Former Limerick captain Donal O'Grady has expressed his disappointment at their second half collapse against Waterford on Sunday.
It's after the Shannonsiders were outscored 3-12 to 1-6 by the defending champions in the second half of their league semi-final clash in Thurles.
According to today's Irish Examiner, O'Grady claims he simply didn't see it coming.
He was also full of praise for the Deise's sweeper system, saying that it's more advanced than the system Limerick are trying to implement.
O'Grady insists Limerick had to come up with a strategy to counteract Waterford's system.
He said: "In fairness to TJ (Ryan), Limerick had to come up with something to counteract Waterford. I thought in the first half we were marginally better but that's the first time we've seen Limerick play that sort of style. Waterford are into year three of that system and you could see they were better able to handle it over the 70 minutes."
Meanwhile he believes a man-to-man strategy wouldn't have worked either.
He added: "If you go man on man, you're going to end up with five backs, which is exactly what the opposition wants. If you're in Thurles, Limerick or Croke Park, there's a lot space with six backs not to mind playing with five
"In the modern game, it's a dangerous one to play."
