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LIMERICK almost certainly won’t be counting on David Dempsey for Sunday’s All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship semi-final with Galway.
Na Piarsaigh’s man also missed the first round of the championship against Clare due to injury, but struggled to get back in shape and was featured as a substitute in wins over Tipperary and Waterford.
This Sunday, Dempsey suffered a hamstring injury in training and it seems almost certain that he will miss Sunday’s Croke Park clash with The Tribesmen, who are led by his former club manager Shane O’Neill.
“It looks like he’s going to exclude him,” Limerick coach John Kiely confirmed Monday night of Dempsey’s injury.
“David Dempsey injured his hamstring yesterday in training, it seems that he will not survive this weekend,” the coach told the media.
In other places it is good news.
“In terms of injuries, our panel has really come together a lot over the last month. A lot of the injuries and long-term issues that were there have been cleared up,” Kiely noted.
“Darragh O’Donovan took a hit against Tipperary and that slowed him down a bit before the Waterford game – that’s starting to heal substantially now and I would describe him as fully fit at this stage,” the coach said.
“Aaron Costello, who suffered a really bad hamstring injury before the first round of the championship against Clare, unfortunately because he had done so well in training and also had a great campaign earlier in the year, is back in Full training fully fit and competing for his spot on Sunday, which is a great thing. “
Limerick has used 22 different players in three championship games this season and made a change to their starting lineup from game to game.
“There are no two ways to do it, but it is very competitive,” said the Limerick coach.
“It would be very easy to leave the team alone and not make any changes to it; the guys are working very hard in training to try to progress through the pecking order. We have guys who take hits and get injured, guys will come in and out of shape. Kiely explained.
He added: “There are many different reasons for this, obviously the opposition changes from day to day and you may feel that against some opposition, a certain configuration might work better than another.
“The bottom line is that the players challenge us every week in terms of our decision making to choose the team and in terms of the selection of substitutes and that is a healthy environment for us and I don’t see it as a difficulty.”
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