A few days after Limerick played Antrim in the first round of the National League, Eamonn Cregan sat the players down to review a video of the game.

Although they had profited from the encounter, the manner of their win had been far from persuasive and the concession of three goals and 11 points gnawed at the manager. Most of the team knew that their play had been flawed but never really dwelt to consider just how poor they had been - until they endured the screening.

Now, as this raw, if exciting, new Limerick team prepare for their league semi-final against Tipperary tomorrow, that grim self-appraisal can be seen as the source of Limerick's steady spring renaissance.

"That match and afterwards was the watershed, in that we realised how much work had to be done," Cregan explains. "There were very worrying elements to our play. Our next game then was against Offaly and we used the memory of our previous experience there as a pointer. We had gone up there in last year's league, played well for 20 minutes and then, bang, went flat. Everything went wrong for us after that, which we were mindful of this time around."

They claimed a scalp and reduced their scores conceded to just 14 points. Even though Limerick are only setting out on a journey of self discovery, Cregan had targeted the league semi-finals as a priority at the outset of the season. Given the disastrous conclusion to last year's league programme and their painfully narrow loss to Waterford in the 1999 Munster championship, there seemed to be little basis for such optimism.

Names that lit up the Limerick scene in brighter days were gradually dropping off the scene. Of last year's championship team, Joe Quaid, Ciaran Carey, Mike Houlihan and Mike Galligan are among the departed, although Carey has recently resumed squad training. Eight of tomorrow's team are under 21.

Yet in the aftermath of a third consecutive win against Clare, Cregan joked that "young fellas are looking after the older fellas".

A couple of key experiments were beginning to glow with promise. Brian Begley, groomed as Limerick's full back last year, was transferred to the other end of the hurling globe and has thrived at full forward.

"It was very much a position that was up for grabs. Brian had played a few challenge games there against St Joseph's, Doora-Barefield and Athenry, he began to score and most importantly, seemed to enjoy it there.

"He had performed well at full back but given his height, the low ball in tended to give him some problems and a small full forward was potentially troublesome to him. But he has flourished in the attack and it is very encouraging."

To cement the full-back void, Cregan turned to TJ Ryan, one of the longer-serving squad members.

"TJ had essentially played at centre half back, it is his club position. But we had a number of lads we wanted to test in that slot - the likes of Brian Geary, Ollie Moran and Mark Foley - and we decided to move TJ 30 yards back. Now he still has a lot to learn about full back, it is not a position that you perfect overnight, but he has been performing with a confidence that is greatly reassuring." First time out, against Offaly, he confined All Star John Troy to a lone point. Clare's Conor Clancy wintered through a fruitless afternoon in his company, and in the midst of the scoring blizzard against Galway, Ryan was the epitome of calm resilience and caught the eye with a number of fluid interceptions.

But what this Limerick side have accomplished is tempered by Cregan's own quiet insistence that the summer battles will bear no relation to what has occurred during the gentle rhythms of the league.

"Everything is a learning process for us and we are all aware that you can only gain so much experience in six months. We wanted to expose these lads, wanted them playing in front of crowds and Sunday affords us another opportunity."

Limerick's truest test awaits them in the Munster semi-final in Thurles on June 4th, when they will, most probably, face All-Ireland champions Cork. Isn't it tempting for Limerick fans to reminisce on what has been a pleasant league and maybe give themselves to dreams of an improbable and glorious summer run?

Cregan chuckles at this.

"A run, with us playing Cork in our first game? Well, we would love to beat Cork, particularly because that would guarantee us a quarter-final place (in the All-Ireland series), which would be of immense benefit in terms of experience for these lads.

"This is a team that will continue to mould over the next couple of years, it's a gradual process. To be playing Tipperary on Sunday is a bonus and an occasion we are looking forward to.

"It's a hard game to call, we have not encountered them recently and so it is another new step for us."