Declan Hannon: Younger players have ‘freshened things up’

LIMERICK'S Declan Hannon has admitted that it was tough to sit on the sidelines and watch his teammates in Allianz Hurling League action this spring as he missed games due to injury.Hannon missed all of six of Limerick's Allianz Hurling League games. Indeed, the 2024 All-Ireland semi-final defeat to Cork was the last time Hannon featured in a competitive game for Limerick.

The former captain was originally set to start in the Kilkenny game on February 23 this year, but it was postponed due to an unplayable pitch. He then missed the rest of Limerick's league matches due to injury. “It was a bit frustrating but these things happen it's kinda part of sport.



And I suppose if you're training at a high level or high intensity, you know you're going to pick up niggles at some stage. “So please God now for the rest of the year, they'll stay away and we can just drive on as best we can.” The Adare native admitted it was mentally challenging to miss the league, but acknowledged that setbacks like this are simply part of sport.

READ NEXT: John Kiely: ‘You have to be competitive to get out of Munster’ “Everyone wants to be involved, particularly in the match days. We are lucky in Limerick that we have a great squad, a great group of lads that are fantastic ambassadors for the city and county. They're driving it on in training and in games.

“It is annoying, but sure what can you do? It's just part and parcel of sport.” The Shannonsiders spent four nights in the Quinta do Lago Sports Complex in Portugal on a warm weather training camp ahead of the upcoming Munster Championship. “It's important as well that you have time to switch off and get to know newer lads that are on the panel and newer faces that are in the backroom team.

It was a very enjoyable and definitely a beneficial week, anyway.” The five-time All-Ireland winning captain has felt the newer lads on the Limerick panel have brought huge energy to the group this year. “They're great, they're characters so they are.

They're brilliant like they get stuck in, they drive on, they train hard, keep the head down, contribute on the field and off the field. They definitely have freshened things up I think.” Limerick get their Munster SHC campaign underway against Tipperary on April 20.

Hannon has been impressed by this weekend's opponents this year. The Limerick defender didn't watch their league final against Cork as he feels it's important to switch off when they get a break from the action. “I didn't watch, I tend not to watch a whole pile of games to be honest whenever we have a day off, it's nice to switch off from hurling and chill out,” added Hannon.

“We've had great battles with Tipperary down through the last number of years. It's not an easy place to go, we played them in 2023 there it was draw. “There's never much in it between the two teams and it's going to be the same again on April 20.

We just need to get there now give a performance on the day a and see where that takes us. That's all we can do.” Despite coming up short in last year's All-Ireland semi-final, Hannon doesn't believe much changes for this Limerick team.

“Every year we've come back with a real high level of motivation to try and get better. The biggest difference is probably there is less talk about Limerick this year maybe in comparison to the last number of years.”.