Eddie Brennan: ‘Limerick are beginning to look like my old Kilkenny team’

HURLING legend Eddie Brennan says Limerick are beginning to resemble the great Kilkenny team he starred in at the height of its powers.

His former teammate Jackie Tyrrell recently expressed doubts about their ability to retain the All-Ireland title they won for the first time since 1973 last year. But Brennan (pictured above in his heyday) insists that their position as frontrunners is completely justified.

Brennan was speaking his Laois side prepare to do battle with Limerick at O’Moore Park on Saturday night. The eight-time All-Ireland winner says he is hugely impressed by Limerick’s strength in depth.

He said: “Right here, right now they look to be in a really healthy position when you look at the average age of that squad.

“Look, it is going to be easy? Absolutely not. I heard Jackie saying it a few weeks ago about how hard it is to put it back-to-back, but I do think they’re full value for being the favourites for the All-Ireland.

“They do remind me a bit of ourselves in that they have competition for places.

“It’s a manager’s dream to have a strong squad and have guys absolutely chomping at the bit and when you get a bounce like that and they’re hanging on every word, they see how it works, they see how good their set up is.”

However, Brennan warned there is still a long way to go between now and the second week in August. He said only “time will tell” if they can go the whole way for a second consecutive year.

“We all know there’s a lot of variables between now and the second week in August,” he told the Irish Mirror.

“I think the real big threats to them are going to be possibly Galway, Clare and maybe Waterford.”