Limerick hurling manager TJ Ryan is hoping his side can make up for the disappointments of 2015 when they take on Tipperary in tomorrow's Munster SHC semi-final in Thurles.
The Shannonsiders fell to a heavy 4-25 to 1-16 defeat at the hands of Tipp at the same stage last season, before going on to defeat Westmeath in the first round of the qualifiers and eventually exiting to Dublin via a one-point defeat in Round Two.
"The way last year petered out, none of us would have been happy with it," Ryan told the Irish Examiner. "There was an opportunity to get to a quarter-final - after a good start we didn't finish the job off but certainly, we felt improvement needed to be made on last year.
"There were a couple of snippets of nice form (in the league) but looking back, there were two halves there as well, the second halves against Clare and Waterford, who proved to be the best two teams in the League at the time, wouldn't have been good enough. We need to up that.
"Our first half against Waterford in the semi-final, when we went in a point up at half-time and could have been maybe three or four, we'd need to make sure we keep that consistency up.
"We'd like to have gotten out of Division 1B, we'd like to be playing Division 1A hurling like any team. The performance against Clare - albeit a poor decision early on and then a sending-off decision that I certainly felt was harsh - went against us and we were fighting an uphill battle.
"But I accept the second half show was a bit flat, not good enough. They are the things we need to improve."
Throw in at Semple Stadium on Sunday afternoon is at 4pm.
Tweet