Limerick hurlers chase six Munster titles on the spin:
By Siadbh Redmond Limerick Leader Sport
IT will be all eyes on FBD Semple Stadium, Thurles this Sunday as Limerick and Clare face off in what is set to be one of the most hotly contested Munster Senior Hurling Finals to date.
John Kiely’s charges will look to make it six Munster senior hurling titles in a row on Sunday, but a fierce Clare team stand in their way of that legacy.
Terrace tickets, which went on general sale last week sold-out in a short number of minutes with the Munster Final expected to reach the full capacity of 45,000. Stand tickets were allocated to the relevant County Boards.
Limerick scored a dramatic 1-23 to 1-22 victory over Clare in the 2023 Munster senior hurling final at the TUS Gaelic Grounds, while Limerick secured a 1-29 to 0-29 win in the provincial decider 12 months earlier.
Earlier this year in the opening round of the Munster Championship, Limerick beat Clare by three points in Ennis which sets up a tantalising match-up this weekend, which will be shown live on RTÉ 2.
The Treaty men booked their place in this year’s Munster decider after a 0-30 to 2-14 victory over Waterford in their final game of the round robin fixtures two weeks ago.
Despite winning the game, the current All-Ireland champions registered 20 wides over the 70 minutes with Waterford. Speaking after that game manager John Kiely said: “The shooting aspect is something that we will most definitely have to work on over the next few weeks. Most days we would expect the lads to throw those shots over the bar and it just didn’t happen.
“The most important thing from hitting wides is the reaction you have after it and they didn’t allow the wides to dink their confidence to keep shooting.”
Kiely can also now rely on his young guns as U20 star Shane O’Brien showed his class after making his Championship debut against Waterford and registering three points to the Shannonsiders tally.
The Limerick manager went on to say: “Shane has been waiting a while to get an opportunity like that and he came out of the U20 campaign well developed and with a lot of sharpness.
“The first night he rejoined us he was very sharp and it’s up to us to utilise that and hopefully this game will spur him on to greater things now.”
Limerick have won the Munster senior hurling title on 24 previous occasions, while Clare have won the provincial crown six times. The great rivals will again play for the Mackey Cup which was first awarded to Limerick following their 2022 win.