Are Limerick a stronger team in 2024?

Neil McManus reckons Limerick are an even stronger team in 2024 than they were last year.

The former Antrim ace was speaking on the RTÉ GAA Podcast after a weekend which saw the Treaty men create Munster SHC history with a sixth consecutive provincial title.

In doing so, they became the first county to achieve the feat.

Limerick’s summer of immortality could be completed next month with John Kiely’s men just two victories away from becoming the first county to ever with the Liam MacCarthy five times on the bounce.

In order to keep the engines burning, Kiely has brought younger players into the team to maintain strong competition, with 19-year-old Shane O’Brien receiving praise from players and management, as well as pundits, for his performance at full-forward yesterday.

And this, combined with Clare lacking some killer instinct, was critical in getting Limerick over the line.

“You need to take all the opportunities against Limerick because they’re just too clinical,” McManus said.

“They really got into their flow, their half-back line were so dominant which has been missing for a lot of the season.

“You’re thinking about how good this Limerick team are and you’ve to remind yourself that Sean Finn, Peter Casey, Seamus Flanagan, Darragh O’Donovan – none of those guys were playing.

“They look to have got better, if that’s possible.”

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Looking at Clare, who have now lost seven finals since they were last crowned Munster kings, McManus added that the goal they needed in the second half simply wouldn’t come.

“Limerick were the team trying to create history but the burden of expectation that those Clare players would have undoubtedly felt was huge,” he said.

“There’s a couple of guys on that team who are running out of years. Brian Lohan is there five seasons and they still haven’t got over the line in Munster.

“Whenever they review the game, the couple of goal chances they missed – there weren’t a huge number of goal chances created – that could have been the difference.

“A goal might have done it for them. As soon as they missed the second of those – the Mark Rodgers chance – Limerick reeled off three points in response to that.”

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Watch an All-Ireland Football Championship double-header, Armagh v Galway (1.45pm) and Dublin v Mayo (3.45pm) on Sunday on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player, follow a live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app and listen to commentary on Sunday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1