I just hope the White House have their hurling subscriptions in order.
Because Donald Trump needs to watch what Limerick did to Clare to understand what walking the walk looks like.
It might be painful for him as a part of the business community in the Banner County to sit down and watch what their neighbours did to Clare, but it was a devastating example of letting your actions speak for themselves.
Now, I’m watching this old game a long time, but I have not seen a performance like that in many, many years – if ever.
And this isn’t me waving a green and white flag: I hope ye know me well enough by now to know that that’s not my scene.
I try to call it as I see it, and what I saw in Ennis was a phenomenal show of force by a team that look hungrier than ever.
Green Day: Limerick’s Shane O’Brien celebrates scoring a point against Clare
Trump needs to watch what Limerick did to Clare to understand what walking the walk looks like
Limerick have had some big wins under John Kiely but I don’t think I’ve seen one as complete as this.
Since the start of this season, it has been clear that this was a group that meant business.
No gimmicks, no mind games, no thinking about what’s coming around the corner.
They got their reward for being a serious team that took every match on its merits. They didn’t mess around in the league, they went out and won it.
And they look in that sort of mean mood in the Championship, too.
I know they lost to Cork but that was after Cian Lynch was sent off and, even then, they pushed Cork to the pins of their collars in a hostile Páirc Uí Chaoimh.
Where some managers seem to get themselves tangled up in dummy selections and picking and choosing what matches matter, Kiely and Paul Kinnerk have obviously decided to go all out every day. When they’re on song, there’s no stopping them.
I mean this as a compliment, but this is the most predictable team of all time.
Knowing what they’re going to do and stopping it are two very different things though.
We know how Limerick play under the Kiely and Kinnerk plan – with speed, devastating tackling, and ruthless physical power in every contact.
Smothered: Limerick’s Barry Nash fouls Clare’s Tony Kelly to concede a penalty
Cathal O’Neill of Limerick gets the better of Clare’s Ryan Taylor
They’ll push the rules as far as they’ll go, which every good team should do.
And if a referee gives them an inch, they’ll take a mile and they’ll keep going.
They’re like the All Blacks were when they were unbeatable a decade or so ago, intimidating for the opposition in every sense of the word.
There were days when the opposition looked beaten before the haka, and it’s like that with Limerick now. They don’t do the war dance pre-game, but they don’t have to. Everyone knows war is coming.
Clare couldn’t live with it, and under Brian Lohan, they have been the one county that prided themselves on standing up to Limerick.
They wilted completely last Sunday, and I wouldn’t blame them too much for that because I don’t know if there has ever been a side that could have lived with Limerick in this mood.
I thought Clare in Ennis could be a huge challenge, but Limerick’s onslaught from the start was something to behold.
Whoever will beat them wins the All-Ireland, simple as that.
Their consistency is remarkable. They almost clawed Cork back even though they were a man down, and against Clare they wanted more scores even when they were ahead by a country mile.
The two most serious teams in the country this year have been Limerick and Cork, not just in how they play but in their attitude.
They both want to win every match they play, and they’re getting their reward.
Swarming: Clare’s Adam Hogan battles for possession with Aidan O’Connor of Limerick
The Sunday Game analysts said that Clare went man to man, but I must have been watching a different match.
They might have been watching man to man, but they certainly weren’t man-marking.
Limerick were getting their puck-outs away, long and short, but the problem for Clare was the time they were giving Limerick players to pick the next pass.
Puck-out strategies get a lot of attention now, but as long as I’m playing, watching and coaching hurling the sliothar has been pucked out.
I can’t be certain, but I don’t believe there have been games where a goalkeeper kept the ball inside in the goal for 70 minutes.
This stuff can get talked up and the so-called experts make a meal of it, but you watch this game long enough and you learn to trust your own eyes.
And the lesson for any team that wants to beat Limerick is this: you have to stick to them like glue.
Every player on your team has to be in the face of the man he is marking.
Clare need to regroup but they have a mountain ahead of them.
Limerick and Cork are at the top of that mountain, and one of them will be left there come the end of this championship.
