Size matters, but so does spirit.
Mike Casey will be coughing up five inches and over 20kg to Johnny Glynn on the edge of the Limerick square on Sunday afternoon in the biggest game of his life to date but don’t for a second think that the Na Piarsaigh man is quaking in his boots going into it.
Full back is a position that Limerick have struggled to fill in recent times but that man Casey has let back the shoulders and pumped out the chest growing into that famous number three jersey this year.
This doesn’t look like a man who will be the victim of a physical mismatch this weekend.
Where Richie McCarthy and Seamus Hickey have struggled, the youngster has acquitted himself admirably all year long and he’s safeguarded the Treaty house when it was under bombardment at different stages this year.
Big Colin Fennelly didn’t get much off him and was substituted in the All-Ireland quarter-final when the pair locked horns a couple of weeks ago.
Shane Kingston got some change off the stocky Limerick back man in the early stages of the semi, but when it really came down to it that man Casey held his square hostage and horsed his man out of the game.
Indeed, Clare’s John Conlon was the only man to really go to town on Casey in this whole year’s hurling, but that was on a day when the whole Limerick was off-colour and Casey was nursing a knee injury.
Like all of the Limerick players, he’ll have plenty of confidence coming into this one and he’ll be backing himself to go toe-to-toe with Galway’s burly behemoth Glynn.
The match-up came under discussion on Thursday’s GAA Hour preview show and the lads assessed the Ardrahan club man’s freakish physical credentials.
“Johnny Glynn is 98 kg, he’s a beast of a man with those hands like the bucket of a JCB,” said Colm Parkinson on Thursday’s GAA Hour Show.
“Mike Casey is 6 foot and he’s 75kg, that’s 23kgs he’s giving up on Johnny Glynn, that’s a huge mis-match in there,” he added.
“The wingspan of his arms alone,” raved Michael Carton.
Seamus ‘Cheddar’ Plunkett is well aware of the Limerick man’s tenacity, however, and he knows that this man will be relishing the physical challenge.
“I do think Mike Casey is that type of full back as well that likes the physical game,” said the former Laois manager.
“You would look at a number of technical ways of stopping Johnny Glynn. Generally speaking, he makes a run and reaches away from himself to do that. You might change your defensive position on a player like him and just spoil the ball on the ground…he’s not as good in second phase play,” said Plunkett.
“I’m absolutely sure Limerick management will be doing this,” he said.
Mike Casey will be ready for the battle, there’s no doubt about that.
You can listen to this chat and much more from Thursday’s GAA Hour Hurling Show right here.
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