Limerick's heavy defeat by Offaly in Sunday's NHL had the unusual effect of rendering manager Eamonn Cregan temporarily at a loss for words. "Disgraceful is the only word to describe it and I won't add any more," he was reported as saying after the 1-14 to 0-7 defeat in Birr.

By yesterday his mood hadn't improved a great deal despite an acknowledgment that heavy defeats at this time of the year aren't the end of the world - as Cregan himself knows from three years ago when Offaly, under his management, lost to Galway by 1-28 to 1-1.

"We hit 15 wides, struck the upright three times and dropped four shots short into the goalkeeper," he said about Sunday's match. "We managed seven points and went about half an hour without scoring in the middle of the game. It was a very sobering feeling leaving the pitch."

The match was Limerick's first real test of the League after beating Antrim comfortably on the first day of the campaign and having a bye two weeks ago. Offaly were coming off a thrashing from Galway and a surprise defeat by Antrim in Loughgiel. There was little to suggest that last Sunday's match was going to be insurmountable for the visitors.

"We picked a team which we thought could beat Offaly," says Cregan, "and for the first quarter we were very competitive. We were 0-4 to 0-3 up but it took one of our players so long to clear a ball that he was blocked and it ended with John Troy scoring a goal.

"Suddenly they began to dominate and when we were trying to come back, we put ball after ball wide and you could see the heart was going out of our players. Then the ball was being dropped into their goalkeeper, in there on his own, and he had all the time he needed to send it right back down the pitch.

"There was no problem down the middle but on the wings we had problems. Fellas were wanting the ball thrown out to them but weren't willing to work to get it. Shane O'Neill was winning ball at centre forward but no one was breaking in behind him. Three balls came back off the upright and Offaly backs were waiting for them. We just didn't anticipate at all."

Cregan started the current League campaign wanting to develop new talent for the county. The team which won two Munster titles and narrowly lost All-Ireland finals needs to be rebuilt. Given Limerick's poor under-age record since winning an All-Ireland under-21 title 12 years ago, there have to be reservations about the pool of talent available.

"I am happy the players we have are good enough and are the best we have," says Cregan, "but they must realise they have a lot to do for the Waterford match (first-round of the championship). If they don't, they're no use to us. I sincerely hope they realise how bad they were against Offaly because if not, they're going nowhere.

"I believe the players have the ability to do well in the Munster championship but not the way they played yesterday. We have been watching them through the club championship, Oireachtas and South East League matches.

"About eight of the 28 are under-21s, all of them can hurl and have good stickwork but they're a bit inexperienced. Those eight are the long-term future of the team. Others have to change the way they play which is difficult and takes time and even then you can't change them completely. But I'm not looking for individuals to play better, I want the team as a unit to improve."

Experience last year has made Cregan wary of the League. Limerick performed well during the regulation matches and reached the semi-finals where they went down heavily to the emerging Waterford. At the time, there was ambivalence in Limerick about the result. The county was to face Cork in the Munster first round at the end of May, just two weeks after the League final.

Cregan had no desire to stage a dress rehearsal for the championship. "It was a bit unreal. We didn't want to show our hand too soon. Players were wondering: `do we really want to win this'? That's the wrong way to go into a match."

He admits that he's unsure whether that semi-final defeat demoralised the team for the championship meeting with Cork. Similarly he wonders about the effect of last Sunday.

"It's a good question but we have players with All-Ireland medals - schools and intermediate - and I think they can take the ups and downs. Young players have a tremendous ability to recover. I thought we would win on Sunday but it's better to see things now than three weeks before the Munster championship."

Provincial champions Clare are next on the list in Limerick's League campaign. It's a fixture that shouldn't leave players short of motivation.

"If that doesn't stir the blood, nothing will but there's a lot of hard work to do," concludes Cregan. "If you were in our dressingroom afterwards, you'd have heard the total silence. We're back in training on Tuesday and we'll have a chat and see if the players have any ideas about what went wrong. Maybe we did too much work last week but that's a side-issue really. Anyway, I'm glad it happened on Sunday rather than on May 30th."