SÉAMUS FLANAGAN’S place in the Limerick team for the Championship could be in doubt if the forward is banned following an incident involving Cork defender Niall O’Leary.
That is the view of former Tipperary star John ‘Bubbles’ O’Dwyer and Clare legend Ollie Baker, who reckon Flanagan could pay the price for the flashpoint in Saturday’s Division 1A clash.
The 2021 All-Star attacker, who was introduced as a second-half sub at Páirc Uí Chaoimh, floored O’Leary by appearing to strike his opponent below the belt.
Although it was not spotted by officials, footage of the off-the-ball altercation surfaced on social media and was a talking point for pundits Joe Canning and Jackie Tyrrell on The Sunday Game.
Speaking on the Smaller Fish podcast, O’Dwyer said: “Séamus Flanagan has been one of the best forwards in the country for the last five or six years.
“I’m sure there’s a lot of stuff being said to him in games and I wouldn’t think Niall O’Leary would have said anything worse than what he’s got before.
“It could have just been the fact that maybe Séamus came on, he was trying to make an impact, he wasn’t having the impact that he was hoping for and he just saw a bit of red mist.
“It’s not a good look. Straight into the liathróidí isn’t great.
“I suppose after he hit them then, only for Niall O’Leary went down, he kind of threw a knee at him as well to follow up from the belt.
“It’s not a good look and because the ref didn’t see it, he will be open to being cited and he may get, I presume, maybe a two-game ban. But it’s not a good look for Séamus. Who knows what was being said beforehand? But there’s no place for that in the game.”
Limerick, who begin their quest for a seventh straight Munster SHC title against Tipp on April 20, started their season with a 1-16 apiece draw on Leeside.
O’Dwyer added: “He’s open to a suspension now, which will dampen his expectations of maybe getting into the first round of the Championship team because if he misses two or three games, that puts him under pressure to get back in there.”
The emergence of Shane O’Brien and Adam English has increased the competition for places in the Limerick attack.
Patrick O’Donovan also impressed by landing four points, three from play, against Cork.
Former Banner midfielder Baker said: “Limerick have an awful lot of good forwards. They have an awful lot of different styles of forwards as well.
“If they move towards an open, expansive passing game out in the middle third, they might see that there’s no real need for a big man like Flanagan inside in the full-forward line.
“And that could be very frustrating. He’s probably seeing all these different permutations as well as to how teams can be picked and just might be on the wrong end of selection when it comes around to the Championship.
“Definitely you need to be playing league hurling and you need to be getting some game-time under your belt.
“If you’re missing because of suspension, that definitely puts you behind the eight ball when it comes to Limerick having their best team out come the Munster Championship.”
