NICKIE QUAID AGREES with Declan Hannon that 2022 was Limerick’s toughest All-Ireland title but for different reasons.

Hannon reflected more on the series of one-score victories over Waterford, Clare, Galway, and Kilkenny that got them there. Quaid gives more consideration to the injuries chipping away at their squad along the way.

“It’s hard to know. Each year is always different. Maybe it was the most difficult in terms of when you are picking up injuries and down bodies. At the end of it, it was very satisfying to get over the line when you had faced those things.

“Taking someone like Cian [Lynch] out of the team for a while was a huge blow to us, obviously, but the strength of the group, it’s a credit to the lads that came in to fill his void because it is not easy trying to do that.

“John [Kiely] would speak about this a bit; these things happen in sport and you just have to get on with it. It’s up to the next fella then to do his job, no matter who it is. Cian obviously had his injuries but it was just next person in to step up and try to fill that void. That’s what you have your panel for.

“It keeps everything and everyone so honest in the group that you know on any given day that any member of the panel can step in and everyone trusts them fully to do a job. That’s a credit to John and the backroom team and what they have created in terms of the strength of the group.

“We have faced challenges before, different things have come against us, be it injuries or being down in games, and that gives you confidence, having been in that situation before and you have got out of it. You know how to deal with it. That’s probably what real confidence is; that deep down you know you have the bodies there and you trust them no matter who they are to do a job.”

The All-Star goalkeeper has seen a huge change in his time between the posts for Limerick. Not just in going from years of disappointment to near-annual homecomings, but in terms of how the game is played.

For Quaid, however, the evolution in puck-out strategy has meant a greater change for numbers 10 to 15.

“Puck-outs is definitely the biggest thing that has changed. The game has gone possession-based. But that’s not down to the goalkeeper, the goalkeeper probably has a very minute part to play in that.

“It’s more so the movement and positioning of the forwards. Things like that have a bigger bearing on the puck-out because it’s great saying the goalie can put it into space here and space there but if lads aren’t creating the space or making the runs there’s very little the goalie can do really. It’s more the outfield players than anything.

“That’s the biggest change. There’s more of an emphasis put on possession and keeping the ball than just getting the ball as far away from your own goal as possible and taking your chances from there.”

That mindset helps to ease any sense of pressure on Quaid when he stands on the endline with ball in hand.

“I don’t see it as a pressure. Internally, maybe, because it is something you maybe work on more than you did before. And when you put the work into it then on the training field and it’s not happening on game day, that’s probably the most disappointing part of it.

“But when you do put the work in and it does work out on game day, that’s probably the most satisfying part of it for me.

“The saves and things, they are great when they come, but it’s something you can’t control whereas you know you are going to get a set number of puck-outs in games.”

Quaid is back in pre-season training now. He was speaking before the retirement of his long-time back-up keeper Barry Hennessy and that camaraderie will take some replacing.

It can be a slog at this time of year working in such an isolated position, although he appreciates the continuity offered by goalkeeping coach Timmy Houlihan.

“Most of our training would be done amongst the goalies, unless they need to integrate us in doing something like playing a game, but most of it would be done separate to the squad.

“Sometimes it can be lonely down at the other end of the field when all the other lads are up the other end together, that’s just part and parcel of the position.

“It’s the same in games. It’s nearly an individual position in a sense, at times. It’s so different, there’s no point in doing all the training the forwards would be doing or anything like that.

“The training is position-based, which it has to be. It’s like in professional soccer, the goalkeepers work separately, they don’t be doing a lot of the stuff the outfield players do.”

No wonder it’s the group dynamic that Quaid cherishes the most.

“I do look forward to getting back in with the lads. Of course, there are times there, especially when the weather is like this, you’d be sitting at home thinking, I’m not looking forward to going training. But, deep down, you still are looking forward to going and meeting the lads.

“Every year is like a new slate. When you go back, no matter how good it finished for you last year, you are basically starting again at zero and you have to try and put your best foot forward. Every year brings up its different challenges and stuff like that. What you have done last year isn’t really going to stand for anything going into next year.”

That’s what Limerick do better than anyone these days: wipe the slate clean and go again.