Donal Óg Cusack says that the red card Gearoid Hegarty was shown against Galway has been a long time coming for him.
The 2020 Hurler of the Year was sent off for retaliating on Joseph Cooney, who, after shouldering into the Limerick man, was swiftly met with three dunts back into the chest and into the helmet. The collision prompted a melee along the sideline but with Hegarty receiving his marching orders, it did no good for the home team as, with the extra man, Galway surged clear to win by six.
Gearóid Hegarty of @LimerickCLG sees red. pic.twitter.com/f6lIojm13L
— RTÉ GAA (@RTEgaa) February 12, 2022
In the past, this Limerick team have been criticised for their over-zealous tackling and speaking on RTE, Donal Óg Cusack said that question marks surrounding their discipline are the only black mark against them as champions. The Cork-man then singled out Gearoid Hegarty, claiming that he has “a fierce habit of flicking back with the hurley.”
“It definitely had a huge impact on the game,” said Donal Óg on RTÉ.
“I think Fergal Horgan got it right. Listen, Limerick have been outstanding champions for the last few years but if there’s been one question mark around them, a main question mark, it’s around their discipline.
“Flanagan got sent off against Waterford last year. Gillane and Flanagan should have got sent off in the Munster final. Casey was sent off and Hegarty tonight. And it was right that he got sent off. And I would say this as well, with Hegarty, you’d have to say, it’s coming to him with a while. You’d have to say, it wouldn’t take you that long to find five other instances…You can’t use that hurley like that.
“We’ve all spoken very highly of him and Limerick over the last few years, but he has a fierce habit of flicking back with the hurley. You can’t do it.
“He has been very lucky over the last few years. I’d actually say that when John Kiely sits down and looks at that, he will nearly feel relieved in some ways that it happened to him out here.”
“Limerick were lucky that it didn’t happen in a big game last year and it could have had a bigger impact on the outcome in the Munster final.
“This was coming to Hegarty and they were lucky that it happened to them tonight.”
Meanwhile, Fintan Burke and Cathal Mannion were in sparkling form for Henry Shefflin’s team, who put in their best performance to date under their new manager. Burke, who was named man-of-the-match, showed amazing skill to score sidelines off his left and right hand sides while Mannion, typically, scored points from everywhere.
So it’s two losses from two for Limerick in the League…but it was the same story last year and we all know how that ended.
