Among the greatest pleasures on this Bank Holiday Monday is Anthony Daly's column in the Irish Examiner, which we highly recommend you read.
Meditating on a disappointing day's hurling in the league semi-finals, Daly opens with the line "we weren’t supposed to be drinking but we were parched with the thirst and feeling sorry for ourselves so I called three pints" to relay his disappointment after Clare's comprehensive defeat to Cork in the 1998 league semi-final. The pints were necessary to balm Daly's disappointment at Clare's non-performance in that game.
He was equally frustrated at Limerick's feeble performance against Galway yesterday. They ultimately lost by ten points in a game they were never particularly competitive in, and Daly found fault with their oddly hesitant attitude.
These are interesting comments, given that Daly is involved with the Limerick minors, as a coach with manager John Mulqueen.
There was no life in the players but the most damning indictment of the performance was the lack of intensity they brought to the fight.
After the Limerick minors were narrowly beaten by Tipperary in Thurles 12 days ago, John Mulqueen, our manager, praised the players afterwards for dying with their boots on.
We didn’t win but we played the Limerick way — with fire and passion and real intensity. And we had a real cut.
I don’t think Limerick can play any other way but there was none of that yesterday. What summed it up for me was a sideline cut Gearóid Hegarty stood over in the first half. It took him seven seconds before he took the cut because nobody was moving or giving him an option.
Interesting from Daly. As Galway head on to a league decider with Tipp, Limerick retreat to the shadows for a few weeks, as they get ready for a Munster championship showdown against Clare on June 4.
Read his full column here.
