RICHIE POWER has backed Limerick to get the wheels rolling towards All-Ireland SHC success again after their Drive for Five crashed in 2024.
And the Kilkenny legend reckons John Kiely’s men will be determined to prove that the glory days are not over for one of the greatest sides in hurling’s history.
With their victory over the Cats in the 2023 final, Limerick emulated the Kilkenny team of 2009 by winning a fourth straight All-Ireland.
But their quest to claim an unprecedented fifth was scuppered when they came up short in a semi-final thriller against Cork last summer.
Power hit 1-9 in the 2010 All-Ireland decider, only for Kilkenny’s five-in-a-row dream to be ruined by Tipperary.
Brian Cody’s legendary team fired back to bag four of the next five crowns, with Power retiring in January 2016 as an eight-time All-Ireland winner.
He said: “I can remember definitely for us, we came back and won in 2011 and ’12, we got caught in ’13 and then we won in ’14 and ’15, so for me, I think Limerick have to get back.
“They have to get back and win another one to really . . . that’s not me saying they’re not an unbelievable team and one of the greatest teams that have ever played the game — they absolutely are.
“But just to really show the character and the drive and the hunger that’s there, I believe they have to get back and win another one after the disappointment of losing the five in a row.
“It’s just how the players respond and how they react to it.”
Limerick’s prospects in 2025 are sure to be hindered by the anterior cruciate knee ligament injury that could sideline ace goalkeeper Nickie Quaid for the entire season.
Cathal O’Neill is also currently out with a hamstring injury, while veteran duo Graeme Mulcahy and Richie English have retired from the inter-county game.
Nevertheless, Power, 39, expects the Treaty — who will also target a SEVENTH Munster title on the bounce — to be among the leading contenders to thwart Clare’s bid for back-to-back All-Irelands.
The two-time All-Star said: “This Limerick team are absolutely fantastic but I still think they’ll want to get back and win another one.
“And they have the potential to win another two or three, no different to ourselves.
“It’s just whether the hunger is there and what’s in the tank because the structure compared to when we were playing is different.
“There’s a savage effort to even get out of Munster but I definitely think they’ll be there or thereabouts this year.
“I think Cork will be there. I think Kilkenny won’t be too far away.
“I think Clare and maybe Galway are probably your four or five teams that’ll be there or thereabouts.”
Power’s own experience leads him to believe that Limerick are unlikely to suffer with a hangover from coming so close but ultimately failing to make history.
He added: “I remember sitting on the pitch in Croke Park, looking up at Eoin Kelly lifting the Liam MacCarthy Cup, and very few thoughts of five in a row were going around my head at that stage, or history.
“Every year we went back, it was about winning the All-Ireland or getting to the All-Ireland final and trying to be the best team in that particular year.
“The five in a row would have been something unbelievable but I suppose we weren’t long about . . . and I can remember having this conversation with the lads probably the Tuesday or the Wednesday after the All-Ireland in 2010, we were nearly thinking about 2011 fairly quick.
“It was just about getting back and I have no doubt it’s going to be exactly the same in Limerick.”
