Munster rugby’s role in Limerick’s hurling revival
IT’S fair to say the road which David Reidy has gone to an All-Ireland SHC final with Limerick is the one less travelled.
Dropped by John Kiely when he took the Treaty reins last year, Reidy didn’t have to think twice when an invitation came his way from Kildare hurling boss Joe Quaid to join them.
With a host of Limerick’s All-Ireland U-21 winners coming through the ranks, being left out in the cold after four years “was disappointing but I had to take it on the chin and go away and think of why he didn’t want me and to work on those things.”
The calls from Kiely and Quaid came about six weeks apart so the offer was “a nice pick-up” and with a job in Kildare where he works as a primary school teacher in Rathcoffey, the door was opened to switch county.
Reidy (right) “didn’t know what to expect” when he arrived to his first Kildare training, but was pleasantly surprised that “the professionalism is the same” and it wasn’t a shock to him when they won the Christy Ring Cup earlier this year.
While no silverware was garnered during his season with them, he “thoroughly enjoyed it” and wasn’t treated differently to any of the natives. “The Kildare boys were down to earth, and they’d bring you down to earth fairly quick if you weren’t pulling your weight. They didn’t build you up as something more than you were,” says Reidy.
“John Mulhall (All-Ireland winner with Kilkenny) was in there as well and it was great to learn from him, we had good craic for the year with him. But no, you’re definitely not built up to more than you are.” With talented youngsters like Jack Sheridan, Brian Byrne and James Burke in their ranks, Reidy sees no reason why Kildare can’t break hurling’s glass ceiling in the coming years and ascend to the top tier, in spite of not being promoted after their Christy Ring success.
Being away from the Limerick hurling scene “might have been the kick I needed to get back in” as he admits he needed to work on his “mentality more than hurling” and it came as a shock when Kiely’s number flashed up on his phone last winter.
Had it not, who knows where he would be now. “I don’t know what I’d be doing,” he reflects. “I always wanted to get back in and if I weren’t here I’d be trying to get back in, whatever that involves.”
Few before him have hurled with their native county, moved to an adopted county and returned to don their home colours again – let alone enjoy the build-up to an All-Ireland decider – but Reidy is getting used to blazing a trail of his own.
Should the Dromin Athlacca attacker play a part in Sunday’s final against Galway, he will be his club’s first representative to do so and if he is called into action, it’s likely to be in the dying minutes, as was the case in their epic semi-final victory over Cork after extra-time.
Reidy – a Fitzgibbon Cup winner with Mary Immaculate College in 2016 and captain of Charleville CBS when they reached the Harty Cup final in 2011 – was barely on the pitch when he fired a point but his game-time has been confined to brief cameos and that requires patience given the outstanding quality of players around him with the likes
Shane Dowling and Peter Casey all vying for places in attack.
“You have to be patient, especially with this squad, so any chance you get you have to go and grab it with two hands. I was lucky I came on for the last couple of minutes against Cork but it could have been anyone, and it could be anyone the next day,” he said.
“Patience plays a big part, particularly with the squad we have. There are fellas who haven’t played much hurling this year who are brilliant hurlers, you have to make sure you take the chance when you get it. “It is a different challenge being on the bench, but one I got used to over the year. The subs had a massive impact against Cork and gave a great lift to the lads still playing, to give that extra few per cent.”
Reidy and Co will be hoping that they can repeat the trick on Sunday.