At some point along the way, Limerick’s conveyor belt of talent slowed down and then stalled. The players in their early 20s who had been pushing the established starters for years had themselves become familiar names. They weren’t new, they were circling the team in a holding pattern, waiting for clearance to land.
On Sunday in Páirc Uí Chaoimh, Limerick’s lack of depth was badly exposed. When they needed fresh legs in the final quarter Tom Morrissey and Darragh O’Donovan – hugely experienced veterans of many campaigns – were sprung from the bench.
Which version of them were we going to see? It has been clear since the beginning of the league that Limerick no longer regard Morrissey as a starter and when he came on against Cork, he couldn’t influence the game. O’Donovan made a difference, though, and in Cian Lynch’s absence, he will surely start against Clare on Sunday.
But when they wanted to make a second change in their attack they brought on Colin Coughlan at wing back and pushed Kyle Hayes into the half-forward line. Donnacha Ó Dálaigh, who made his league debut three years ago, was left on the bench, and so was Hugh Flanagan, who was tried in the forwards during this year’s league.
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When Limerick made their breakthrough under John Kiely in 2018 one of their most potent weapons was their bench, and, to one degree or another, that remained the case in all their All-Ireland winning campaigns.
During the 2018 championship, Limerick used 16 different players off the bench in their eight championship matches. When they beat Cork after extra-time in an epic semi-final that year, their subs contributed 2-6; Cork’s bench delivered a solitary point.
The options available to Kiely were extraordinary. Of the 16 players used as subs that year, nine of them were All-Stars, either before or since: William O’Donoghue, Barry Nash, Richie McCarthy, Aaron Gillane, Peter Casey, Darragh O’Donovan, Séan Finn, Séamus Hickey and Shane Dowling.
During the 2023 championship, when Limerick completed four All-Irelands in a row, they used 14 different players off the bench. The quantity of All-Stars had been whittled down to four (Graeme Mulcahy, Casey, Gearóid Hegarty, Cian Lynch), but they still had the comfort of turning to known quantities in the final quarter when they needed an injection of something. Conor Boylan, who made very few starts, was one of those trusted subs: he had legs and power and he was ingrained in Limerick’s system.
Some of their most impactful subs over the years, though, are now starters. David Reidy fulfilled that role for longer than he would have liked, and he was 30 years of age before he started his first All-Ireland final in 2023. Cathal O’Neill has still not started an All-Ireland final, even though he made his 25th championship appearance in Páirc Uí Chaoimh on Sunday. He has finally become a nailed on starter.
Adam English, Shane O’Brien and Aidan O’Connor all served apprenticeships as impact subs but are established in the first 15 now.
At their peak, Limerick’s starting 15 was typically permed from about 19 players, but within that dynamic there was just enough competition to leave at least two or three top-class players on the bench.
Their three inside forwards, for example, would be picked from Séamus Flanagan, Graeme Mulcahy, Peter Casey and Aaron Gillane. Of those four, Gillane was the only one absolutely guaranteed to start, which left one of the others to influence the game in the final quarter. Whatever the ins and outs of Flanagan’s culling from the panel at the end of last year, they missed him as an option from the bench on Sunday.
So, who comes next? During this year’s league, Limerick’s experimentation was kept to an absolute minimum. Nobody made a breakthrough. It was as if they weren’t looking for players or didn’t believe that the material for change existed. In the preseason Munster league they fielded stacked teams and that pattern continued throughout the National League.
In 2025, Limerick played 12 league and championship games and won just four of them. It seemed as if their mission from the beginning of this year was to re-establish a winning habit with a cohort of players that they knew were capable of producing those outcomes.
The worrying part for Limerick is that, at age-grade level, their results have fallen off a cliff. Since they reached the 2022 under-20 All-Ireland final, they have played 15 games in that grade and won just three of them. This year, they have lost their first three games in the Munster round robin and look destined to finish bottom of the group.
At minor level, they haven’t contested a Munster final since 2020. Of their last 18 games in that grade, they have won just six.
Before that, Limerick had enjoyed the most bountiful period of underage success in their history. Between 2011 and 2020, Limerick won four Munster minor titles and contested two other finals while their under-21s/20s won three Munster titles, two of which were converted into All-Irelands. Limerick’s success at senior level was built squarely on that foundation.
Down the line there will be consequences for that drop off in talent development. Right now, Limerick can still field an intimidating starting 15 that, regardless of the weekend’s results, remain the likeliest All-Ireland winners.
But the bench boost that helped set them apart in their peak years no longer exists.
