Last hopes of Limerick truce end

NATIONAL HURLING LEAGUE:ANY LAST hope of the self-exiled Limerick hurlers returning to intercounty duty this season have now disappeared. Manager Justin McCarthy – who last week secured a final endorsement to see out the season in charge – made contact with the players over the weekend, asking for a decision within 24 hours, but none of them made that deadline and therefore appear resigned to maintaining their exile.

None of this is surprising, however, even if some hopes were raised following McCarthy’s endorsement, on a vote of 83-47, at last week’s county board meeting.

Long-serving Limerick hurler Mark Foley hinted at a possible return, suggesting that “even a phone call at this stage would be positive from the management”, yet this hope turned out to be vain, and Foley, aged 34, has since admitted his hurling days with the county are over.

It’s not entirely clear what offer McCarthy made to the players, but it is understood he first contacted the 11 players who opted out in more recent months, in support of the 12 players originally dropped, saying the door was still open to them provided they made a decision with 24 hours. He also contacted the 12 players originally dropped last October, discussing the fallout but not necessarily inviting them back. This process was agreed with the county board late last week, following the latest vote of support in McCarthy.

With none of the 2009 panellist now willing to return, despite the apparent olive branch from McCarthy, it at least brings an endgame to the bitter six-month saga, and at least allows Limerick hurling to concentrate solely on matters on the field.

Despite recording a fifth successive loss to Offaly last Sunday, albeit on a narrow 2-17 to 3-13 scoreline, and hosting All-Ireland champions Kilkenny this Sunday, Limerick’s hopes of staying in Division One for another season haven’t yet disappeared.

If Dublin fail to beat Galway in Pearse Stadium on Sunday – and recent form suggests they’ll have a hard time of it – then the issue of relegation will come down to the final round game on Sunday fortnight, April 18th, when Dublin and Limerick clash in Parnell Park.

Although Limerick have the far worse points difference of -50, compared to Dublin’s -18, the new rule whereby relegation and promotion for separating counties level on points is now based on head-to-head meetings (if there are two teams tied) and points difference (if more than two are on the same number of points) means whoever wins between Dublin and Limerick will survive.

It goes without saying that Dublin manager Anthony Daly will take the Galway game first, hoping a big performance there could steer them out of trouble.

The difficulty is Galway appear to be going from strength to strength. Last night saw all the Portumna players, including Joe and Ollie Canning, return to training for the first time this year, following their All-Ireland club defeat to Ballyhale Shamrocks on St Patrick’s Day – and from a Dublin point of view the timing couldn’t be worse.

It remains to be see if Joe Canning plays on Sunday, but he brings a whole other dimension to the Galway attack, which hasn’t been doing too badly without him.

The other Portumna players Niall Hayes, Eoin Lynch and Andrew Smith add further depth to Galway’s challenge, and a win over Dublin on Sunday could book them a place in the league final, depending on results elsewhere.

The only downside to Sunday’s win over Kilkenny is that goalkeeper James Skehill will be out of action for the next four weeks due to the concussion he sustained late in the second half.

Meanwhile, Kingspan Breffni Park in Cavan is the first ground in Ireland to have its 3G pitch confirmed as meeting the new GAA standards on synthetic surfaces, as adopted by Congress last year.