Walsh: Cats are closer than Nowlan Park defeat suggests

JACKIE Tyrrell may not think that All-Ireland champions Limerick are a top-three side, but his former Kilkenny teammate Walter Walsh disagrees and believes John Kiely’s squad will be hard beaten in 2019. Nine-times All-Ireland winner Tyrrell predicted the downfall of the Treaty men in the lead up to Sunday’s Allianz League meeting with Kilkenny, but the manner of their 2-18 to 0-15 win at Nowlan Park suggests the champions have maintained the standards of last year. Walsh (right) made his comeback in that game and was impressed by Limerick, who have three wins from three as they top Division 1A. But he also believes there are a lot of teams near the same standard in the chase for Liam MacCarthy honours. ‘Looking at yesterday’s performance, Limerick are definitely right up there,’ said Walsh. ‘It is February now, but they are playing a great brand of hurling. They are extremely organised and they will be there or thereabouts. ‘The way it is, there is nearly a top eight or nine teams. It is seriously competitive. ‘Maybe ten or 15 years ago there were more AllIreland teams coming back after enjoying the celebrations, but it’s gone so competitive now. Even in the Limerick squad the guys are pushing each other and driving each other on. They all want to be on the team. ‘You see that when Galway won last year as well. They came back in great shape. You have to. ‘Again, see Dublin in the football, they don’t celebrate too much. They are focused, doing their gym programmes, keeping fit. That’s the way it’s gone now.’ A home defeat in Nowlan Park is never digested well in Kilkenny, and Brian Cody’s side will hope to improve their one-outof-three record this weekend when they make the trip to Thurles to face Tipperary. Neither side have shone brightly at this early stage of the campaign, but Walsh sees this game as a chance to pick up a win that could propel them on to further success. ‘We have won one game in three and that’s what you look at. If we win now on Sunday we are in a totally different scenario. You’d have a good chance of getting in the top four and anything can happen from there. ‘Last year we lost our first two games and we won every game after that and ended up winning the League. If you get a bit of momentum anything can happen. ‘You want to win every game but you don’t want to be losing home games. Limerick were better on the day. You take it game by game. ‘The ambition for this year is certainly to win the League and win the All-Ireland. ‘There is a lot of teams like us. I think we were close last year to beating Limerick but there is nothing between the teams. ‘It is seriously competitive.”