Munster league a boost for the hurlers

THE new Munster Senior Hurling League – the replacement for the Waterford Crystal Cup – was a major boost to the Kerry hurlers ahead of their debut season in Division 1 of the National Hurling League and later the Leinster Senior Hurling Championship (Round Robin).

The competition provided Kerry with four competitive games ahead of the league with all Munster counties bar Tipperary taking part. For their first game in the competition the Kingdom took on Limerick in the Gaelic Grounds.

It was a real baptism of fire for the players and, indeed, their manager Ciarán Carey, who would face his native county in his first game in charge of his adopted county. With a relatively understrength side the Kingdom were hugely impressive with the eventual eleven point margin between the counties flattering to the hosts – 2-23 to 0-18.

It set Kerry up for a tilt at the Rebels. The game was initially due to be played in Fitzgerald Stadium, but was later moved to the Mallow GAA Complex. Despite the disappointment of not getting to play on their home turf the Kingdom again impressed. This time running the Rebels to a five point margin of defeat – 1-20 to 0-18.

Their next game, midweek away to Clare in Sixmilebridge, was a much more humbling experience with the Banner hammering the Kingdom 2-27 to 0-8.

Kerry did have one more game in the league to regain an even keel. They faced off a very strong looking against Waterford side in Fitzgerald Stadium and ran them to nine points – 0-17 to 0-8.

Even considering that Waterford missed a lot of scorable chances in the first half this was an impressive start to the season by the hurlers.