“The father has me doing a bit of work on the farm, I’ll be well distracted by that” | Mike Casey and David Reidy on All-Ireland build up

Casey, a teacher by trade, is off for the summer, but says he is being kept busy in the lead up to the final by his father with work at home.

Limerick defender Mike Casey says he is “really looking forward” to the All-Ireland final meeting with Kilkenny, after they booked their place against the Cats over the weekend.

He is echoed in those sentiments by David Reidy as both spoke to the media ahead of next Sunday’s All-Ireland final clash with Kilkenny.

The victory over Galway was rather comfortable for a finish, although the Shannonsiders did struggle initially, and they have set up a rematch of the 2022 final, where they beat the Cats.

Na Piarsaigh native Casey put in a brilliant performance against Galway, earning himself a spot on the GAA.ie Team of the Week.

While Limerick had their final berth confirmed on Saturday evening, Kilkenny had to battle with Clare on Sunday, in a game Casey says he did not watch.

It’s about switching off at the right times for these players, and nobody will have more experience in preparing for All-Ireland finals than John Kiely’s men.

Casey, a teacher by trade, is off for the summer, but says he is being kept busy with work at home.

“I’m off now at the moment but the father has me doing a bit of work on the farm and he has a bit of construction there on at the moment, I’ll be well distracted by that, but we’re well used to it, we’ve done this before, we know when we need to switch off and need to switch on, just really looking forward to the two weeks now and getting back on the hurling field.”

With a two-week lead into the final for the third year running, Limerick are well used to dealing with the hype surrounding the showpiece game of the hurling calendar.

While Limerick will be mindful of picking up injuries, David Reidy has insisted that the standards and intensity will remain high in training over the next two weeks.

“We try not to let our standards slip in any training session, the bite is always there. As John said, for the last four weeks we trained hard, we didn’t pick up any injuries so we have to go back and do the same thing for the next two weeks.”

After appearing from the bench in each of the last four finals, Reidy looks poised for a first start with the countdown well and truly on to this year’s final.

The players may be distracted but around the county there will be only one topic on the lips of the Treaty faithful.

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