LIMERICK MUST BOX CLEVER TO TIPP THE BALANCE

Calm heads will be needed in the cauldron of the Gaelic Grounds

THE Limerick hurlers will not have to look too far for their inspiration tomorrow. Last week I received an invite for refurbishments which have been completed at the Gaelic Grounds and it was hard not to be impressed.

It is a complete overhaul with a new boardroom, meetings rooms, some new seating in the main stand for dignitaries but what really grabbed the eye and stirred the blood was the tunnel area which is a rush of colour.

It is not unlike walking down the Falls Road when street political art took on a life of its own and this is designed to do the same.

Inside the Mick Mackey tunnel the once grey walls now remind those who walk through it of Limerick’s hurling legacy.

The wall is dominated by the image of Ciaran Carey about to shoot that iconic point against Clare in 1996, there is a pictorial tribute to Mackey, another to Eamon Cregan and the champions of 1973.

There are two ways of looking at that wall, through a glass half full or one half empty.

If you are of a happy chappy disposition, it will remind that Limerick has a hurling heritage that runs deep and the county has had its days in the sun.

If you are of a contrarian disposition, it will remind you that Limfuelled erick has a hurling heritage but far too few of them have been in the sun.

Have a guess which club I am signed up to? I hope that this group of Limerick hurlers are feeling as contrary as I am when they take to the field tomorrow, because they should know that being young and talented guarantees you nothing.

Limerick hurling’s history has been littered with good young teams in the 45 years since the Liam McCarthy last came to this county, so we know that it takes more than that.

I am as excited as the next Limerick man at the talent in this team but I have seen enough to know that expectations should be tempered ahead of a mouthwatering weekend of hurling.

Hurling’s new way got off to the best possible start last weekend — although I repeat what I wrote last week that its true test will come in the final two rounds rather than in the opening two — and the focus is now on Munster taking up where Leinster let off.

The danger for Limerick, though, is that they don’t follow the example set by Dublin, step for step.

Both Offaly and Dublin performed admirably last weekend with the latter putting their mediocre League form behind them to come so close to putting manners on Kilkenny.

Dublin did so much right — although their performance needs to be framed in the context of what was a really poor Kilkenny display — but does not necessarily provide a template for Limerick.

Dublin decided to go for a display of thunder and lightning, by a manic intensity which demanded they hit everything that moved.

And it worked with the experienced pair of Liam Rushe and Conal Keaney — the two chief wrecking balls for a time. But fiercely-lit fires have a habit of eventually burning out.

Against the top teams, you have to box clever as well as fight hard.

This might sound a strange thing to write but if I was the Limerick manager tomorrow, I would actually be telling the players to pull their horns in a little.

Michael Ryan and his management team will have no need to have a bugging device in the Limerick camp because they will anticipate exactly what is coming down the tracks at them.

They know that a young and eager Limerick team will burst through the dressing room door and will seek to play to a tempo in the opening quarter that will flirt with the manic.

They will also know that Limerick will be keen to bury the notion their young team are boys in a man’s world, so they will hit hard and early.

And in being forewarned, Tipperary will be forearmed.

The spine of this team has gone to war with the very best in the past and they survived to tell the tale.

They will not be in the least fazed if Limerick come spitting fire because they have seen it all before, and they are not a team that is going to shirk from a physical battle or have their heads melted by a searing pace.

What, then, is Limerick’s best plan? They have got to play with cool heads as well as fiery hearts.

They have to shut down the Tipperary threat at source and that means ensuring that the quality of ball going into their attack is compromised in quality.

Let’s be clear, for all of Limerick’s potential, the proven class forwards are all on the other side in the likes of Seamus Callanan, Jason Forde and John McGrath and if they are getting a steady supply of ball in hand all afternoon this thing is done.

That puts a massive onus on the Limerick forwards tomorrow to go and shut down the Tipperary backs, and in particular their halfback line.

And you won’t do that by breathing fire for the first 20 minutes and then gasping for a second wind for the next 50.

You only do that by ensuring that you are concentrating on your man-to-man battle for the full 70 minutes, which is the great failure of shock and awe hurling.

The idea behind the latter is that if you go manic early, the opposition will be so thrown by it that they will never recover.

It is fanciful thinking against the best teams and when Kilkenny were in danger of losing their way last Sunday, Brian Cody reached into his dugout and plucked out Colin Fennelly and Paul Murphy to steady the ship.

Tipperary have so many experienced heads — they have the perfect balance of youth and experience — they will have even more to call on.

That is not to say that they have equal levels of both — the right blend in the Championship means that you should always have more experience than youth.

That mix is the other way around in Limerick and it may tell in the second half, when after bursting through out the gap with all that enthusiasm we suddenly start seeing the likes of Pádraic Maher raining ball down on the Limerick full-back line with the usual dire consequences. And how do I know that? Well, if I had not seen that happen before that new wall in the Mackey Stand might have a few more sunshine days to remind us off.

Fiercely-lit fires have a habit of burning out Tipperary have so much experience