Limerick ended their 45-year wait for All-Ireland success with a narrow one-point win over holders Galway in Croke Park back in August.
A late goal from substitute Shane Dowling proved to be critical in the 3-16 to 2-18 win while midfielder Cian Lynch was crowned Hurler of the Year to cap off an incredible campaign for John Kiely’s side.
However, for all their success this championship, Limerick had just two players – Aaron Gillane (7th) and Shane Dowling (9th) – that registered in the top 10 point scorers in the country.
Tipperary Live journalist Brian McDonnell dove a little deeper into the numbers behind this year’s championship and identified that Limerick led the championship in average value of scoring chances created, average puck-out success rate and average work-ratio.
Meanwhile they were ranked 10th for the average pucks out won on opposition ball and seventh for average passing success rate allowed.
Just completed a statistical analysis of all thirty-three games in the 2018 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship – check out how your county ranked across a number of key statistical categories – https://t.co/ky1ZxeNOUG #hurling #analytics pic.twitter.com/OBuazfnCCn
— brian mcdonnell (@sixtwofourtwo) November 22, 2018
McDonnell noted that Limerick are out on their own as the team who worked hardest (off the ball) to make life difficult for the opposition while they also worked hardest on the ball when creating the highest number of scoring opportunities on average to boot.
His full piece can be read in the tweet above and it offers some great tactical insight into this year’s championship and also gives a lot more credence to manager John Kiely’s praise of his side after the All-Ireland final.
“They just don’t know what it is to give up,” Kiely said of his team.
“They keep going, keep going, and never say die. It was really difficult there in the last few minutes and they still found a way to do it. There’s no substitute for hard work, that’s the bottom line.”
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