy ball around midfield. 

Hegarty, especially, does wreck when allowed time and space, but by pushing up, he is not allowed pull the strings, which not only limits him but it can have an impact on the ball played into the Limerick full forward line.

In theory this works a treat, but by pushing up this creates a new problem, as now there are acres of space in behind the half back line for Aaron Gillane and Seamus Flanagan to exploit. 

In the absence of the injured Conor Cleary, Clare manager Brian Lohan put Cian Nolan on Gillane in the Munster Final and he got roasted, with the Patrickswell marksman scoring 1-11, with 1-3 of that crucially coming from play.

Nolan did not have the pace or the strength to deal with Gillane. Ultimately, you need a big, fast human to marshal Gillane, and Clare did not have that on the day.

The other solution would be to drop a sweeper in front of Gillane’s favourite hunting ground on the right wing, thereby cutting out the diagonal ball from deep that he revels in, although this would have the effect of limiting your attacking options at the other end, and could possibly have unintended consequences, such as freeing up Barry Nash to raid from deep unchecked.

With Declan Hannon joining Sean Finn on the sidelines Limerick certainly look vulnerable now, as they enter Croke Park for the business end of their quest for a four-in-a-row. 

The big question is as to whether some team can find a way to put a dagger in their heart.