Three Limerick hurlers nominated for All Stars

THREE Limerick hurlers (Adare’s Mark Foley, Murroe-Boher’s Seamus Hickey & Kilmallock’s Gavin O’Mahony) have been nominated for the 2009 GAA All-Stars.
The nominations for the prestigious awards were announced on Wednesday evening and saw Tipperary receive 13 nominations, All-Ireland champions Kilkenny 12, Galway six, Waterford five, Dublin four, Limerick three and Cork just two.


Meanwhile Tipperary’s Lar Corbett, Waterford’s John Mullane and Kilkenny’s Tommy Walsh have been nominated for the Hurler of the Year award. Galway’s Joe Canning and Tipperary duo Padraig Maher and Noel McGrath have been nominated as Young Hurler of the Year.
The GAA All-Stars banquet will be held on Friday, October 16 and the football nominations will be announced on Thursday evening (September 24).

National Leagues
The GAA have also released the fixtures for next year’s national hurling and football leagues. The Limerick hurlers will launch their National Hurling League Division One campaign against Galway (home) on February 21 next.
Six days later Limerick host Cork on February 27 while on March 14 Limerick will travel to Waterford.
On March 21 Limerick host beaten All-Ireland finalists Tipperary and on March 28 Limerick face Offaly (away).
On April 4 Limerick host Kilkenny while in their final Division One game the Shannonsiders travel to Dublin (April 18).
The Limerick footballers will open their Division Four campaign with a trip to London on February 7 while their first home game, on February 13, will see Carlow visit Shannonside. On February 20 Longford host Limerick while on March 13 Waterford will visit Limerick.
On March 21 Limerick travel to face Mick O’Dwyer’s Wicklow and six days later the Shannonsiders host the Kilkenny footballers.
On April 3 Limerick face Clare in Ennis while in the final round of the 2010 National Football League Limerick will complete their Division Four campaign with a home game against Leitrim.

Ladies football
Meanwhile St. Ailbe’s Maire Halvey, along with selectors Pat O’Sullivan and Tom Barron, will lead the Limerick ladies footballers into their first-ever All-Ireland final this Sunday morning.
On Sunday, September 27 the Limerick ladies football team will face Antrim in the junior All-Ireland final (12pm) in Croke Park.
The game will be televised live on TG4 and will feature as part of an attractive triple header at GAA headquarters - the junior decider will be followed by the intermediate final between Clare and Fermanagh (2pm) while at 4pm the senior final will see Cork face Dublin.
Tickets are available from the following outlets - from Wednesday through Friday tickets will be available to buy from the Gaelic Grounds (10am to 1pm & 2pm to 5pm). On Thursday evening in the Woodlands Hotel (Adare) tickets will be on sale from 8-9pm. Tickets are also available to buy on www.ladiesgaelic.ie

Brian McDonnell

McCarthy vows to remain at the helm

JUSTIN McCarthy has confirmed his wish to remain for a second year as Limerick hurling manager, but he could have to plan without stalwarts - Mark Foley and Ollie Moran.
After last Sunday’s crushing 24-point defeat to Tipperary in the All-Ireland semi-final at Croke Park, Justin McCarthy said that he will be at the helm for the re-building process as he vowed to see out his two-year term in Limerick.


While there is no doubting that McCarthy’s panel needs change, both Foley and Moran could be set to call time on their careers which both started back in the 1990’s.
Speaking this week to Leader Sport both players confirmed that they will not rush any decisions about retiring from inter-county hurling.
“I don’t know - I will have to wait and see. After being beaten like that it’s a body blow, but I guess at this time it would be wrong to make a decision because your emotions are all over the place,” said Mark Foley.
The Adare man became Limerick’s most-experienced hurler ever this season and last Sunday’s game was his 48th appearance in a green jersey in championship hurling.
Foley’s Limerick career stretches back to 1995 while Moran’s career started in 1997.
“I am not going to make any immediate decision,” Moran told Leader Sport this Tuesday night.
McCarthy and selectors, Brian Ryan and Liam Garvey, must now turn their attention to unearthing fresh talent with a comprehensive search of the local championships.
Despite the humbling loss to Tipperary McCarthy remains confident about the future.
“I can see the bigger picture and there is no such thing as laying down and saying we can’t move on,” said McCarthy who is just 10 months into his reign in Limerick.
“I said that I would be down for two years and I have enjoyed every moment of it so far - there is great interest in hurling in Limerick. Limerick are in transition,” explained Justin McCarthy who used 27 players during Limerick’s six championship games in 2009.
“Limerick have to look to the future and there are young lads coming through and there is no doubt that they will learn from that hardship and set back - like all things in life, time erodes those things and next year Limerick will be back in the championship,” he said.
“They gave their all and I am not going to blame anyone - they gave their all. This was our sixth game of the championship - we won three, drew one and lost two.”
McCarthy said that he was happy with preparations and felt his side were ready to spring a surprise.
“We put in a great effort and you always think you have a chance of winning, but realistically there is a lot of rebuilding to be done. To win a trophy would be outstanding and that is the first thing,” he said.
“We came up against a very good team - we had our plans in place before the game and we thought they would work, but in fairness a few mistakes were made here and there and they capitalised and we missed a few chances. We were on the back foot after 20 minutes and by half time the game was over,” accepted the disappointed manager.
“We felt preparation was outstanding, the mood was great, fellas attitude was outstanding and we trained exceptionally well. We came up against a team that is probably two years ahead of Limerick in terms of preparation and development. They won two Munster championships and they are a very good team.”

Floodlights
History was made this Tuesday night when the new floodlights in Limerick’s Gaelic Grounds were switched on for the first time.
Electrical company Clancy Contracts Ltd. installed the new lights in recent weeks and at about 9pm this Tuesday night a number of county board officers were present when workers tested the new system for the first time.
The official ‘switching-on’ was to take place when Limerick and Australia met in the International Rules Test in late October.
That deferral has left officials seeking a new event to mark the unveiling of the new lighting system.

Jerome O’Connell