Niall Moran was in the crowd at the Gaelic Grounds on Sunday as Limerick lost by nine points to Cork. It was their third defeat of the Allianz Hurling League.
The former Limerick hurler heard 'gowl' being shouted from the crowd. Sometimes it was directed towards the referee. "But sometimes it was brandished at some of our own players," Moran told 2FM's Game On.
In Limerick's losses to Wexford, Galway and Cork, Moran has identified a lack of depth in the panel of the reigning All-Ireland champions.
"I hurled with Limerick for a long time and my group were on the back of those kind of beatings quite often so I'm not going to jump on the bandwagon and start slating fellas because I know how difficult it is when you're against the tide," said Moran.
"The fearful thing for Limerick is the gap between the 15-16 players who have carried Limerick to All-Ireland success over the last three or four years and the gap to the guys thereafter, there seems to a bit of a chasm.
"The longevity of the teams who have stayed at the top for seven, eight, nine years - the Kilkenny hurlers, the Dublin footballers - every year or second year, there's a couple of new guys who've come into the equation.
"The fear for Limerick is the guys who have started in last year's All-Ireland, I don't think any of them are under pressure for their place. That's not meant as a slight on the guys who came in. Guys like Robbie Hanley, Colin Coughlan, Cathal O'Neill, they all did well in patches.
"But I suppose the expectation when you're playing for the All-Ireland champions is that you're at the ultimate best. And that doesn't allow lads to settle in. So, that was probably the most discouraging thing."
27 February 2022; Daire O'Leary of Cork is tackled by Conor Boylan of Limerick during the Allianz Hurling League Division 1 Group A match between Limerick and Cork at TUS Gaelic Grounds in Limerick. Photo by Eóin Noonan/Sportsfile
At half-time, with Cork leading by 14 points, Limerick manager John Kiely brought on the experienced trio of Diarmuid Byrnes, William O'Donoghue, and Aaron Gillane in place of Colin Coughlan, Robbie Hanley, and Darren O'Connell.
"I know John Kiely had to do something, the result was slipping away from them," said Moran.
"A part of me would also think that it would have been right to leave them there, leave them sweat it out. The wind was going to be behind their back in the second half. I would have left them there. Ultimately, you probably set them back a good bit by taking them off. If they saw it out, a couple of them might have improved their performance."
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