Séamus Hickey insists that Limerick are not a dirty team as the spotlight focuses on their discipline after last weekend’s defeat to Galway.
The game swung on a red card issued to Gearoid Hegarty for striking Joseph Cooney, with RTE pundit Donal Og Cusack commenting after the game that the 2020 Hurler of the Year had it “coming to him for a while”, as well as questioning Limerick’s overall discipline.
In last year’s Munster final win over Tipperary Aaron Gillane and Seamus Flanagan were fortunate to avoid red cards, Peter Casey was sent off in the All-Ireland semi-final against Waterford though, to the surprise of many, the decision overturned ahead of the final.
In last year’s League, Flanagan and Kyle Hayes were sent off against Waterford, a game that Diarmaid Byrnes was suspended for having picked up a retrospective ban for an incident in the previous outing against Galway.
Hickey played with the majority of the current Limerick squad having only retired from inter-county hurling after the 2018 All-Ireland win and he believes that Limerick are following the template for physicality that was laid down by Brian Cody’s earliest Kilkenny teams.
Defending his former teammates, the 2014 All Star said: “I think that the standard has been set for over a decade for what is required in senior inter-county hurling and that physicality and intensity edge was set early on in the 2000s by a phenomenal team.
“Even when we were looking at Galway’s rise to prominence in the teens [2010s], that was based on an increased physicality, an increased intensity and I suppose they were men of great stature, great physicality.
“We’ve got big men, very physical men. When I was in the set up we were encouraged to make contact. To be physical. And it is a game of contact and physicality and you’ll find that the more contact you make with the opposition, the more disruptive you are.
“Now, you have to do that within the rules and we were coached that. We were coached in terms of hand-placement on the chest and torso, not pulling arms, not anything towards the neck, anything below the hip.
“So you're coached in correct tackle technique but the reality is that when you're putting an emphasis on intensity and physicality, you're going to stray over it. And I think Limerick have.
“Limerick have strayed over it in the last couple of years but, to me, to no major consequence. Only that, you know, it's really certainly a dominance and a key attribute that they have. I don't think they're dirty.
“There's a certain burden with handling the attention and the intensity of what the other team is throwing at you and really the aim of the underdog is to get under the skin of the favourites. So, to me, that's part of it. Yeah, sometimes it strays but I would say that's no different to any of the previous teams that were successful.”
For all that, Hickey accepts that Limerick will have to watch their step come the Championship as a lapse in discipline could derail their three-in-a-row ambitions.
“Is it something that could hurt them in the summertime, in the heat of Championship? It is possible, absolutely it is because if you play on the edge then it is the referee's interpretation of the physicality and the playing of the game that could ultimately decide the moment.
“But it's the same for every team. Limerick ultimately have to play by the rules. If you break the rules there's a consequence.
“I know personally that it's only sometimes from getting a correction, whether it's a second yellow and you have to leave the field, that you actually correct a behaviour or correct something that you were doing wrong.
“I've learned from disciplined issues. It's part and parcel of being a player.
“I don't know too many who haven't made those kinds of mistakes, especially when the pressure is at the highest and the sort that these Limerick lads are facing.”
Hickey identifies Waterford as the team best placed to stop Limerick's three-in-a-row bid.
Liam Cahill’s side were beaten by Limerick in the 2020 All-Ireland final and tested them for much of the first half of last year’s semi-final before being swamped as their roundabout route to that stage via the qualifiers appeared to take its toll.
But having retained Cahill despite his native Tipperary’s overtures and made a decent start to the League without their Ballygunner contingent, Hickey believes that they’re the best of the rest.
“I think there’s a number of challengers, primarily Waterford in my opinion with the number of players they’ve got back,” said Hickey. “I thought they had a bad run with injuries last year that affected their team make-up.
“Missing Tadhg [de Búrca] is such a huge loss for them and at the same time they still reached an All-Ireland semi-final and gave Limerick one of the closest runs they had outside of the Munster final.
“I think Waterford are very strong. I like Liam Cahill and I really like his approach. The players really buy in and when he opted to stay in Waterford when the Tipperary job came up, it was a huge win for Waterford. I think they’ll be very strong."
Hickey said that he’s “not reading huge amounts into the League” and added: “Things will change. It’s February and things will change between now and May. I still expect Waterford to be the strongest challengers at the end of the day."
Get the latest sports headlines straight to your inbox by signing up for free email alerts
