WATCH | Diarmuid Mullins looking for “further improvement” ahead of U20 All-Ireland final

Limerick U20’s Manager Diarmuid Mullins will be looking for a repeat of the 2017 All-Ireland final as they hope to defeat Kilkenny once again.

Limerick face off against Kilkenny this Sunday in the All-Ireland U20 Hurling final in Thurles as they bid for a first title at the grade since 2017.

Mullins and his team have had to dig deep through a tough Munster Championship campaign with wins against Clare, Cork, and Waterford before defeating Tipperary in the provincial final.

A lacklustre win against Clare casted a small shadow of doubt on the Shannonsiders, but they bounced back with a 1-25 to 1-19 win over Cork. They defeated Tipperary 1-25 to 2-18 to claim the Munster Championship and book their place in this years All-Ireland final.

With the game fast approaching, Mullins and his coaching staff will be looking to put on the finishing
touches in preparation before his players take the field on Sunday.

“Obviously we had great excitement after winning the Munster Championship a couple of weeks ago, its just nice to have two weeks to prepare for the All-Ireland Final. We probably needed the time after playing four games in six weeks so some tired bodies but when your preparing for an All-Ireland Final I think the tiredness goes away fairly quickly.

“So we are just concentrating and focusing on being as prepared as possible for next Sunday against Kilkenny.”

With the difficult schedule Mullins’ Limerick side had in the Munster Championship, the slow start against Clare didn’t do much to relive any pressure on the team.

Although there was some poorer performances from the Treaty County they found a way to win in all four of their games and reach the All-Ireland Final. And winning while not playing well is the sign of a really top team as alluded to by the manager.

“The main thing was to come out the other side of it, I think every game we improved incrementally. Obviously there is always areas where you want to improve on and definitely after the first game against Clare there was a number of areas that we had to improve on.

“I think in the games after that in the Cork game, the Waterford game and then Tipperary in the Final there was definite improvement and we will be looking for further improvement next week.”

Kilkenny is a side that Limerick competed against in the 2017 u21s All-Ireland final. On the day, a star studded Limerick side, captained by Tom Morrissey, lived up their pre match favourites tag to keep the Cats at bay in a 0-17 to 0-11 win.

Mullins and his management team will be looking to repeat the outcome of clash on Sunday with ten members of that side going on to win All-Ireland senior medals.

But Limerick will be wary of a Kilkenny side who were comfortable winners when the teams met in the 2019 All-Ireland minor semi-final.

“Its going to be very difficult. At minor level we went to Croke park as Munster Champions and Kilkenny came through the round robin system and there was nothing between the two teams after the first half ,but in the second half they blew us away really. I suppose that was a big disappointment for that group of players, but look we have a chance next week to atone for that.

“Kilkenny have come through a tough Leinster campaign. They have won three games and at the start of the year I think anybody looking at the U20 championship would have said whoever beat Galway would have a great chance of winning the All-Ireland and Kilkenny did that and played very well that day. Its going to be tight and I’ve said that about all the games so far and I’ve no reason to believe it wont be tight next week again”

Watch the interview with Mullins in full below.

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