What now for Limerick after their five-in-a-row dreams go up in smoke?
A significant factor in the decisions that any players have to make will be the make-up of the management team next year.
Having fallen short of an All-Ireland title for the first time in five years, what now for the Limerick hurlers?
After the defeat to Cork, manager John Kiely commented that “I’m sure there will be probably some people in that room that may not be there come next year”.
Limerick aren’t spent yet, with a number of their key players still in and around their peak. But keeping the personnel changes to a minimum, on either side of the sideline, will be key.
READ MORE:'Hurt is going to be God awful' says John Kiely as Limerick reign ended by Cork
READ MORE:End of a story rather than an era for Limerick as Cork dash five-in-a-row dream
Possible retirements
There aren’t a host of players that are obvious candidates in that respect, though Graeme Mulcahy is one.
He has just completed his 15th season, is no longer a regular starter and has now been overtaken by others on the subs bench, with Shane O’Brien, Adam English and Aidan O’Connor sent into the attack on Sunday while he wasn’t used.
Mulcahy, 34, is also based in Cork and has two young children, so this is probably a natural ending for him.
Richie English is a few years younger but has also fallen down the pecking order and hasn’t re-established himself after injury problems. At this stage of his career, the effort invested may not be worth it in terms of his playing time.
Looking at the starting team against Cork, Nickie Quaid, Dan Morrissey, Diarmaid Byrnes, Declan Hannon, Will O’Donoghue, Gearoid Hegarty and David Reidy will all be 30 or over by the time next year’s Championship comes around.
Quaid, now 35, is the eldest but given that he plays in a less physically demanding position in goal and his form is good, it seems unlikely that he’ll step back.
Captain Hannon will be 32 in November and may consider it after all the hurling that he has behind him now, but it would still be a surprise if he called it a day.
Reidy is next in terms of seniority but having only secured a regular starting place in the last 12 months or so, he’s hardly going to jump ship now.
It’s difficult to imagine any of the others calling time either, but you just don’t know.
They all have weighty medal collections and have clocked up plenty of miles at this stage. Maybe the fire within won’t burn as strongly now or perhaps they have other things in life that they want to concentrate on.
However, a significant factor in the decisions that any players have to make will be the make-up of the management team next year.
John Kiely’s future
Pronouns. Maybe they mean nothing but, for now, the words used by Kiely after the Cork defeat are worth considering in an overall context.
“I have no doubt Limerick will regroup and come back in 2025, you know, refreshed and ready to go again,” he said. “There's no reason why they can't.”
Note that instead of “we”, Kiely said “Limerick” and “they” with regard to next year, implying a level of separation between himself and the group going forward.
It was unusual that the five-time All-Ireland winning manager only took a one-year extension after last year’s Championship having taken two-year terms prior to that.
Speaking to Off The Ball the day after last year’s All-Ireland final victory, he said: “It is part of our life and, you know, who knows how long it’ll last for? It probably won’t last for much longer.
“They [the players] will continue on and I would hope that we would put in place good foundation stones for the future.”
There was a feeling locally that he was going to throw everything at the five-in-a-row and then exit stage left. If that was the case, you’d wonder if this defeat will have any impact one way or another.
It was well over an hour after Sunday’s game before Kiely emerged to fulfil his media duties in quite a state of emotion after numerous rounds of applause from the dressing room. Again, that may be insignificant. Or it may not.
Kiely has, however, recently taken a career break from his teaching post at Abbey CBS in Tipperary town, where was also vice-principal having stepped down as principal last year.
What that means for his future with Limerick, if anything, is anyone’s guess right now.
What if Kiely did step down?
That would be a significant watershed and may be a tipping point for some players pondering whether they should stay or go.
If that came to pass, Limerick would surely look to appoint from within in the first instance. Certainly going outside the county would be a last resort.
Selector Donal O’Grady would seem the most obvious continuity appointment, with revered coach Paul Kinnerk less enamoured with the front-of-house commitments that go with being a manager.
But would Kinnerk stay on if Kiely departed, or vice versa? It’s very debatable.
Replacing either or both of them would be an enormous task.
Emerging talent
Cathal O’Neill has stepped into the side as a regular starter now and has his best years ahead of him.
Shane O’Brien and Adam English also have also shown promise, while Peter Casey should be back from injury next year and is still only 26.
Darragh O’Donovan was also missed this year, with his only appearance in the Championship being a cameo off the bench on Sunday.
So, Limerick should have a stronger squad next year if they don’t suffer a spate of retirements and can avoid the longer-term injuries that have weakened them in recent years.
They are big ifs, however.
Where do their achievements sit?
The comparisons between Kilkenny 2006-09 and the current Limerick team have been numerous over the years, particularly in the last 12 months.
On a purely arithmetic basis, Limerick going one better by winning five-in-a-row would have ended the debate. Now, it’s open to conjecture.
Kilkenny won all of their games en route to their four-in-a-row. Limerick drew one and lost another, but they were subject to a more demanding schedule in a more competitive province.
Kilkenny brought their five-in-a-row bid to the last game, in which they lost their greatest player to injury. Limerick fell at the semi-final to opposition they had already been beaten by in this year’s Championship, but then they overcame injuries to key men like Cian Lynch, Declan Hannon and Seán Finn to win All-Irelands in previous years.
We could go over and back all day. For now, it’s probably a dead heat.
But Kilkenny bounced back from missing out on five-in-a-row to win the next two All-Irelands. Can Limerick go and match that now?
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