STEPPING STONES
League is ideal preparation for shot at history, insists Byrnes
BEFORE Diarmaid Byrnes gets to the ‘elephant in the room’ — that’s Limerick bid for a record five in a row of senior hurling All-Irelands crowns — there’s the not so trifling matter of defending the county’s Allianz Hurling League title.
The nature of the condensed inter-county season now means that one competition bleeds into the other. When Limerick comfortably brushed aside Kilkenny last April at Páirc Uí Chaoimh, the common consensus was that the rest of the country was playing for second in terms of the Liam MacCarthy Cup. Yet 20 days later that narrative was turned on its head when Clare turned over the Munster, All-Ireland and League champions at home in round two of the Munster roundrobin championship.
Byrnes though doesn’t go along with the theory that winning a National League title somehow undermined Limerick’s Championship preparations — or that a different approach is needed this year.
‘It’s not as if the League undermined… Jesus, we were absolutely thrilled. You should have seen the dressing room down below in Cork. We’re not undermining anything. That was my third League title but that was just as important as the first one. I was just as thrilled to win it.
‘It’s how you mind yourself, manage yourself. We’re not going off on a two or three day celebration after winning that. We’re not going mad. We’re well-grounded lads.’
So no, it wasn’t as if a bunch of players that have created a dynasty since winning a first All-Ireland for Limerick in 45 years back in 2018, somehow lost the run of themselves. The simple truth about the Munster Championship is that it’s damn hard. Limerick only squeezed through into the final by virtue of a onepoint win over Cork in the last round — when a run of different results that same day could have seen them exit the race for AllIreland glory. Instead, they used that win as a platform to win Munster and a fourth MacCarthy Cup. Byrnes, who spent a portion of last winter in Dubai, was one of the stars of Limerick’s remarkable tour de force in the second half of the AllIreland final against Kilkenny. His longrange point-taking with a swirling wind blowing through Croke Park was so impressive and he admits that from a Limerick viewpoint, that period when they hit 10 of the next 11 scores after Kilkenny had goaled was up there with the best ever period of hurling from this great team.
‘In a period probably yeah, definitely up there. The passages of play and stuff like that is something we go after but I suppose you don’t want to be playing just for 10 minutes in an All-Ireland final.’
Which leads, invariably, to talk of how Limerick are going to handle the weight of history as they look to become the first team in hurling to win five straight All-Irelands.
‘People will say what they want to say about it. It’s talking points for the media, discussions at the kitchen table — for us it’s all good to be in those discussions. We could be on the opposite and noone talking about us which sometimes is good as well.
‘We haven’t really addressed it much. Obviously it’s there but I think we’re well experienced now with backroom team management and players to take it week on week. It’s important to enjoy the year ahead, enjoy the challenge, enjoy being with each other.
‘There’s no extra meetings going on, there’s no one climbing walls…
‘I’m personally not dwelling on it, no. I haven’t played any game this year because in the Munster League we were trying lads and the Cork game was postponed there and then eventually cancelled so I’m hoping to get some game time this weekend in the first round of the League.
‘The magnitude of it? It is out there, it’s the elephant in the room, and it’s going to be a discussion point for family, friends, media.
A notable element of the Limerick success story relates to Byrnes’ club Patrickswell who have three different hurlers honoured as Hurler of the Year — Cian Lynch in 2018, 2021, Byrnes in 2022 and Aaron Gillane in 2023.
Has that level of achievement sunk in?
‘In the club and around the community, yes. But the three of us are honestly the most easygoing lads when it comes to stuff like that.
‘I suppose it’s an Irish thing with regards to self-recognition — I don’t know if we see it as
“I was thrilled to win my third League”
“I’m not dwelling on five in a row”
cockiness and we just ignore it.
‘But it is unbelievable for the club. There’s no point hiding it. But those three lads now are back in Rathkeale killing one another at the moment so we well know that it’s in the past.
‘Aaron’s is obviously the most relevant and I hope his family and stuff are still enjoying it, because it’s well deserved. But it’s kind of in the past. It’s there, it’s in history.’
As the 2024 season cranks up, Limerick go in search of some more history of their own.