Ten years ago, almost to the day, Limerick played Waterford at Pairc Ui Chaoimh in a Munster Semi Final. Limerick had beaten Cork against all the odds in the previous round. Waterford started in whirlwind fashion and set the tone for the type of play they would produce throughout the decade. Having been 11 points down, Limerick clawed their way back, and eventually qualified for a Munster final that they were most unlucky not to win. At the end of that game, many supporters in the bar under the stand, would have felt that the Waterford ship of 1998 had finally run aground, whereas Limerick were on the cusp of something great with a fresh crop of under-21 players coming through.

Their paths have taken rather diverse routes since. Waterford became one of the best sides in the country, dazzling with their brilliance, and securing four Munster titles and a National league. The All Ireland didn’t happen, but they aren’t the first county it just didn’t happen for. Limerick, on the other hand, stalled almost from that moment, stumbled from crisis to crisis, bedevilled by off-field politics and bad luck in tight games. Only the recent National League Division 2 trophy has unsettled some of the dust in the trophy cabinet.

John Mullane was a debutant that day, and ten years on, he represents the single biggest threat to Limerick. In 2009 Stephen Walsh, Damien Reale, Dinny Moloney and Tom Condon all tried their case. Mullane did a lot of damage, but his problem centred on the supply of ball and the open space afforded to him rather than a reflection of the men marking him. There are two ways of counteracting this in tandem (a) Pressurising those delivering to Mullane forcing them to over hit and under hit passes and (b) Clogging up the space in front of him, making it difficult for the ball to land on a plate for him.

Hurling in general is a simple game, the team that scores the most and concedes the least, wins the game. Unless Donal O’Grady has been waving a magic wand in recent weeks, Limerick are realistically not going to put up 2-25 from play to win the game. A realistic score line for Limerick is probably 1-16 with all frees and 65’s scored. If Mullane is allowed to penetrate the Limerick defence freely, Limerick will require far more than 1-16 to win, thereby diminishing the chances of victory. Based on recent challenge games, it seems as though Seamus Hickey will play in the full back line possibly tracking Mullane between full and the corner, with Damien Reale, David Moloney and Tom Condon vying for two positions. In a plan B scenario there is merit to switching a fit Paul Browne back to do a job at some stage in the game if necessary.

It’s very important to mind the house in championship hurling, and while some would prefer to see Hickey in more creative areas of the pitch, it must be acknowledged that he starred in the full back line for UL this year. Any number of players can play in the half back line, and there are very few players as comfortable in the full back line. Gavin O’Mahoney spent a lot of the league in the full back line, but is happier out the field. Stephen Lucey is injured and therefore won’t have any role to play but his street wisdom was sorely missed in the football against Kerry. Based on recent selections, he might not have started against Waterford in any event but championship hurling throws up its own question marks and, injury permitting, there will surely be some role for him as the summer progresses.

Lucey - along with Niall Moran - has been subject to a lot of criticism from an element within the local media who will not rest until both men are no longer part of the Limerick senior hurling panel. Now that Stephen Lucey is injured, the focus has switched to Niall Moran and we were reminded this week that John Lee scored 0-2 off him in the recent Galway game. However, there is a story behind every score conceded in every game and you have to be at these games to view the story. Perception is an easy thing to create among people who aren’t at the games. In the opinion of most fans it’s personal and the battles of late 2009 and 2010 are still being fought in newsprint. The view seems to be that the public weren’t negative enough toward the 2009 players and should have rowed in behind the 2010 panel. The reality is that the 2010 panel came short, and people just wanted to see a competitive Limerick team back on the field regardless of who was right or who was wrong.

At the end of the day, unless there are cast iron prospects to replace them, Limerick need these two players in their ranks for as long as their bodies will carry them, be it as starting players or substitutes. A former management team member referred to Lucey as a ‘Jack in the Box’ but a ‘Jack in the Box’ who ultimately never left the side down when he crossed the white lines. There have been bad and good days for both players, and while in Kilkenny players can be discarded prematurely at no cost, not so in Limerick. There were rights and wrongs on every side last year but digs at players in 2011 about what happened last year are in no way helpful to the immediate task at hand – attempting to beat Waterford. That’s where the focus needs to be.

The Waterford game will bring about a number of challenges in that the last truly competitive games played by many established Limerick players against Division 1 teams were almost two years ago. Experienced players who opted out last year won’t even know for themselves if they are still at that level until the game is under way on Sunday. The team will be interesting in that there may be marginal calls based on what players have the potential to do based on the past rather than what they definitely will do.

What do the management do if a player is struggling early on? Do you keep faith and hope they come good? Do you make early substitutions which are best avoided because they shatter confidence? The football game against Kerry taught us that in tight calls that (a) selecting players with pace is paramount, and (b) that if any player is not fully fit going into a game it can backfire. The footballers - to be fair - were without a number of first choice players and couldn’t afford not to start another five or six based on carrying injuries. That said, the hurlers probably cannot afford not to start Seamus Hickey and, to a lesser extent, Paul Browne either. Donal O’Grady has been through the mill before in this case, starting Diarmuid O’Sullivan against Waterford in 2003 and withdrawing him early and perhaps that will be his course of action. If you start a player and he breaks down it takes one substitute to replace him. If you introduce him and he breaks down it’s two substitutions.

But whatever about the 2009 players, it’s in the direction of the youth we are working toward and Kevin Downes, Seanie Tobin and Declan Hannon have come through this year offering a lively scoring threat. Tobin is coming through at the right age in that he has a few seasons of solid club hurling behind him as a genuine scoring threat at that level. He is overage for under-21 meaning that he is serving only one master. Hannon is doing his Leaving Certificate and will be a loss. He has always delivered at age groups above his own age, perhaps even doing better than at his own age. His long range striking is excellent and he is a potent weapon in a team that needs scorers. But he needs to be planned without. Downes showed what he is capable of in the League final scoring an excellent goal. But league is league and championship is championship. If Downes was in one of the other hurling counties he would be allowed to find his feet in the corner for a couple of seasons before finding his own niche. He may never be a No. 14, but Limerick’s need is greatest at No.14. Much of his positive work in the league took place when drifting as far as 40-50 yards away from the edge of the square, to pick up possession a