KILKENNY are visitors to the Gaelic Grounds this Sunday to clash with Limerick in the National Hurling League, throw-in 3.45pm (referee: Shane Hynes, Galway).
The home outfit will be aiming to bounce back from a shock 1-21 to 0-20 weekend opening round loss to Waterford at Walsh Park.
After the teams had been deadlocked for most of the journey, a penalty goal from Shane Barrett in the third quarter proved a game-changer.
Unfortunate to pick up a black card in this incident for the visitors was debutant Matthew Fitzgerald (Monaleen), who overall had an impressive showing.
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“From Matthew’s perspective, I wouldn’t be laying the blame at his door anyway,” Limerick manager John Kiely reflected. “I thought a young guy (eligible for Under-20 this year) making his debut and playing corner-back, he did exceptionally well. He was really good on the ball, very sharp, very crisp and very tidy, a real positive from today if there was one, that’s the real positive.”
Fitzgerald’s older brother Joe was introduced late on in the fixture.
Aidan O’Connor (0-8), Shane O’Brien (0-4), Gearóid Hegarty (0-3) were among others to make significant contributions for the Shannonsiders.
Doon’s Adam English sustained a rib injury in the southeast tussle and is likely to be sidelined for a period.
On the St Brigid’s Day defeat, Kiely commented: “There were patches where we were quite good, and more phases of the game where we just lacked that little bit of sharpness – some dropped balls, misplaced passes, missed pick-ups – and all told, disappointed with the sharpness, really.”
Limerick will have worked on these issues at Tuesday night’s training session, and again at a get-together this Friday evening ahead of the arrival of Kilkenny.
In round one, the Cats squeezed past Offaly, 0-20 to 0-14, a fortnight ago.
After this weekend, there’s a two-week break in the competition, after which Limerick will then travel to meet All-Ireland champions Tipperary at Semple Stadium, Thurles (5.30pm, February 21).