Gearoid Hegarty believes that Limerick's remarkable Munster SHC victory over Clare was down to the strength and depth of the squad.
Hegarty also believes that the nature of his side’s second-half fightback illustrates just how fierce competition for places with the All-Ireland champions is.
Limerick appeared to be in real trouble in Ennis on Sunday as Clare stretched their five-point half-time advantage to nine by the 52nd minute when resuming with five of the first six points.
However, Limerick produced an incredible fightback as three goals in the space of seven minutes from Diarmaid Byrnes, Donnacha Ó Dalaigh and Aaron Gillane completed a twelve-point turnaround.
Speaking to RTÉ Sport, Hegarty was proud of the way his side battled back from the brink and paid tribute to the likes of Ó Dalaigh, Conor Boylan and Adam English who came in off the bench to help turn things around.
He said: "If you take the emotion of yesterday, although it was a brilliant day in a massive rivalry between Limerick and Clare, the most important thing is we were able to put points on the board.
"It’s a massive confidence boost for the squad because of how important the lads coming off the bench were. When we were in a bit of a hole, they came on and had a massive impact on the game and got us out of that hole.
"I’m looking forward to going training tomorrow night because it gives everybody a massive lift when there’s 20 lads involved in such a big win, it gives other lads a lift.
"It was obviously a brilliant day for the squad."
Hegarty added that the growing competition for places in the squad is helping to ensure that everyone has to perform to the highest standards at all times.
"It goes without saying that there’s a massive competition for places all across the whole team and that’s one of our greatest strengths, that we do have such a strong panel.
"You know yourself that you can’t take your eye off the ball or your foot off the pedal otherwise you’ll find yourself sitting on the bench.
"It’s up to you to keep putting yourself in the position to get the starting jersey."
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Watch a hurling double-header, Galway v Kilkenny in the Leinster Championship (2pm) and Limerick v Tipperary in the Munster Championship (4pm), on Sunday on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player, follow a live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app and listen to live commentary on Sunday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1
