A WEEK is a long time in politics, they say. Never mind politics, let me tell you how a week can be a long time in sport – and life.
I’m here in Limerick Regional Hospital, recovering from a right knockback.
I was only saying in my last column how I felt on top of the world. The sun was shining, my cows were out on the farm and the team of 1973 had been honoured at Woodlands House Hotel.
And then I got struck down with a viral infection and ended up in the A&E of Limerick Hospital — what must be the most maligned place in the medical world. But the best place to be looked after, in my experience.
I was pretty ill with a bad infection. It took a share of antibiotics to keep me on the right side of life. I didn’t make it to Páirc Uí Chaoimh to watch Cork and Limerick but I had a room to myself and a television and I didn’t miss anything.
I got great support from my nephew and his crew in looking after the farm where the annual Department of Agriculture herd test was taking place. A big undertaking. I have a dairy farm so they took over the milking and everything else that needed to be done.
And then I got an awful shock about a lifelong personal friend, Pauline Mee, passing away here in Limerick Hospital as well.
Limerick’s trip to Cork didn’t go to plan
The family were from south Tipperary originally, with a big business in Lisdoonvarna.
She was a great character, a huge hurling fan. She’d read the paper and she’d ring up and give it to me straight. My sincere condolences go to Michael and his family.
As for myself, I think I’m out the right side of it. At the time of writing I’m about to head for a scan of my heart. I think they want to make sure it’s still there.
On the hurling front, Limerick had the trip to Cork. One which didn’t go to plan. At the end of the day, there’s more to life than a result of a match. Like the 1996 final, no-one died. It’s only sport.
That was always top of my list. I never pressurised a player over a result.
When we won we took our honour and when we lost we took it on the chin as well.
Now though, I feel the thing has gone the other way. The pressure on teams and the pressure on the players.
I was so disappointed to hear of the knee injury to Ciaran Joyce that puts him out for the season and the ankle injury that could have Rob Downey out for six weeks.
It will have to be looked at, the amount players are having to commit to the cause. They put their whole life into it and then – bang – a bad injury like Joyce’s and a player could be gone for 12 months.
What about a player’s livelihood and his work? We don’t hear anything about that. It’s time to look at the training schedules and look to scale things back.
They are two big losses to Cork and I really hope they recover well.
Cork were in full flight on home soil and full credit for their win. They’re almost assured of their Munster final place already.
I hope Ciaran Joyce recovers well from his season-ending injury
As for Limerick, I’m puzzled about them. As a team, I have huge regard.
But the systems and coaching methods have to be questioned – some of their wides on Sunday were outrageous.
Where is the coaching there? We had some serious missed scores.
Then there was the hospital pass from Seán Finn to Will O’Donoghue when the ball should have been sent down the field to someone like Aidan O’Connor.
I’ve made that point before, even made it to some of the players.
It looks great when it comes off, these short passes in a tight corner in defence.
But that mistake was a turning point.
The incident and red card issued to Limerick captain Cian Lynch was a major part of the team’s defeat.
It sickened me just looking on. It certainly was a red card, the way he caught Tim O’Mahony.
It might be totally out of character but that’s not good enough. He’s captain.
The onus was on him to be a leader, especially with Aaron Gillane missing.
On that issue of captaincy and leadership and discipline, I had a Limerick team for four years and never had a man sent off in four years of knockout hurling.
On their day, in full flight, Limerick have so much going for them. In that first quarter, they looked so good. When Cork took them on one-on-one, the mistakes came in.
Clare have that opening round win over Waterford on the board so it will be some match in Ennis. This will be one for the ages.
Clare have tremendous forwards. The backs have been called into question but they’ll rectify that.
The weaknesses in Limerick were there to see in some of the misses from the likes of Cathal O’Neill and Aidan O’Connor. You can’t have those at that level.
So this is a big test for Limerick. Especially without their captain.
This will be a classic. A game for all time. It should take us back to 1996 when we squeezed through by a point. But I think Clare can do it on home soil and get through.
Leinster championship continues to lose ground while Munster lives up to the huge hype
LEINSTER is a very mundane championship compared to Munster. I know the hype is huge around Munster but it keeps living up to it. Look at Cork v Limerick and Waterford v Tipperary went down to the very last ball too.
Compare that to Wexford who were hopeless against Kilkenny and blown away in the second half. Overall, Leinster has gone down the pecking order. Kilkenny always led the charge – but they had that hammering by Galway before they bounced back against Wexford. Galway have looked fresh and full of young talent but they are a Connacht team. Laois and Offaly have fallen back into a Division 2-type of team, while Dublin have flattered to deceive.
The support is dropping as well. Compare the attendances to the support in Cork and the full house. Ennis will be jammed tomorrow as well. You’ll hardly be able to get out of Limerick to get there.
There is a serious competitive rivalry there between all the teams. How we could do with more of that in Leinster.
