Brendan Cummins: Limerick news could alter dynamic in Ennis

Ex-Tipperary goalkeeper Brendan Cummins believes the news this week concerning the Limerick set-up could alter the dynamic of their final Munster round robin game against Clare in Ennis this weekend.

On Tuesday evening, news emerged that a member of the Limerick panel had been arrested following an incident outside a well-known Limerick City pub in the early hours of Monday morning.

Limerick GAA had pre-empted the story by a few minutes, releasing a statement saying that a player had been involved in a "breach of team protocols" and that the matter had been dealt with by management.

The news broke five days out from Limerick's final Munster round-robin game away to Clare in Cusack Park, with John Kiely's side sitting on maximum points, assured of their progression from the province and in all probability bound for the Munster final.

In the two previous round robin campaigns, in 2018 and 2019, Limerick had likewise secured their progression from the province ahead of the final group game and proceeded to lose their last game.

They lost by 11 points in Ennis in 2018, before winning the All-Ireland two months later, and then were soundly beaten by Tipperary in Thurles in 2019, before beating the same opposition in the Munster decider subsequently.

The pattern led some to conclude that the fixture schedule had been kind to Clare and that Kiely would take the opportunity to rest his front-rank players. However, Cummins wonders whether Limerick might now need to change the narrative and deliver a statement performance at the weekend.

"The only positive that Limerick can take from it is they tried to get ahead of it as quick as they could with their statement. They were saying there was an issue and they were dealing with it," Cummins