Limerick hurling has to find its soul again
THESE days I feel more like an agony aunt than a hurling man. The phone is melting this week and there is nothing at the other end of it but pure undiluted misery.
The only pleasant surprise from a Limerick perspective about last weekend was the number of our supporters that travelled to Thurles on a day when 25,000 defied the cats and dogs that rained out of the sky.
It feels like half of them have been on the phone to me since, complaining that they were chilled to death by the experience, but it wasn’t the rain that did that to them.
This is as bad as it has ever got for a Limerick team. This was a disaster, nothing less, nothing more.
It wasn’t just that they were beaten up a stick by a Tipperary team who were reduced to 14 men for most of the game, but they were also beaten by a Tipperary team who played wretchedly for most of the game.
It is hard to put in words how utterly shambolic the Limerick display was; they played like a bunch of strangers pulled out of the pews at 10 O’Clock Mass, thrown into the back of a bus, and let loose to fend for themselves. Despite my warning here last week, they introduced four debutants to take on a hard-nosed, battle–hardened team and expected them to swim while being thrown in at the deep end.
I am not going to lay any blame at their feet because ultimately this was a coaching mess.
In fact, it was hard to believe that the Limerick players were coached at all. There was no offensive gameplan; they were outscored despite chasing the game with an extra man in the second half, before they grabbed a late consolation goal to sugar the final score-line.
Their defence was even worse. Their marking was non-existent and if you want proof of that check out the three goals, all gift-wrapped in Limerick negligence.
Experienced players getting their pocket picked, getting beaten to the ball because they were not aggressive enough, because they didn’t want it enough.
Ultimately, the buck will stop with TJ Ryan. The sense grows that the management have lost their way, that they no longer know what they are doing.
They have become obsessed with the minute details, they pour over their video analysis, nutrition sheets and reports from sleep clinics, and still they can go out and give up three goals like that.
Michael Breen’s first came as he was allowed to get off a scuffed shot after Dan Morrissey failed to gather a misplaced pass; for his second he flicked the ball from over the shoulder of Seamus Hickey, who should have stepped into his pathway; and for the third Seamus Callanan’s fine finish was facilitated by the fact that he was under no pressure getting his shot off.
Those were three goals that would not have happened if basic common sense had been applied: you protect the ball, you protect your goalkeeper and you mark your man. I was taught those things at a time when we didn’t even have black and white televisions, not to mind the smart-phones that players have today where apparently they are fed video footage to assist in developing their skill-sets as players.
We have all the gimmicks and all the gadgets now, and yet they still go out and make a dog’s dinner when trying to defend. I’d laugh if I was not crying.
After Sunday’s game JP McManus, the man who has bankrolled Limerick GAA as their principle sponsor more than any other, was interviewed on RTÉ and was downcast, suggesting that the county will have to look hard and move on.
The word is that they have already looked. TJ Ryan is on his final lap as Limerick manager and my understanding is that Under 21 boss John Kiely will step into the hot-seat when this campaign is over.
When that happens, you can expect a lot of giddy talk about how exciting it is that Kiely will be reunited with his U21-winning team but people forget there is a massive step-up from that level to senior hurling, both in terms of playing and management.
You’d have thought we would have learned that lesson in this county given the hype that accompanied David Keane’s appointment after he led Limerick to three U21 All-Irelands in a row back in the noughties before the whole shooting match went belly-up.
What Limerick hurling needs to find is not a manager but its soul.
We have followed slavishly like the rest into believing that the key to success lies in how much we spend on vast backroom teams, and in how science and psychology holds the key to improvement.
We still do this despite the overwhelming evidence that this is not working because it is coming at a chronic price.
Limerick have left their traditional game parked outside their laboratory and we need to get it back. What is that tradition? Well, let me put it to you like this. Had Limerick played their traditional game last Sunday and were faced with a Tipperary team a lesser shade of pale and down to 14 men, they would not have stood off them.
They would have driven them into the ground, while Michael Breen and Seamus Callanan would not have confused scoring goals in the Munster Championship for a gift box that you find at the bottom of a tree at the end of the year.
Limerick’s tradition is that you play hard, you play passionate and you get the basics right, like marking your man. They need to look hard now. But they need to look for those who know what Limerick hurling is about rather than becoming slaves to a questionable fashion.
We’d better get it right and soon. My phone and head needs resting.