When I was playing the stats guys used talk to us about scoring zones. It was all about percentages. It’s a big thing in football now, but hurling teams are conscious of it too. It used be drilled into us not to shoot from certain areas of the pitch because the odds of scoring just didn’t justify it.
Looking at Limerick last Sunday, and on lots of other Sundays, they seem to be dealing with different odds. How many of their scores in the second half came from green light scoring zones?
Peter Casey scored two of his points from in front of the subs bench, 60 metres out, on the sideline. Cathal O’Neill scored a point from the other wing where one of his feet was nearly out of play.
The Limerick players have licence to shoot from anywhere. It seems to be a case of whatever it takes to reach 30 points. Some days the wides mount up, but that never stops them from shooting. When Limerick beat Kilkenny by 11 points in the league final they hit 15 wides in the second half; last Sunday, Limerick only had three second half wides. Their conversion rate was incredible.
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Both days they met their primary target of hitting 40 shots or more. In his post-match interviews John Kiely is always talking about efficiency, and that’s what makes the difference for Limerick. Their efficiency was down at various times earlier in the championship, but in the biggest game of the year they had a conversion rate of about 73 per cent, which is phenomenal.
It was an amazing team performance, but some of their big players really stood up. Peter Casey was named as man of the match on The Sunday Game, and it was a perfectly legitimate choice. His five points in the second half were absolutely superb. He got two vital scores when the game was still in the melting pot, but Limerick were four points ahead when he got his third, and I would say that three of his scores came when Limerick were in the home straight.
On The Sunday Game, the man of the match award is thrashed out by about 10 people and everyone makes their case. I argued strongly for Cian Lynch. When Limerick were struggling, he did more than anybody to keep them in the game.
Limerick only scored nine points in the first half, but he was directly involved in six of them: scored two, made the assist for two, and was fouled for two converted frees.
The key move in the game was Lynch going to centre forward. Richie Reid likes to sit off and that allowed Lynch the space to go to town. In the second half he had three more assists, but his overall leadership was superb.
People might have been surprised that we picked Kyle Hayes as the Hurler of the Year, but I thought it was a good call. He was phenomenal again on Sunday, and you could argue that he was more entitled to be on the shortlist for man of the match than Diarmaid Byrnes – who had a lot of trouble getting on top of Tom Phelan.
I don’t think Hayes produced a performance all year that was less than 8/10. In the Munster championship, when Limerick were struggling for form, the two players that really kept them going were Tom Morrissey and Hayes.
Morrissey’s form tailed off from the Munster final onwards, but Hayes’s level of performance never dropped. In the first half again on Sunday, when they really needed to stand up, he won some great possession and drove on.
Aaron Gillane is still a lot of people’s favourite for Hurler of the Year, and he had some top class performances during the season, but Huw Lawlor beat him hands-down on Sunday. A couple of points from play was not enough to tip the scales. Lawlor was Kilkenny’s best player on the day, in my opinion.
No sooner had Limerick won four-in-a-row than people were chalking them down for five-in-a-row. I don’t believe it will be as simple as that, and Limerick definitely won’t buy into that kind of talk. They’re an incredibly grounded group and they have the right people around them.
Over the next few months all of the other counties will be looking at themselves. During the week I heard it said that Kilkenny are not that far away. By the same token, the perception after the semi-final was that Galway were a long way off. I don’t see much difference between what Kilkenny did last Sunday and what Galway managed against Limerick a couple of weeks earlier.
They both led by six and lost by nine – a 15 point swing. Galway stayed with them for about 45 minutes whereas Kilkenny probably lasted a few minutes more, but not much longer. They’re both starting next year from a similar position.
The place to catch Limerick is probably in Munster. Clare beat them this year, Tipperary drew with them, Cork lost by a point, Waterford lost by two points. When those squads get back together for winter training, they’ll all believe they have a chance. That’s how it works. Players are competitive animals. Limerick will have to earn everything they get again next year.
The big thing against their rivals is belief, and sustaining that belief for 75 minutes, or more. That’s a huge challenge when you’re playing against a team that doesn’t have any doubts. Limerick never panic, and that comes from winning. They have massive belief in their structures and in their way of playing and every time they win that confidence is cemented. That feeling is priceless.
All through the year, when they needed to come up with something they found it. That’s the mark of champions.
