RTÉ GAA analyst Brendan Cummins believes that the chasing Munster pack have managed to bridge the physical gap that John Kiely's Limerick had held over them in recent seasons.
One of the main takeaways from the Treaty’s run of four All-Ireland crowns over the last five years has been their sheer ability to physically dominate opponents, but for five-time All-Star Cummins, that advantage has slipped and has resulted in a high-octane, highly-competitive Munster round-robin series.
Limerick’s season will be on the line next weekend as, following Sunday’s dramatic draw with Tipperary, defeat at home to Cork would leave them out of the running no matter what happens between Waterford and Tipperary in the other fixture.
"I think the physical strength of the rest has caught up a little bit, to be fair," Cummins said on RTÉ's Morning Ireland.
"The strength and conditioning, when you see Limerick players a year or two ago when they got the ball in the middle third, Will O’Donoghue was breaking the line and getting through whereas now they're being pushed sideways and sometimes even backwards.
"They’re trying to play over teams and I think that’s what caught them yesterday.
"Tipperary are extremely good stickmen, when they’re in possession they ping the ball around. Out of possession, normally when a guy comes to you to hand-pass it over your head, for example, the defender will dangle a hurley. Tipperary, they dangle with purpose and they can break and intercept the pass.
"Limerick have come back slightly, but the rest have caught up really, which is the big story here."
Highlights of Limerick's pulsating draw with Tipperary in the Munster Senior Hurling Championship
The legendary Tipperary goalkeeper is not writing Limerick’s obituary just yet though, and he fully expects them to be front and centre at the business end of the season.
"To their great credit, Limerick, down to 14 men yesterday when Barry Nash was sent off, they still stayed in the fight and it took Tipperary everything they had – John McGrath, a last puck of the game free to draw.
"Limerick are going nowhere. I would expect them to beat Cork next weekend at the Gaelic Grounds and guess what? They’ll still be in the championship after all the trials and tribulations of Munster."
Meanwhile, Cummins has paid tribute to all involved with Westmeath after their stunning comeback win over Wexford.
The result means that if the Model County lose to Kilkenny in the final round of fixtures and Antrim defeat Westmeath, Wexford will be relegated to the Joe McDonagh Cup.
"There's two way at looking at this. One is to bemoan the fact that Wexford have come back as far as they have I suppose in the last number of years.
"I’d rather look at it in the job that Joe Fortune has done in Westmeath. They drew with Wexford last year, they gave them 17 points of a start this year and I suppose when Wexford missed a penalty you’d say 'ah sure look it, they’re still going to run out winners here.’
"In fairness to Westmeath, the performance they put up in the finish up, to get back and get those couple of points ahead and hold on, was just absolutely fantastic."
