Limerick looking untouchable in cruise past Clare

IGNORE the scoreline, it suggests a contest at the Gaelic Grounds last night when, instead, an exhibition was delivered.

As is the way with great champions, there was little about Limerick that did not surprise.

After taking a distracted approach to last spring, John Kiely has reverted back to what has mainly been his default position, which is to put the pedal to the metal early and keep it there.

Even in the Allianz League first round defeat to Cork, it was evident that they will not be bothered with blowing smoke in a season when their status as one of hurling’s greatest teams could be cemented with a fourth All-Ireland title in a row.

They looked even more like their summer selves here with Cian Lynch making his first start since last summer’s Championship clash with Waterford – in the process deputising for the injured Declan Hannon as captain.

And with Nickie Quaid, Kyle Hayes and Peter Casey all making their first appearances, the sense was they were putting their best foot forward here for a reason.

Last summer, Clare challenged them with a ferocity that few opponents have offered over the last five years but the bottom line is that they still could not beat them. Kiely, obviously, doesn’t want his neighbours thinking they have the measure of the Liam MacCarthy Cup holders.

This extended Limerick’s unbeaten run in this fixture to a seventh game – a sequence that is unprecedented in the modern history of a rivalry that has always generated tribal heat.

That scoreline in the end was down to Limerick finally growing weary after an hour in command and Clare finding some energy after David Reid’s introduction, bagging a goal in the brightest of cameos as they outscored the winners by 1-4 to 0-1 in the final minutes.

That finish and the brilliance of Aidan McCarthy who scored 13 points and ensured that result was not the embarrassment that Clare’s performance merited.

Perhaps, the absence of Tony Kelly and John Conlon drained the Banner’s morale.

Or, maybe, after drawing with Limerick three times (League, Munster round robin and Munster final after 70 minutes) last season, Clare subconsciously took the night off in the hope that they next time they bring the best of themselves against the champions, it will be in a game of consequence rather than one which just marks time.

The beauty about Kiely’s team is that their state of mind is rarely a mystery. The start was peak Limerick, they scored off their first seven attacks and had hit double digits within 16 minutes

Pointedly, their returning heroes wasted no time, Hayes – after a typical surging run – Lynch and Casey all finding the target inside six minutes, yet it was a new face with a familiar name that shone brightest.

Mike Houlihan was one of the grizzled warriors in the Limerick team of the 90s that played so hard but came up short. His son Micheal showed last night that he may yet deliver in the name of his father.

Houlihan was part of the Limerick panel last year but very much on the fringes. The least he did last night was ensure that will not happen this season, as the quality of his striking allowed him to make his mark.

By half-time he had nailed eight points – four from play – with the only blemish a couple of missed frees and while it is early days yet, Aaron Gillane’s continued absence might just open a door for the Kilmallock man that had been bolted up to now.

By the end he had a dozen points, but in a team that started without seven All-Stars, he was not the only member of the champions’ back-up cast to make a compelling audition. And that should worry the chasing pack.

Shane O’Brien was a member of the Under 20 team that reached last year’s All-Ireland final, but he made a mockery of the step-up here, giving Rory Hayes a torrid evening and ran at the Clare defence at every opportunity.

Donnacha Ó Dálaigh, another from that U20 side, came from the bench to score Limerick’s only goal, albeit it only served a decorative purpose coming in the 66th minute.

But given that this game was over before it really started, the same could be said for just about every score the champions registered.

It was men against boys and nothing underlined that more than Limerick’s dominance – Darragh O’Donovan excelling in the middle of the field – when it came to battling for primary possession.

As Clare’s Eibhear Quilligan tried to avoid conflict by going short on his restarts, inevitably Clare ran into trouble on the ground. Quaid bombed his puck-outs with Limerick gleaming four points from their first six restarts, all of which they won.

It was remarkable that Clare were still in the game – at least on the scoreboard – at half-time when they trailed by six (0-16 to 1-7), but that was solely down to Ian Galvin’s 18th-minute goal, when he fastened onto Peter Duggan’s clever flick.

With the memory of last week’s fade-out fresh in their mind, there was no chance of that happening again and the champions blitzed them in the third quarter, outscoring the losers by 0-8 to 0-1 inside 15 minute period.