Former Cork hurling boss John Meyler is bullish about the identity of the three counties that will qualify from this year’s Munster SHC round-robin.
Limerick, Clare and Cork made it out of the ultra-competitive province last year and there is great debate about who the successful trio will be over the coming months.
Meyler isn’t in any doubt, however, and he sees it as pretty clear cut.
“I don’t think there’s much debate really, I think it’s Limerick, Tipp and Cork,” the former Rebels boss told Shane and Michael on this week’s OurGame Preview Show.
Meyler reckons that Davy Fitzgerald’s Waterford will miss out with injuries playing a huge role while he had harsh words for what he believes is an under-achieving Clare side after their All-Ireland semi-final flop against Kilkenny last year.
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“You’ve the same problems with Waterford, you’ve Austin (Gleeson), whether he’s injured or he’s not injured, Austin has a huge part to play in Waterford. Conor Prunty is injured as well, and they were unlucky to be injured in the last few weeks,” Meyler said.
“I honestly don’t know what Clare are doing. I just can’t see them filling the gap in the next month really, they’ve had a patchy League. They promised a lot last year and didn’t deliver, they’re always promising and don’t deliver.”
Meyler, also a former inter-county boss with Kerry, Carlow and Wexford, sees the defending All-Ireland champions as the red-hot favourites to make it four-in-a-row while insisting that “the only people that will beat Limerick will be Limerick themselves”.
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He is intrigued by tomorrow’s Division 1 League semi-final between Limerick and Tipp and he expects Premier boss Liam Cahill to right some wrongs from the end of his tenure with Waterford.
“It’ll be interesting Limerick playing Tipperary because Tipp will want to have a cut as well. I think Tipp are going really well, provided Cahill corrects the wrongs of last year with Waterford, the two weeks of training before the Cork match,” he said.
The first two in Leinster is straightforward in his view with Galway and Kilkenny to meet again in the Leinster final while he sees little to separate Dublin and Wexford for the final spot, although both have serious questions to answer come championship.
“I honestly don’t know where Dublin are, I’ve been really disappointed with them. I saw Wexford and Cork in the Páirc and they were short players, even though they had a chance, Jack O’Connor had a chance for a goal (to win it),” he said.
“Patrick Collins made a great save and then Matthew O’Hanlon going off injured was a massive loss. The third place in Leinster is going to be difficult.”
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