This article is from page 69 of the 2011-04-26 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 69 JPG
LIMERICK manager Donal O’Grady has highlighted the need for his side to be playing a higher level of hurling than the Division Two grade, but says there’s no point in winning Saturday’s shoot-out with Clare in Cusack Park only to become the whipping boys in Division One in 2012.
Speaking to The Clare People ahead of Saturday’s eagerly awaited clash, O’Grady admitted that his side learned little about themselves in some matches during their sevengame unbeaten run to the final, apart from giving all 33 panel members some game-time.
“Division Two is a standard below where you want to play. A lot of the games aren’t that competitive. You want to win the games but you’re not learning a great deal by playing teams that are inferior to you,” he said.
“Having said that we struggled in a lot of matches. We struggled against Laois, we struggled against Westmeath, we struggled at times against Carlow and struggled in the second half against Clare.
“It doesn’t do Limerick any good to be hurling against the likes of Kerry and Down, because it brings nothing to the table.”
Now ahead of the second meeting between the sides this year, O’Grady says that home advantage tips the scales in Clare’s favour, albeit that Limerick were decisive 2-9 to 0-6 winners in the first game of the campaign.
“With all local derbies you can’t predict what’s going to happen. It’s all on the day with these matches. It doesn’t matter how you prepare or how up for it you are. The other side are going to up for it as much, because there’s a huge Shannonside rivalry. Local derbies take on a life of their own.
“We went for the toss because we thought it was practical from supporters’ viewpoint, but I think the home team have a two or three point advantage before the throw-in because home advantage is worth a head start any time.
“Only one team can win, but the difficulty there is that the last thing you want to do is win the game, go up into Division One and get hammered next year and find yourself back down again yo-yo style,” he added.