Graeme Mulcahy Thinks Odd Hawk-Eye Moment Summed Up Limerick Issue In Shock Exit

Limerick exited the All-Ireland hurling championship on Saturday in one of the biggest shocks in recent GAA memory.

Dublin stunned John Kiely's perennial winners to take a famous (and well-deserved) two-point victory and progress to their first semi-final since 2013.

Though Dublin have rightly taken many plaudits for their immense showing at GAA HQ, Limerick were strangely off-colour on Saturday. The intensity that defined their Munster campaign was completely missing, and Dublin dominated the aerial battle on a day when many of Limerick's best players weren't at their best.

Limerick legend Graeme Mulcahy told Balls.ie this week that he does not believe complacency was an issue for the Treaty County - however, he did wonder whether the choice to hold the game in Croke Park did have an impact.

From a players' point of view, I wouldn't say [complacency] was an issue. I don't think they would disrespect a team or underestimate a game.

I do think the game being brought to Croke Park was a big decision to make from a Limerick fans' perspective. They're probably looking at it like Limerick would get over Dublin, then you have another game in Dublin in two weeks' time, then hopefully you get over a semi-final and then you've another game in two weeks.

You're potentially looking at three trips if you're to go to all the games in the space of 28 days. That's obviously expensive, even if you're going on your own. But a lot of families travel. That's a huge expense to put on families after a busy Munster campaign.

That was probably overlooked, not having that strong Limerick support you'd usually have. If the game had been brought to Thurles, you'd probably have a flip side.

You had the Dublin football fans coming in at the end of the game and making that atmosphere a lot more like a partisan atmosphere.

He felt the struggle for Limerick to climb to the correct intensity was summed up by an incident in the early moments of the game.

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Speaking to me at an Electric Ireland event in Croke Park to promote the upcoming Electric Ireland All-Ireland minor hurling final, Graeme Mulcahy said he felt an early Hawk-Eye call summed up Limerick's issues in a less-than-packed Croke Park last Saturday.

Mulcahy said that Limerick will not have been used to Croker being less than half full, and that the lacklustre atmosphere in the opening stages of the game was summed up by an unnecessarily stop-start Hawk-Eye call in the opening minutes:

You've been used to running out into Croke Park for the last few years and you can hardly hear the guy next to you.

I suppose, it was a dead atmosphere. In the first 15 minutes, the referee's whistle was almost the loudest thing in the stadium. Normally you can barely hear it.

It was a real 'attitude day.' To be fair, Dublin's attitude was spot on. I think Limerick were a bit lacking in that department.

Dublin had their homework done, they knew what to expect. Maybe Limerick didn't fully appreciate what they were running out to in terms of the empty stadium. It might have had an impact.

Certainly the start of the game, the first 15 minutes was flat. I think we got our first free of the game...usually an easy free by Aaron [Gillane's] standards. I think it went wide and even the umpires weren't tuned in and it went to Hawk-Eye.

Straight away, the game after two or three minutes, any energy in the crowd is sucked out by going to Hawk-Eye. Everyone in the crowd knows it's wide.

That first 5-10 minutes was very flat.

From then on, however, the Dublin fans brought the noise as they began to believe the Boys in Blue could claim a historic victory.

The 14-man Dubs delivered, and will now believe they have every chance of bringing Liam MacCarthy back to the capital for the first time since 1938.

For Mulcahy, the championship is wide open, but Cork have the edge over the other three contenders left.

Tipp won it in 2019, they're the last team to win it of these four.

Obviously, it would be fantastic to see Dublin bridge that 87-year gap.

Cork are probably in the driving seat. They've been impressive, although in the first couple of Munster championship games they took a dip after putting in such a good league. But they've definitely started to pick it back up and they're definitely on an upward trajectory. I'd put them in the driving seat.

There's nothing between Kilkenny and Tipp on the other side, I think it will be a very tight game. I've probably been looking at Kilkenny all year as potential challengers to the likes of Cork and Limerick.

If they can get Eoin Cody back fit, they'll be very difficult to beat.

An enticing All-Ireland semi-final lineup awaits, even if Limerick will not be there for the first time since 2017.