Peter Casey awaits this weekend’s Munster Semi Final.

Limerick Senior hurler and 2015 U21 All Ireland winner Peter Casey is ready for the championship season.

Limerick will take on Clare in the Munster Senior Hurling Championship Semi Final this weekend. Speaking to GAA.ie Casey knows what his team has to offer to his county and to the country.

“The one thing that I’d be telling everyone, just to be patient. We were in three Minor (Munster) Finals, we won the All-Ireland U-21, but it’s a building process.

“You see the likes of Cork this year, they’ve a few young lads and are building again. Waterford two or three years ago were kind of like ourselves.

“They built and now they’re one of the top four or five teams in the country.

“I think we will get there, it’s just about being patient.”

Casey has plenty of experience when it comes to winning. He won a Munster Minor Championship in 2014 and was part of the Limerick U21 team that won the 2015 All-Ireland.

He also captained Ardscoil Rís to a Harty Cup success as well as being part of the all conquering Na Piarsaigh team that won the All Ireland club title in 2016.

When naming Casey’s achievements, it’s hard to believe that he is still just 19 and has two years left at the under 21 grade.

Limerick senior manager John Kiely has a good mixture of of u21 and senior lads on the senior panel and worked closely with Casey during the 2015 under 21 All-Ireland success.

With youth you need experience and Kiely has this in Nickie Quaid, Richie McCarthy, Declan Hannon, Seamus Hickey, Shane Dowling, Graeme Mulcahy, and James Ryan.

It’s Casey’s first year on the panel so he knows how important the older lads are to the team as well.

He agreed that “That’s the toughest part, to just get the balance right,”. “There are eight or nine young lads that are on both panels, the U-21 and senior, so it is a balancing act.

“Look, John has been involved with the U-21s for the past few years as well so he knows all about that. I think the one thing that John and the lads have brought in is that they’ve brought a bit of craic to it as well.

“It’s my first year and I was nervous going in at the start, but I’ve really, really enjoyed it.

“I thought I’d be getting flogged every training and it’d be really tough and that matches would be tough too because you’d be marking the best corner-backs in the country, but it’s been really enjoyable and I do think I’m improving. That’s all you can ask for really, isn’t it?”

When asked on his teams recent loss to a strong Galway side in the League semi-final Casey said “I think it was a learning process more than anything, yeah,” “To be honest I just think it was a bad day in general. I don’t think Galway hurled too well either and we obviously didn’t hurl too well in front of our own crowd.

“We started alright and stuck with them for a while – I think we bought it back to two points – but I think once they got the goal it just killed us.

“That’s what we have to rectify most – how we respond when we go behind like that. Or when we’re dealt a blow, how we respond to it.

“I think the last few (challenge) games we’ve done quite well, so, yeah, we’re all really looking forward to the fourth of June.”

Limerick will go into this weekends game as underdogs but Casey is confident that his team can cause and upset just like Cork did to All Ireland Champions Tipperary two weekends ago.

“We are underdogs, but Clare haven’t played too many games lately and didn’t get a chance to express themselves in the latter stages of the League,” he replied.

“They only had the relegation play-off against Dublin in which they played very well, to be fair.

“I think rightly so Clare will be favourites, but I’d be fancying ourselves well. There’s always only a hop of the ball between the two teams when we play each other.

“There’s not much between any of us. That’s the beauty of the All-Ireland and Munster Championships, that anyone can beat each other on any given day.

“Yeah, look, I wouldn’t be fearing anyone, I wouldn’t be backing away from anyone.

“You’ll see what it will do for Cork, how big it was for them to beat Tipperary.

“Who knows, if we can overturn Clare, how much of a lift that would give to the Limerick lads as well.”

Munster Hurling Championship Semi-Final:

Limerick V Clare

Semple Stadium Thurles

Sunday June 4th @4pm

Sky Sports 3 HD. Coverage starts @3pm.