Kilkenny legend says Limerick 'have to get back and win one' after five-in-a-row setback
Limerick were bidding to become the first team in hurling history to win five All-Irelands in succession until Cork knocked them out in last year's semi-final.
Richie Power believes that Limerick must bounce back from their five-in-a-row disappointment with an All-Ireland to underline their greatness.
Power was part of a Kilkenny side that missed out on five successives All-Irelands as they lost the 2010 final to Tipperary, but they took the 2011 and ‘12 titles, with many of the same players winning another two in ‘14 and ‘15. Indeed, the only other team in the history of the game to fall short in a five-in-a-row bid, Cork in 1945, also returned to winning ways the year after that setback as they won the 1946 title and Power believes that Limerick need to muster a similar response after the Rebels sent them packing in last year’s semi-final.
He said: “The big thing about Limerick is they have to get back and win another one and it’s not because we would have done it as our team, but they were on such a roll, four-in-a-row, going for five and, to be fair, no one saw what happened happening. I expected Cork to really put it up to them but I still expected Limerick to win the five-in-a-row but now, after the disappointment, they have to regroup, they have to go back to the well. That’s the big thing, and it’s whether there’s enough in the well and there certainly is with the players that they have and the talent that they have.
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“They’ve already been hit with Nickie Quaid’s injury. Cathal O’Neill I know has picked up a hamstring injury. He’ll be back around the middle of the League so it’s going to be how they deal with these things to see is the hunger there, that’s the big thing.
“I can remember definitely for us, we came back and won in ‘11 and ‘12, we got caught in ‘13 and then we won in ‘14 and ‘15 so for me I think Limerick have to get back. They have to get back and win another one. That’s now me saying they’re not an unbelievable team and one of the greatest teams that have ever played the game, they absolutely are, but for me I just think to really show the character and the drive and the hunger that’s there, I believe they have to get back and win another one after the disappointment of losing the five-in-a-row.
“It’s just how the players respond and how they react to it. Listening to John Kiely, he’s saying how the players are really looking forward, they’re refreshed, they’ve had the bit of a break from the club to now and they’re getting back into pre-season so it’s going to be interesting to see how Limerick are this year.
“They’ll want to get back and win another one and they have the potential to win another two or three, no different to ourselves, but it’s just whether the hunger is there and what’s in the tank.”
Although the opportunity to win a five-in-a-row is highly unlikely to come around for these Limerick players again, Power doesn’t believe that they’ll have been distraught at missing out on that in particular.
“I remember talking about it and thinking about this back in 2010 and my memory of 2010 is, I remember sitting on the pitch in Croke Park looking up a Eoin Kelly lifting the Liam MacCarthy Cup and genuinely, very few thoughts of five-in-a-row were going around my head at that stage or history.
“It was literally every year we went back it was about winning the All-Ireland or getting to the All-Ireland final and trying to be the best team in Ireland in that particular year. Absolutely, the five-in-a-row would have been something unbelievable but I can remember having this conversation with the lads probably the Tuesday or the Wednesday after the All-Ireland in 2010, we were nearly thinking about 2011 fairly quick.
“It was just about getting back and I have no doubt it’s going to be exactly the same in Limerick in relation to it.”
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