Limerick looking more like real deal

WE’RE not quite sure what it is about Limerick, but we’ve always had a soft spot for them.

They’re always such a likeable bunch. Limerick were hurling’s version of Mayo in the 1990s. So near on a couple of occasions and, yet, not quite good enough to get over the line.

There’s even a certain a parallel to be drawn between how they lost the 1994 final to Offaly and how Mayo lost the football title in 1996. Games they should have won and could have won, but didn’t. Heartache and tragedy make for a sympathetic combination.

Of course, neither Mayo nor Limerick have much interest in sympathy. Nor should they. Winning is the only thing that matters to Limerick now and on the basis of what we’ve seen so far this year they’re in the strongest position they’ve been in since those heady days of the nineteen-nineties.

Limerick have risen up here and there since then – they reached the final in 2007 under the irrepressible Richie Bennis and won a famous Munster title in 2013 – but never before have they had such strong grounds for optimism.

This latest Limerick surge looks to have been built on solid foundations. They’ve got a real depth of talent at the moment. That they were able to live with Cork last weekend despite losing centre-back and captain Declan Hannon after six minutes is telling.

That they were able to cope with the loss of hot-shot Aaron Gillane to a red card and still live with the Rebels in Páirc Uí Chaoimh is equally telling. Limerick have grit, they have depth and they have class. They’ll be hard beaten.