Limerick down with a bump

Limerick came back down to earth with a bump in yesterday's Munster hurling semi final when they leaked four goals in their defeat by Clare.
It wasn't that the Treatymen looked to be in bad shape.
Their point scoring was at times out of the top drawer and they hung on doggedly right to the end.
They started brightly against the breeze and Clare had struggled to get into their stride in the early part of the game.
However, they never really recovered from Pat Vaughn's lob which somehow found the back of the Treatymen's men net.
Limerick continued to work hard from that point on and never actually threw in the towel.
They did get back within two points early in the second half but again their defence let them down with Clare scoring another two handy goals.
There's no doubt the Limerick defence missed the influence of Brian Geary at centre half back but Stephen Lucey looked out of sorts in full back and Limerick will need a huge improvement if they are to go anywhere in this year's All Ireland.
The Treatymen still have time to rebuild their season and the prospect of playing next against the beaten Leinster semi finalists will not have them losing any sleep.
However, Richie Bennis has to be concerned about the ease with which Clare opened up his defence.
I think Clare look better prepared and their confidence grew with the victory over Waterford but Bennis will know that the Clare attack is not exactly frightening and that there are better forward lines out there who would have destroyed Limerick yesterday.
The Treatymen will not surprise anyone this year and I doubt they can play again with the sort of indestructible belief which carried through last year's wonderful season.

Cork average but ruthlessly efficient

Cork gave Limerick quite a beating yesterday in the National League quarter finals without really moving up through the gears.
The hurling was scrappy enough but Cork kept punishing the Treatymen's mistakes and in the process I think they have scored a big psychological win over Richie Bennis' side.
I can't see any way that Limerick will build on their journey to last year's All-Ireland final and while they still have a few top-class hurlers I feel there are too many journeymen in the side to go all the way.
Cork didn't exactly set the ground alight either but they were ruthlessly efficient when they got on top and from the moment they cancelled out Limerick's one-point advantage at the half way mark there only looked to be one winner.
I don't know yet what to make of Gerald McCarthy's side.
People like Ben O'Connor, Seán Óg and John Gardiner are worth their weight in gold but Tom Kenny is still not firing on all cylinders and both centre half and centre full forward look like they will continue to be difficult positions for the Rebels.
Ronan Curran has not been the player of two to three seasons ago when he looked almost invincible and I'm not convinced about any of the others who have played there including Gardiner who is an outstanding right half.
Tipp did move up a gear yesterday and they have some good youngsters on the verge of breaking on to the team.
Their battle with the Cats will be an indicator of what progress they have made but for us neutrals the hope will have to be that Galway might just challenge the Big Two when they take on the Rebels.