Horan's men braced for familiar test

GAA: GAVIN CUMMISKEYtalks to the Limerick manager about the scale of the task facing them against Kerry

LAST SUNDAY the Limerick hurlers were sent packing from Thurles by Dublin. Just as the good GAA folk of the Treaty City arrived home, word filtered through about Kerry.

Regardless of the sinking feeling the county must have felt after last weekend’s All-Ireland quarter-final draw, did football manager Maurice Horan ever think during a disappointing league campaign or, say, as the Kerry points streamed over the black spot on June 4th that Limerick would be playing in Croke Park this Bank Holiday weekend?

“First of all, we were hammered by Kerry. For a number of reasons. But no excuses. Kerry were flying that evening. We were shell-shocked and they were really sharp looking. They came up to the Gaelic Grounds with real purpose.”

For those who have forgotten, it finished 1-26 to 3-9. The competitiveness of the corresponding fixture in last year’s provincial decider was well and truly buried.

Not that last year’s match down in Killarney is a reference point.

John Galvin is gone for starters. So is Mickey Ned. Before joining Stephen Lucey in the hurling panel last June, Mark O’Riordan was one of five players patched up and sent out to face the most ruthless attacking force in Gaelic football.

“Our hand was forced,” Horan explains. “Mark Riordan, Stephen Kelly, James Kelly, Stephen Gallagher were all injured in the two, three weeks before that game. And obviously John Galvin was out as well. We were crippled with injuries around that time.

“We had five weeks (until Offaly in the qualifiers) so our priority was to get as many of those guys right as we could.”

The upshot of Sunday’s quiet folding of the hurling tent saw O’Riordan and Lucey return to training last Wednesday night.

“We’ve a lot of new guys who’ve come in as well this year. The likes of John Riordan, Mike Sheehan, Séamus O’Carroll have been thrust into the action.

“Look, we drew a line under the Munster semi-final. No point feeling sorry for ourselves.”

The familiar aspect of this championship run is not just occasioned by a repeat meeting with Kerry. Offaly, Waterford and Wexford were also opponents during a Division Three campaign that ended in relegation.

“We are the only team in the last decade to get relegated with six points. And it has happened to Limerick twice.”

So, Horan was not overly bothered by the opening months of his inter-county management career. The Kerry trimming must have hurt.

But something clicked in his coaching during the five-week restoration period that followed. Then came a three-week run that culminated with Ian Ryan’s free, eh, curling between the posts last Saturday night at a raucous O’Moore Park.

What does Horan think of Wexford’s disgust over the conflicting umpiring hand signals? He is anxious not to rub salt in already deep and exposed wound. But he answers the question.

“Every Limerick supporter I spoke to feels it was a point. I looked at the DVD and reckon, where the ball landed behind the goal, it had to have gone over the bar.

“The referee was perfectly positioned. The first thing that should have happened is the two umpires should have given each other the nod, as most umpires would, think about it for a second.

“Instead, they both made signals at the same time – one put the flag up, the other waved it wide. I can only imagine the frustration the Wexford players, management and supporters felt at that moment. Especially when it was given.”

But that can no longer be of concern to him. Or Limerick. All Horan could do this week was let bumps and bruises settle after three consecutive matches before sending his charges out for duty with as little clutter in their brains as possible.

After that it is up to the players to somehow find the inner resolve to stay with football’s ultimate predators. It is a question only Tyrone men can really answer but we put it to Horan anyway.

How do you coach a team to contain Declan O’Sullivan, Gooch Cooper and Kieran Donaghy when the mood takes them in Croke Park? How do you shoot the devil in the back? What if you miss?

“So many teams have tried to come up with plans to stop them but there are so many prongs to their attack. If brilliant player A doesn’t play well then the next guy picks up the slack. They have so many good players invariably they all take the pressure off each other.

“It is not just reliant on Gooch or Declan O’Sullivan. Darren O’Sullivan is playing brilliant this year. Kieran Donaghy is such a serious outlet for any attack. Donnacha Walsh roams the pitch, then there is Paul Galvin to come back in.

“You have to just meet them head on. Put pressure on them all over the pitch.

“You certainly can’t step off them. You can’t do what we did at the Gaelic Grounds and step off them and let them play around you because they don’t cough up breaks or kick wides. They score, they don’t waste possession.

“There are so many facets to their game that denying them possession is the first thing. Easier said than done.”