Munster hurling championship fact file

Key fact for Sunday’s big Munster senior hurling championship meeting o Clare and Limerick in Semple Stadium, Thurles.

– Cork’s Colm Lyons will referee Sunday’s game, which throws-in at 4pm;

– Clare defender David McInerney, from Tulla, captained UL to the Fitzgibbon Cup title this year, a team that Clare’s Brian Lohan managed;
– Clare defender Jack Browne from Ballyea is a nephew of former Limerick great, Jimmy Carroll;

– Limerick defender Wayne McNamara, from Adare, has strong Clare connections as his mother, Vera Killoughery, hails from Ballyea;

– Limerick defender Seamus Hickey played hurling and football for St Flannan’s College;

– Clare player Brendan Bugler is a member of the teaching staff at Doon CBS;

– Banner county sharpshooter Colin Ryan helped coach Salesian College, Pallaskenry to Munster colleges success last year. Ballyea’s Brian Chambers was also a member of the Limerick school’s backroom team;

– Former Clare player and county coach, Alan Cunningham, from Wolfe Tones, is currently team coach with Na Piarsaigh. Alan’s son, Aaron is a member of the Clare panel;

– Clare defender Domhnall O’Donovan’s father, Sean, is a native of Kilmallock with whom he won a number of Limerick titles;

– Former Clare captain Sean Stack, from Sixmilebridge, an All-Star award winner in 1978, coached Limerick city side Na Piarsaigh to county and Munster titles;

– Former Clare Bord na nÓg hurling secretary, Mike O’Neill, is an officer with Limerick club Na Piarsaigh. He is currently the Clare Hurling Supporters Club chairman;

– Former Clare hurling selector and manager, Tony Considine, led Garryspillane and Kilmallock to Limerick titles in the past decade;

– Limerick great and All-Ireland winning hero from their last title-winning team in 1973, Eamonn Cregan, is a former Clare manager. In recent years, he has been in charge of the Mary Immaculate College Fitzgibbon Cup side, which has included a number of Clare players;

– Clare’s All-Ireland winning captain from ’95 and ’97, Anthony Daly, who also served as Clare senior team manager, is currently in charge of the Limerick hurling development squads. He is also coach to this year’s Limerick minor hurlers, who will play Cork in the provincial semi-final.

By Seamus Hayes, sports editor