Dark ages are firmly in past... thankfully
IF THE hurling revolution we are witnessing right now feels familiar, not everything else is. One of the things that has set this Limerick team apart is the level of detail which their coach Paul Kinnerk goes into and I heard a story recently how, in the week before a recent game, one of the younger Treaty players was brought into the Gaelic Grounds on his own for a midweek session.
It was purely to familiarise himself with the ground — although the same player would know it like the back of his hand — but it also allowed him to get a perceptual feel of the place prior to a big game. I have no issue with that at all; it is a practical thing to do when you sense the need to give a player that level of reassurance. I tried that, too, when I was Limerick manager before that 1994 game against
Cork. I wanted our free-taker Gary Kirby to get onto the Gaelic Grounds pitch on the Saturday to hit a few balls at the posts so he would be in a positive frame of mind. I tried to arrange it, but was told that the pitch would not be available. ‘He will see enough of it on Sunday,’ my county board handler advised. Old times. Ignorant times.