Limerick’s William O’Donoghue determined to right the wrongs of 2025 ‘disaster’
For William O’Donoghue, Limerick’s trophyless 2025 campaign “felt like a catastrophe”.The five-time All-Ireland winner tries to get neither too high about victories nor too low about defeats. For instance, he felt the noise created by their opening-day loss to Waterford was overblown. They put that to bed by dismissing Kilkenny on Sunday. However, that quarter-final exit against Dublin was harder to take. There was no next day out as the Treaty signed off without silverware for the first time since John Kiely’s debut year as manager in 2017.When asked about people catastrophising results, O’Donoghue replied: “We lost an All-Ireland quarter-final. It’s going to be a competitive game. You’ve got two teams who are planning on getting to an All-Ireland semi-final. We were disappointed, obviously.“In terms of catastrophising, it felt like a catastrophe not to win any silverware. It’s nothing about the stage we went out at. It did feel like a disaster last year, coming away with no silverware.“Did we win two or three championship matches? When you look at the year as a whole, it wasn’t good enough. It certainly needs to be better this year.”Read More: With that ambition in mind, Limerick are placing a strong emphasis on improving their league form. Last year, they finished with two wins from six and that stalled momentum carried into the championship:“We’re definitely attacking the league. I presume most teams are like that,” said O’Donoghue.“You’re going to be playing most of these teams in championship and I don’t think anyone wants to be losing games. We’re absolutely attacking the league.”The seven-point victory over Kilkenny was a step forward from their Déise defeat, but O’Donoghue knows there’s a long journey before any trophies are dished out:“We’re in Division 1A, it’s going to be competitive,” he said. “Every game you play is going to be a tight contest and you could easily find yourself coming out on the wrong side of results.John Hetherton celebrates scoring Dublin's first goal in the win over Limerick at Croke Park. PICTURE: Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile (Ramsey Cardy / SPORTSFILE/SPORTSFILE) “Last week, we just didn’t hit where we needed to hit and we lost the game. That could happen any week if you’re not at the level you’re supposed to be at. We weren’t at that level last week.“This week, there was probably still a lot we didn’t execute. In the first half, we were probably in control for large parts, but didn’t reflect it. We were making silly turnovers and they were punishing us every time.“It was slightly better than last week, but still a long way to go.”When he compares their current status with where they were this time 12 months ago, the Na Piarsaigh colossus notices one marked improvement:“It’s still so early in the season. You can’t judge where you’re at compared to last year,” O’Donoghue began.“Right now, we’re probably in a healthier position in terms of injuries. That’s all you can really take it on. We’re probably a bit healthier. We don’t have as many fellas who’ve knocks after the first two rounds. We had a considerable amount last year. We’re dealing with a cleaner bill of health and that’s all I can compare it to.”A two-time All-Star midfielder, O’Donoghue has returned to centre-back throughout pre-season and into the league. He was a standout performer in breaking up Kilkenny attacks at the weekend:“It’s only enjoyable when you’re winning. I didn’t enjoy last week,” he said.“Is it enjoyable? Yeah. You need to be winning games. You need to be competitive. You need to be living by your values to be enjoying it. You’re not going to enjoy it if you’re not doing that. I’m glad to be out there.”
