Justin McCarthy’s team and supporters face the six-hour trip after last night’s qualifier draw handed Limerick an away game against Colm Bonnar’s Wexford.
The qualifier phase two game will take place in Wexford Park, with the throw-in time to be confirmed in the coming days.
If Limerick can overcome the Model County they will be back in action one week later when they face either Cork, Offaly, Laois or Antrim for a place in the All-Ireland quarter-finals.
Were Limerick to fail in Wexford, a relegation play-off would await them.
Limerick selector Liam Garvey is confident that his side can bounce back after Saturday’s eight-point replay loss to Waterford in Thurles.
“This Limerick team will bounce back - there are some very good hurlers in this Limerick team and they will bounce back,” said Garvey.
“It’s a rebuilding process every time you loose.
“There was a lot learned and a few things that we can pick up on and improve on,” he accepted.
Limerick and Wexford have met on five occasions in championship hurling - Limerick’s only win was in the All-Ireland final of 1918.
Wexford defeated Limerick in the All-Ireland finals of 1910 and 1996, the semi-final in 1955 and most recently the quarter-final of 2001.
While Limerick fell to The Decies by eight points on Saturday evening, Wexford were shocked 0-18 to 1-13 by Anthony Daly’s Dublin yesterday in Nowlan Park.
“It was a disappointing finish to the match - we were in the match with about 10 minutes to go,” recalled Liam Garvey of Limerick’s defeat.
“The breaks didn’t go our way and they took some very good scores while we found it hard to score in the last 10 minutes.
“When we were playing with the wind, Waterford played very deep and crowded it and there wasn’t much space and we just didn’t seem to get onto the ball.
“They are a very experienced team, they have won three Munster championships and are together a long time and they were very composed on the ball and were able to release people into shooting positions.”
Garvey said that the management will look to the positives ahead of the All-Ireland qualifiers.
“We are still in a transition phase and trying to change the team around a small bit and play a bit differently,” commented the selector.
“Today we didn’t get the scores when it mattered.
“The wind was probably worth four or five points today and you needed to be ahead at half time and we were two points down. But fair play to the team, they battled very hard in the second half and we were still in the game with eight to 10 minutes to go.”
JEROME O’CONNELL
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