McCarthy: ‘A win is a win'

AS the evenings get blighter, hurling drills will soon become the number one priority at training for the Limerick senior hurlers as Justin McCarthy gets into his stride.


The new manager has already guided his new-look side to two wins from three starts in Division One of the NHL, but on senses that the Corkman cant wait to get down to serious hurling on the training field with his extended squad.
Limerick are not back in action until they visit Pearse Park Galway on March 22.
“We will get more hurling under our belts and we will develop that bit more,” explained McCarthy after Sunday’s one point win over Dublin.
“We are trying to build a team, so it really is a two-way thing – we are trying to build a team on one hand and get results with the other hand,” he said.
“We have a lot of young lads coming in and getting the experience of inter-county hurling and that is what we will continue to do.”
Brian Geary, Niall Moran and Mark O’Riordan all made their first NHL starts of ’09 against Dublin, bringing to 26 the number of players to see action in three games.
County captain Mark Foley and Ollie Moran are still to come into the fray.
“A win is a win - there will be no easy games this time of the year, with different factors,” said McCarthy of the hard earned win over Anthony Daly’s previously undefeated ‘Dubs’.
“Dont forget Dublin are a very lively team, they are very good at closing down and are competitive for the ball and go for it - there was no space, that you could express your hurling that much and we expected that,” outlined the Limerick manager.
“They will be very competitive as the league goes on,” he said of a Dublin team that already beat Cork and Galway.
“From our point of view, we had a lot of wides and we will have to sharpen up that area,” he said, pointing to the 14 wides and the 13 of the previous round against Kilkenny.
“At least we have possession – I rather be getting wides, than not getting them. We can work on that area. That is something that we will be working on when we have a gap now for the next two or three weeks.”
He added: “From our point of view we still won the match and thats what counts. It was one of those kind of games where it was very close and there wasn’t very much room to manoeuvre - it was a case of just sticking in there and not giving ground and taking it at the end.”