HAVE A SCAN AROUND this morning and you’ll see all the harmonious messages, the ones prioritising the unit above the individual, the values that shape the unprecedented success of the Limerick hurling team.
Keep a keen eye out all the same for the tell-tale signs. Success has a way of bathing a team in a glorious sepia at the moment of triumph. Only a fool would believe that petty jealousies and resentments, unhappiness about pecking orders, does not exist around and within this Limerick team.
This summer, they have already proven they are the greatest edition of a county hurling team ever. The chances are they will confirm that beyond all doubt with a five-in-a-row of Liam MacCarthy titles.
To do that, you need a squad of players that are ravenously competitive. Not just against the opposition, but among each other.
This time last year, Cathal O’Neill was coming off the bench on 58 minutes and shooting two points in the closing stages of the Munster final when Limerick really, really needed them.
A year before, he started at centre-forward, again clipping over 0-2 from play before being taken off, freakishly coincidentally, on 58 minutes.
So what does it feel like? Better to win one off the bench or starting? Any difference?
“One hundred per cent,” says the Crecora-Manister clubman.
“Any player I suppose would be lying if you didn’t say it. Being part of the team and contributing to it means a hell of a lot, but there’s 36 lads in there and we train so hard every night, and I suppose it means everything to us.”
Where Limerick are now needs careful husbandry. They have had their challenges and not everything has been perfect.
While the league was going on, they had to deal with the emotional drain that the Kyle Hayes trial had. It wouldn’t have been insignificant.
Then, there are the injuries. While they have not had Darragh O’Donovan through a calf injury that is taking a long time to heal, the loss of Peter Casey in scoring a goal against Tipperary and in spritely form, was a sickener.
Now, you or I or the man in the street could name around 11 or 12 of Limerick’s starting team. But there’s always a few places to be scrapped for around the fringes.
If we look for parallels or similar situations, where best to consult only the autobiographies of the Kilkenny hurlers that served under Brian Cody?
One message came through the books of Jackie Tyrrell, Henry Shefflin and Eoin Larkin; Cody cared little for the team being settled, but he desired a settled spirit.
Take for example what he said at the GAA’s Annual Coaching Conference, back in 2007 when Kilkenny were at the absolute height of their powers.
“People say that a settled team is everything. I would never worry about a settled team,” said Cody.
“I would certainly have an obsession with having a settled spirit, a settled honesty, a settled drive, a settled workrate, a settled savagery to win – call it what you like.”
The same thing is there in Limerick.
Cathal O’Neill again; “It’s really hard, because there’s a core group there from 2017, 2015, 2018 and I suppose I’m pushing on now, but we are trying to make our stamp on the team.
“I suppose it just shows how hard we train and how much trust the management team have with everyone. When boys go down it’s the next man and it’s as simple as that. Everyone tries to do their job to the best of their ability and thankfully that paid off again today.
“Everyone wants to play and it’s really tough, but every night at training you’ve got to put your hand up and hopefully John and the management team put their trust in you.”
He adds, “I suppose if you are not hungry, the next lad will take your place so we have no choice, and sure why would we?
“Limerick as a whole; we haven’t won a whole lot over the years so we want to win as much as we can while we can and keep ploughing on.”
Another skill required while on such a long road is to make the successes worth it.
When the LA Lakers were dominating the NBA under Pat Riley, eventually their crown slipped because Riley’s demands got so steep. It ended up that winning individual games were not allowed to be greeted with satisfaction. There would be champagne at the end of the NBA Finals, and nothing until then.
The GAA has an in-built release valve of the provincial titles. It means a great deal for Limerick to win the Mick Mackey Cup.
“We’ll celebrate it today and tomorrow, said Barry Nash afterwards, “but we’ll be back on the training field on Wednesday night ready to go again for a few weeks’ time.”
How they do it, is like eating an elephant; one bite at a time, according to O’Neill.
“When the lines are drawn after 2023 it’s a new chapter and a new year, and we just want to win silverware this year, that’s our main focus,” he says.
“We want to win match by match, get to finals and we want to win finals and that’s our main focus every year and every day we go out on the training pitch. It’s just to get better and better, and I think we got better again today and I think it was probably one of our best performances of the year, so it was really pleasing.”
Say it softly, for it might break the hearts of those chasing and pursuing. But there is the possibility that Limerick could be getting even better, heading for their peak when they show up in Croke Park.
An unsettled team, with a settled spirit.
