**By John Harrington **

Limerick hurling defender Seamus Hickey says the appointment of John Kiely as inter-county manager is a ‘positive’ one for the county.

But the Murroe-Boher man believes that the success or otherwise of Kiely’s regime will ultimately be defined by the players.

He insists that the players as a collective have to push through a mental barrier that has prevented them from fulfilling their potential in recent years.

“We've to get our ducks in a row,” says Hickey. “We've to get our house in order. I'm personally delighted with the appointment we have. I'm very positive about the group he's managed to get around himself and the management team.

“I'm always a believer in the ability we have in Limerick. But it's up to us, it's up to the players, to translate it. The ball is firmly in our court and it has been for the last number of years. We just have to push through that barrier, whether it's in our minds or where it is.

“At this time of the year it's all positive and anything is possible. That's the frame of mind I'm in.”

Hickey has always been his own harshest critic, and doesn’t believe he has hurled to this potential for the last two years.

“I suppose, especially in the last two years, personally I did an awful lot of soul-searching,” he says. “You look back over it and it's never a nice place to be when you feel like you haven't played to your potential. Unfortunately that was the reality for me for the last two years.

“I go into every year energetic and buzzing about the place. But I suppose I have to maybe just relax a bit more and enjoy it for what it is. Enjoy playing inter-county hurling, enjoy the lads around me. Maybe sometimes you can try too hard.

“Different people approach it in different ways. Some fellas just don't have this kind of crack to be worrying about. But, listen, I'll go back in next year and just do my very, very best. It's an exceptionally competitive place to be at the moment, especially with the guys that came in last year to the panel.

“They pushed us all the way for places and, you know, I find myself going back into the mix now whenever we're called back and hoping to get a place on the panel first and foremost and then hopefully push on from there.”

Hickey, 29, is one of the most experienced players in the Limerick panel having made his senior inter-county debut as an 18-year-old in 2006.

But he doesn’t believe that should guarantee him anything next year, and expects it to be a real battle to nail down a place in the Shannosider’s championship XV.

“I suppose that's one of the good things about Limerick at the moment, nothing is guaranteed for you,” he says. “That's really, really good for Limerick hurling. And I suppose that drives your own standards higher because they have to be else you're going to be sitting on a bench.

“It's an interesting time. Personally at this time of year I have some time off and time to think about it and I think a lot about hurling and I think a lot about the game. It's this time of the year that I reflect on what has been and it's tough then to be at the end of a disappointing year personally for me.

“At the end of the day if Limerick manage to win an All-Ireland and I play a minute that would be enough. That's what it has to be about. Motivation has to be the big prize all the time. You have to have that mentality to just be that link in the chain that the whole group around you needs you to be. I hope it happens.”

Limerick will play familiar foes Clare in the Munster SHC Semi-Final next year which effectively means they’re just one win away from an All-Ireland quarter-final.

“For me, and it's always the same when it comes to this time of draw, who you draw a lot of times is immaterial," says Hickey. "It's where you're drawn. The semi-final for me is a big thing. It's a positive thing all the time because in Munster if you've one less game to get to a Munster Final it's the most direct route.

“The key is to try to take that direct route. In the past it has been proven, Tipperary last year and Kilkenny numerous times in the years before, the direct route is the preferable route.”

The Clare and Limerick players know one another intimately having clashed in the 2016 and 2015 championships.

Next year though there’ll be a different dynamic to the match because both teams are under new management.

Not only is Kiely now at the helm in Limerick, Clare also have new men in charge in the shape of joint-managers Donal Moloney and Gerry O’Connor.

Underage success is something they have in common, because Kiely managed Limerick to the 2015 All-Ireland U-21 title, while Moloney and O’Connor led Clare to three-in-a-row in the same grade from 2012 to 2014.

“I suppose the backgrounds of the two teams coming from the U-21 grade, it's a very interesting dynamic,” says Hickey.

“And I suppose what both management teams in their favour is their familiarity with the players they have at their disposal.

“The two lads in Clare know that panel intimately. And, you know, that can't be a bad thing. John Kiely has come in to us at a very good time for him where our supporters are mad about him from that All-Ireland winning U-21s team.

And the seniors who were with him when he was involved with John Allen in 2013 have such a high opinion of him that it's probably a sweet spot.

“He has a good mixture in the dressing-room of young and able and old and hanging in there! I think it's a good place for him to be and it's one of the reasons why you'd be positive at this time of the year.”

Limerick will have a good insight into the Clare team next year thanks to the appointment of Paul Kinnerk as the team’s coach under Kiely.

Kinnerk was previously a coach with the Clare seniors when Davy Fitzgerald won the All-Ireland senior title with them in 2013, and was also a key member of the Clare U-21 backroom team when they won those three All-Ireland U-21 titles in a row.

“It is a great gain for us because he's got the accolades to back up what he's done with Clare underage,” says Hickey. “And then what he achieved in 2013 with their senior team.

“I played senior football with him in Monaleen so it's good to have a familiar face around the place. I was lucky to win a county football final with Paul, he's a fabulous footballer as well, he played with Limerick for many years in football.

“I haven't been coached by him yet. I know him by reputation as a coach and I suppose I know him well from playing with him in football. His relationship with Joe O'Connor is excellent and I suppose, again, going back to what they achieved in 2013, it's a huge plus.

“I suppose all the players would be excited about that addition.”

The appointment of management teams that have delivered U-21 All-Ireland glory in the recent past will be a source of optimism for both Limerick and Clare.

Waterford and Galway will know they’re not far off the standard required to win an All-Ireland title after losing narrowly in the All-Ireland semi-finals this year.

All things considered, there will be a lot of teams believing they can upset the established order in 2017.

“Listen, I felt it for the last couple of years,” says Hickey. “The really good thing about the last couple of years is that the last three U-21 All-Ireland winners have been Clare, Limerick, and Waterford. We're the ones trying to drive a new challenge, a fresh challenge, and Waterford very, very nearly broke through that this year.

“That's what hurling needs. It needs Davy Fitz in Wexford doing well, it needs Offaly coming strong again. It needs Limerick, Clare, Cork, and Waterford to be very competitive.

“There's no reason not to be positive. The only thing I'm ever cautious about is that word 'potential' or 'ability'. It's only ever potential or ability unless it's transferred into something that's actually tangible. Silverware or a Cup of some description.”