Kirszenstein added polish to Tipperary’s quest for silverware
DURING the odd pause between all the singsongs in Tipperary this past week, there should have been time to reflect on the legacy that Eamon O’Shea had left their hurlers. It wasn’t just evidence in Séamus Callanan’s mesmerising performance in Croke Park, it was also clear in the power and physique of their players as they outKilkennyed Kilkenny in almost every scrum and ruck that developed last Sunday afternoon.
O’Shea’s cerebral touch was all over the movement of the Tipperary forwards last weekend but to take down an empire and claim the county’s 27th AllIreland title, they needed steel as much as the sublime gifts of Callanan, ‘Bubbles’ O’Dwyer and John McGrath. And one of those responsible for inserting some iron into the Tipperary frames is someone who grew up, oblivious to the tradition of Premier hurling but was drafted in to help Tipperary by O’Shea back in the autumn of 2012.
Unlike the players he moulded into shape over the past four years, Lukasz Kirszenstein did not have a hurley in his cradle as a baby. Indeed, the Polish native knew very little of Ireland’s national game when he became Tipperary’s strength and conditioning coach in 2012.
But he knows all about hurling now. And his education has been fun. He had been part of the Tipp backroom for two seasons when the team engaged in that classic All-Ireland final draw with Kilkenny in 2014. The story goes that Kirzenstein turned to the team physiotherapist John Casey at the end of that breathless encounter and said: ‘I thought I knew this game, now I get it.’
Kirszenstein, from the Polish city of Poznan, settled in Adare a few years ago. His first introduction to Irish sport was with an internship with the Munster rugby academy, as their strength and conditioning coach. At the same time, he worked with Limerick’s Under 21 squad – his first introduction to hurling. As well as working with Tipp this season, he is also training Limerick club South Liberties.
However, it wasn’t until he was coaxed into the Tipperary set-up by O’Shea that he got a true taste for the game. Kirszenstein’s reputation was growing with his work with Munster rugby – he coached the Munsterbased players on the Irish women’s team for two years.
He has taken what he has learned in rugby to Tipperary. He has worked with all the Tipp players in one-on-one sessions, tailoring their conditioning training to each player’s specific needs.
Before the final, Pádraic Maher highlighted Kirszenstein’s work as one of the reasons he has been more mobile around the pitch this year – and that combination of mobility and Maher’s natural power was seen in his 50th minute point that was perhaps the clinching score in last weekend’s triumph.
‘A lot of the other years I have concentrated on lifting a lot of weights when I worked with trainers,’ Maher explained. ‘That was fine but we have changed our exercises where it is a lot more explosive which suits me a lot more. Some other lads might want to get bulkier but this suited me more as it made me more mobile around the field. It has helped my hurling, too.
‘We work one on one with Lukasz and try new things and it is working. I am staying injury free and that’s the main thing. Lukasz has done great work with us all, again he is there to do things one on one if needs be’
It was also under O’Shea that Gary Ryan, the Thurles native who was once Ireland’s fastest man, was drafted in as fitness coach, dovetailing nicely with Kirszenstein. Ryan had worked in NUI, Galway with O’Shea and had helped Clare’s All-Ireland winners John Conlon and Domhnall O’Donovan, he also had a stint training Thurles Sarsfields in the mid-2000s.
But like everything else this season, manager Michael Ryan took what O’Shea had done and added his own personal touch. At the start of the year, he brought in former Munster rugby player Denis Leamy to work alongside Ryan and Kirszenstein.
The Cashel man, who played over 50 times for Ireland, worked beside the Pole in the backroom team and Ryan outlined his importance to the squad last July before the Munster hurling final.
‘He’s one of our own and we were delighted to welcome him,’ the Tipp boss said at the time. ‘He’s a breath of fresh air, coming from a different sporting background and yet, with a lot of the same trials, tribulations and experiences and his experience comes from the highest level in club and international rugby. Above all, he’s a great ambassador for Tipp.’
Who would think that a former Irish rugby international, a sprinter who was once the fastest man in Ireland and a Polish strength and conditioning guru, who knew nothing of hurling only a few years ago, could play such an integral role in landing Liam MacCarthy.
Such a combination did just that, working in the background to help as Tipp delivered an almost perfect performance last Sunday afternoon and ensuring the good times rolled all of this week.
‘HE’S ONE OF OUR OWN AND WE ARE DELIGHTED TO HAVE HIM’