YOU CAN’T KEEP A GOOD CLUB DOWNES
Na Piarsaigh and Kevin flying high
FROM flirting to stay in the senior grade a decade ago, Na Piarsaigh are within sight of a second All-ireland club hurling title in three years.
Kevin Downes is only 26 but has been there throughout the transition from borderline senior outfit to four-time county and Munster champions, with the All-ireland final win over Cushendall two years ago the crowning glory.
Saturday’s decider against Cuala, who succeeded the Limerick city club as national champions last year, has all the makings of a classic after years of several lop-sided finals.
“When I came onto the senior panel in 2008, that year the whole ambition was winning one game, to stay senior,” reflects Downes, who was only 16 back then. “Getting to the county semi-final? Forget about it. It was light years away.
“They had never won a county title. In the early 2000s they had come close. They had lost semi-finals.
“You’d sit down at watch All-ireland finals on Paddy’s Day on TV at home and you weren’t even thinking, ‘I’d love to be there’. It was just light years away.
“Ballyhale and Newtownshandrum were starting to come on, it was just a different world.
“Then Sean Stack came in in 2009 and we got to a county final. One of his first nights, we were training in January and he said, ‘Right, we’re going to win the Munster club this year’.
“We were looking around saying, ‘What is this fella talking about?’ It’s funny how it kicked on.”
Still in his mid-20s, Downes even has to put up with ribbing for being one of the elder statesmen.
“None have kids, none under pressure from the girlfriend anyway. We’re at a stage in the panel where I’m 26 and lads would be slagging me that I’m old.
“Peter Casey there was out in the snow, he couldn’t have been happier, he was running around like a young calf.
“That crew of us working, of that age, then a crew finishing college, another crew in college.
“Good mix, but no-one really struggling to get the time, and there’s no one working away, apart from David Breen,” he adds in reference to the former Limerick player who works as a physio for rugby outfit Wasps in England.
A notable trend with Na Piarsaigh is that they’ve won county and provincial titles every second year from 2011 on, with valley seasons in between.
The aftermath of the 2016 All-ireland win saw a particularly pronounced drop in fortunes as they failed to even emerge from the round robin stage in Limerick.
“It was a disaster,” admits Downes who will link back up with the Limerick panel in the coming weeks.
It underlines why Cuala’s achievement in reaching successive All-ireland finals is so impressive.
Downes adds: “I’m not trying to butter them up, but to come back two years in-a-row is a remarkable achievement.
“Winning Dublin is no mean feat, winning Leinster is no mean feat – it’s a long road back, testament to their ability to keep hungry, keep fresh.”