BROWNE PUTS HIS EGO TO ONE SIDE
ACOUPLE of minutes into a conversation with Paul Browne and it’s easy to see why he has been rolled out for Limerick’s All-Ireland hurling final media night. It’s also apparent why he is an unofficial member of the backroom team.
By rights, he shouldn’t be here at all. Not after rupturing his cruciate knee ligament in a club game the week after the final round defeat against Clare in the Munster round robin, a twist of fate that ended his summer — at least in a strict hurling sense.
But he wanted to stay involved and manager John Kiely wanted him on board.
His force of personality and upbeat nature means that he has remained a motivating force within the group.
His selflessness is the thing that strikes, that he would give anything to see Limerick lift the Liam MacCarthy Cup for the first time since 1973 this Sunday. Even when the question is posed to him in stark terms: if, at the start of the season, he had been offered Limerick winning the All-Ireland but that he’d miss it due to a cruciate injury, would he have taken it?
‘One hundred per cent I’d have taken it. I’m not lying, no. One hundred per cent I’d have taken it.
‘We had a bit of a meeting the Thursday night after I had the operation. I hobbled in to it. I said to the boys, “I don’t care that I’m not playing; I just want us to win the game.” If someone had given me that offer in January, I’d have taken it. That’s a fact.’
Now 28, he knows that time has shaped his answer. ‘It would have been different when I was younger. That’s the truth of it. I wish now, looking back to when I was younger, I wish I had the same outlook on hurling that I have now. I used to hate going to winter training. I didn’t enjoy the gym too much. Now I love going training, I love togging out, togging in, taking my shake, small simple things like having the craic with the boys.
‘I wish I had that outlook then because I would have enjoyed my hurling 10 times more.
‘I would say to them [younger players], “Enjoy it as much as you can. Soak in every minute of it.” Even the bad days can be good days because you can take something from everything. I really wish for the first few years of my career that I’d done that.’
The timing of his injury couldn’t have been much worse, coming as Limerick headed for the AllIreland series and landmark victories over Kilkenny — a first since the ’73 final — and Cork at Croke Park. Of course there have been moments when it’s dawned on him just how much he’s missing.
Cian Lynch and Darragh O’Donovan’s form has been such that they have been the go-to men in midfield with William O’Donoghue coming in off the bench, but experience would have clearly stood to Browne in attempting to break back into the starting 15 after also featuring in the Munster campaign.
‘The morning of the Kilkenny game was a different scenario. It was a huge game, a quarter-final, there was a nice buzz around the place — we were in a good place. I’ve barely picked a hurley up since. I was doing a bit of pucking in training. Doing a bit of pucking in training with Brian [Geary] and went over on it again so I put the hurley away quickly enough after that.
‘That’s a strange sensation alright not to be packing your bag. I’d be meticulous enough about packing my bag the night before — double and triple checking it. It’s weird not to have to go through that scenario. I’m like a supporter with the best seat in the house.’
He looks at footballer Bernard Brogan’s return from a similar injury in a time span of roughly 23 weeks to feature for Dublin this summer and describes that sort of timeframe for recovery as ‘phenomenal’. He is aiming more for a return in late spring next year.
‘The day after the surgery was tough going, I won’t lie. You are lying at home trying to do your exercises and you are telling your leg to move, and it won’t move. So that’s a difficult sensation to go through, but I wanted to be part of it, and I had no part of it if I was sulking so I said I better cop myself on and keep going.
‘I was just wondering how do I go from not being able to lift my leg off the ground to think about going back playing inter-county hurling next year. So it just feels like an impossibility at the time. But a bit of help over the first few days and I’m doing everything by myself now, and it’s incredible how quick it comes on.’
His match day role against Galway will be the same loose one he has had to this point. ‘I go in to the boys at half-time. If I’m seeing any patterns, I’ll talk to Darragh and Cian and Will there at midfield and say, this is happening or that is happening.
‘They’ll say, “Look, I’m trying to do this or that, what do you think?” hopping off each other. The players and management have been fantastic in including me.
‘[Strength and conditioning coach] Joe O’Connor was away for a week there — he was climbing in Peru — so I set out covering for him for a couple of days. Every little helps. I’m trying to do as much as I can to keep the boys in good form.’