Preseason competition time and an opportunity for John Kiely to embrace his inner tinkerman again.
Limerick only had two games in last year’s Co-Op Superstores Munster Hurling League competition yet Kiely still managed to assess 26 different players.
He tossed another 17 into the mix for the National League meaning that, between the two competitions, he handed game time to 43 different players by the end of March.
In National League terms, only Cork – who handed game time to 38 players in last season’s league – were more experimental than Limerick across the two Division 1 groups.
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That is where the experimentation ended, however, as Limerick returned to tried and trusted for the Championship. A whopping 10 players started all seven of their Championship games. Had Sean Finn, Declan Hannon and Cian Lynch not suffered injuries, it almost certainly would have been 13.
Another intriguing statistic is that across the five All-Ireland finals that Limerick have won, starting in 2018, nine players have started each of the finals. Again, if Finn, Hannon and Lynch had been fit, that figure would have been a neat dozen.
What it all points to is a management team content to rely on an established crew of players who have always delivered when the need has been greatest.
Cathal O’Neill is one of the few who has managed to break up the apparent monopoly on starting positions, featuring in every Championship game last summer and starting three of the Munster matches.
He was even the answer to a few quiz questions around Limerick over winter as the last player to score in the All-Ireland final win over Kilkenny.
“At the time when I came in, we were four or five up, so momentum was with us and that probably made it easier to get shots off and get on the ball maybe,” said O’Neill of his All-Ireland impact.
“The lads had worked extremely hard in quarter three to turn the tide because Kilkenny really had momentum going in at half-time. Quarter three was vital. The lads put in a massive shift there.”
O’Neill came on as a sub in each of Limerick’s last three Championship games; the Munster final defeat of Clare, the win over Galway and the Kilkenny game.
His challenge in 2024 is to make himself indispensable and to force Kiely into a rethink about exactly what his best front six is.
“You are always striving to be starting,” said the 21-year-old. “That’s something I will be looking forward to this year, hopefully.”
The wider question is what exactly Kiely is looking for from games like Sunday’s Munster Hurling League opener against Cork in Mallow, and the National League in general? Is he prepared to give youth its chance in a Championship with so much at stake as they chase five-in-a-row or is he simply looking to polish up a few more gems to increase his panel options?
When key players have been injured or unavailable in recent seasons, his instinct has been to reposition an existing team member, as opposed to drafting in a panellist.
If there is a vacancy it is perhaps in attack but O’Neill has stiff competition with his pal Colin Coughlan, as well as Adam English, both coming on also in the Munster final. The experienced Graeme Mulcahy, Conor Boylan, Barry Murphy and Oisin O’Reilly were used up front last summer too.
“It’s very difficult,” said O’Neill of the fight for jerseys. “There is a lot of competition there. It’s brilliant though, it only makes you a better player and makes the team better, so it is brilliant that way.”
With Finn, Hannon, Richie English and Jimmy Quilty all expected to return from long-term injuries, Kiely will be hard pressed just to settle on a 26 for Limerick’s Championship opener.
If he can get the mix just right, the pay-off will be huge as Limerick attempt to become the first county to win five All-Ireland SHC titles in a row.
“It doesn’t really come into our camp, to be honest,” said O’Neill of five-in-a-row pressure. “Munster is so competitive that if you take your eye off the ball for one second, you will be beaten. I can’t imagine that our players or our management are going to take their eye off the ball and think about ‘what if?’ or what might happen.
“The moment you take your eye off the ball is the moment you perform poorly and get beaten. We are only performance based, that is all we are thinking about. We are only thinking about trying to perform as best we can in April and May and seeing where that takes us.”
