The fundamental challenge remains – to shake Limerick’s hurling empire, their exalted green wall will have to be undermined.
Limerick have constructed this glorious period on no one thing specifically, but of the many components that built the palace their half-back line is as obvious a bedrock as anything else.
Every team plotting their downfall in recent years has asked itself the same question – do we avoid the green wall, go over it, go around it or attempt to smash straight through it? Yet, for all the focus opposition managers have put on trying to undercut Limerick’s half-back line, it has remained a redoubtable barbican, hurling’s Mordor.
One of the ever-presents in that line has been Diarmaid Byrnes, the current Hurler of the Year, who missed the first two games of the league, while Declan Hannon sat out last Saturday’s game against Clare with a hand injury.
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So, how have their opponents approached the Limerick half-back line from their puck-outs during the first two rounds of the National League? Well, in short, with little success.
In their league opener against Cork, the Rebels put nine balls down around Limerick’s half-back line domain. Limerick won all nine. Cork didn’t win a single puckout in opposition territory.
Clare had more success last weekend at the Gaelic Grounds, but it was very much in fits and starts. Early on, it was evident the Banner targeted the most inexperienced member of that line, Ciarán Barry, with four of Eibhear Quilligan’s first nine puck-outs dropped on his wing back area.
But Limerick quickly noticed the trend, adapted, and midway through the first half Dan Morrissey and Darragh O’Donovan were swarming under those puck-outs like no-nonsense janitors closing a troublesome open door.
Limerick’s half-back line against Clare was Morrissey at centre back, flanked by Barry and Kyle Hayes. The full-back line was Seán Finn, Richie English and Fergal O’Connor with O’Donovan and David Reidy starting in midfield.
Barry lined out at right wing-back and Clare went long to that area early on, with Aidan McCarthy doing damage. Clare’s first four points came after long puck-outs to that area of the field.
The fourth of those points came in the ninth minute. When Quilligan targeted the same area three minutes later, Morrissey was there to pick up possession. Two minutes later another puck-out in that spot was cleared by O’Donovan, who as soon as Quilligan struck the ball had turned on his heels to help out. Limerick had identified a problem and were addressing it.
Thereafter, for the most part, Clare went short. They did, however, mix it up during the second half by bringing Peter Duggan out to wing forward. Until that point Clare had pretty much avoided putting balls down on the opposite wing back spot where Hayes was positioned. But when Duggan came out and went toe to toe with Hayes the two giants had a decent battle, though the game was long over as a contest by that stage.
In the breakthrough 2018 All-Ireland final, Limerick’s half-back line was Byrnes, Hannon and Morrissey.
By the time they won it again in 2020, a number of significant positional switches had taken place with Morrissey relocating to full back and Hayes joining Byrnes and Hannon in the half-back line. In 2022 Hayes returned to the Limerick attack with Morrissey resuming wing back duties.
During this glorious period of unprecedented Limerick success, Byrnes and Hannon have been the constants, Hayes and Morrissey interchanging with the evolution of the team, whether by choice or injuries elsewhere in the squad.
Of the nine half-back All Stars in the last three years, seven of the awards are sitting in the homes of Limerick players. The entire half-back line for the 2021 All Star team was the green wall in its entirety – Byrnes, Hannon, Hayes.
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In Limerick’s league opener against Cork Hannon was at six, flanked by Morrissey and Colin Coughlan. O’Donovan and Barry Murphy were at midfield, while the full-back line was Finn, English and Aaron Costello.
Three of Cork’s first four puck-outs were sent beyond the halfway mark but once it became clear the ball was coming straight back out again, Collins changed tact. Over the course of the game 50 per cent of his restarts were tapped short to one of the three unmarked players in his full-back line.
On Cork’s puckouts, Limerick did not push up on the home side’s full-back line, leaving their last line of defence strung across the 20-metre line in swathes of green space.
Collins regularly went short and took an immediate return pass from one of his defenders before using his running momentum and extra few metres gained to then drive the ball long, though technically those puckouts were deemed short. And Cork didn’t have a great deal of success with those long ones either, with Limerick winning more of those than they lost.
In the 10th minute, O’Donovan noticed Collins was lining up a long puck-out down the goalkeeper’s left side. So, he bolted from the middle of the field and as the ball reached the Limerick 65 metre line, O’Donovan was there to pat it down to the unmarked Gearoid Hegarty. The 2020 Hurler of the Year turned around, eyed the posts and struck over a point.
It was Cork’s fourth puck-out but from that moment until the final whistle Collins went long direct from a restart on just five occasions. Or to put it a little differently, of Cork’s 26 subsequent puckouts, 21 of them were played inside their half of the pitch.
However, midway through the second half the ball was knocked back to Collins after a Limerick attack broke down and the Cork goalkeeper quickly drilled a long clearance down on top of Robbie O’Flynn, who won possession on the visitor’s 45-metre line and the move led to his side’s crucial second goal.
It was a sign that Limerick’s green wall was shaky if they are not able to get organised properly – the rapid counterattack delivery from Collins was key to that goal. Still, it was an outlier. Over the course of the two games, Limerick’s green wall – despite being without some of their keystones – stood firm. But then this is no three-man wall.
Hegarty’s availability whenever the ball broke from opposition puck-outs was significant, while O’Donovan’s anticipation and willingness to work back helped cut off attacks. Hannon’s game-reading at centre back against Cork was superb. Morrissey filled in seamlessly for him against Clare. Hayes scored 0-3 from wing back last Saturday, and yet probably won’t be playing there come championship.
The current Hurler of the Year will be returning to the half-back line soon. The foundations of the green wall appear to be just fine.
