IT’S JUST A GAME
Byrnes plays down the importance of clash with Galway
LIMERICK defender Diarmuid Byrnes thinks defeat to Galway this Sunday and missing out on promotion once again would not be a disaster for the Treaty men.
The two unbeaten teams in Division 1B of the hurling league face off in the promotion decider at Pearse Stadium, with the AllIreland champions eager to avoid a third straight year in the second tier, while Limerick hope to join the country’s top teams for the first time since 2011.
Plotting the downfall of the AllIreland champions on their own patch, which would be their first loss in a little over 12 months, is an enjoyable exercise for John Kiely’s side, but according to Byrnes they are keen to not build up the challenge too much.
‘We started out, our first day, on the 30th of December in Cork in the Munster League and since then we haven’t lost a match. We’ve got that winning mentality so going in against Galway on Sunday, we haven’t lost a game yet,’ said Byrnes.
‘For me personally it’s just another game. You can’t think too much about it or else you’ll drive yourself crazy. There’s promotion on the line for 1A and it’s something we’ve been driving for over the last couple of years, no point denying it.
‘It’s a massive challenge. Galway are deservedly All-Ireland champions. They won the League, they’re League champions and also the Leinster champions. So the respect is there for them but you won’t have too much respect for them on Sunday as you cross the white line.
‘It won’t be a disaster [if we lose]; it’s something we’re looking forward to now. You’d have long-term goals, short-term goals. Longterm we have been aiming for this. ‘We knew if we put in the performances we would have been where we are now, but it’s something we’re looking forward to, we’ll embrace it.’ For a youngster in Patrickswell there were plenty of legendary hurling figures to look to in the parish growing up. As an aspirational half-back, Ciarán Carey was the obvious role model for Byrnes and he cites his famous point in the 1996 Munster final as a real memory growing up. Coincidentally, Carey scored that point after he fielded a long puck-out from Clare goalkeeper Davy Fitzgerald, and Byrnes also points to the influence that the current Wexford manager has had on his career. Now in his third year of a marketing management degree in Limerick IT, the Fitzgibbon Cup has paired Byrnes with Fitzgerald. He says both Fitzgerald and Carey have influenced his game. ‘Working under Davy, yeah. It’s exciting, he’s a gas man. People have a perception of Davy, you’d see him on the sideline and things, but he is an actual gentleman. He is very approachable. You can just have a chat with him any day, you can give him a buzz any day, he is dead on. ‘I remember when I went in to him in first year, he gave me a few things to work on. I was nothing only pure direct hurling, just belting ball. I remember when I came on to the panel first, he gave me a few things, he told me to tweak and work on. When I came on the panel first he was with Clare but he wouldn’t be totally against you or biased just because I’m with Limerick, which is great. He’d help you out as well.
‘I remember that point in ’96 in the Munster final in the Gaelic Grounds and stuff like that. Just watching clips from it now, Ciarán was definitely someone I looked up to too,’ said Byrnes (left).
‘He was manager in 2015 when we got to the county final. We had a fantastic year that year, we narrowly missed out, Na Piarsaigh beat us by a point.’
There have been plenty of false dawns for Limerick hurling in recent years.
Carey was there when they were robbed by Offaly in the miracle comeback of 1994, while the three All-Ireland Under 21 titles in a row from 2000 suggested the good times were just around the corner.
Kiely now has another crop of successful youngsters to work with. Several minor, U21 and Fitzgibbon Cup medals are littered around the dressing room and they are still without their decorated Na Piarsaigh contingent, who are in the throes of their preparations to face Cuala in the club All-Ireland final on St Patrick’s Day. Byrnes is excited by the potential that exists in every corner of their squad.
‘We travelled to Antrim without the [UL players] at the weekend, there was five or six of them lads, Gearoid Hegarty, Sean Finn, Barry Nash, Kyle Hayes, Michael Casey, Ronan Lynch.
‘It shows the strength in depth in our panel as well that we could travel to Antrim without them lads and without the Na Piarsaigh lads and still get a fantastic result above in Antrim, beating them comfortably. There’s certainly a buzz around Limerick having certain teams.
‘We’ve lots of new players and they’ve really settled into the role. John had the bulk of us at 21s level in 2015 and he was involved in 2013 with the lads when they won the Munster Championship.
‘It does take time to see what way the team suits, what way you want to play but, again this year, the results show we’re flying it in matches.
‘We haven’t lost a game yet and we’re almost in March now so we’re going well.’