Hurt locker: How 2014 minor heartbreak was the making of this Limerick team
Ronan Lynch, after the 2014 All-Ireland MHC final defeat to Kilkenny. Picture: Ray McManus
In October 2013, the Limerick minor management met in the University of Limerick to plan ahead for the following year. The county had lost the All-Ireland minor semi-final to Galway after extra-time but preparations for the 2014 season had begun within six weeks of that defeat. With the bulk of the 2013 squad still available, the target was obvious – win the All-Ireland.
Brian Ryan, the manager, lined out a detailed training plan. Dates for trials were pencilled in. Names of potential new recruits were proposed. Every goal was clearly defined but just before the meeting concluded, Jerry Wallis, the coach, had the last word.
Steve McDonagh, who had just joined the management team as a selector, can still vividly remember Wallis’ prescient commentary.
“Jerry said ‘A lot of these lads here are good enough to win a senior All-Ireland,’” recalls McDonagh now. “He said that he wanted to be in Croke Park in four or five years time watching them win one. I remember thinking ‘What planet is this fella on?
“When Limerick did win the 2018 All-Ireland, I was walking out Jones’ Road with my wife and kids when I got a flake down across the back of the shoulder. I turned around and who was it only Jerry Wallis. The first thing he said was ‘Didn’t I tell you it would happen.’”
The road to Limerick’s modern success began with the 2013-2014 minors.
Seven of the players which lined out in the All-Ireland semi-final two weeks ago featured in that 2013 All-Ireland minor semi - Barry Nash, Cian Lynch, Tom Morrissey, Seán Finn, Darragh O’Donovan, Seamus Flanagan, Pat Ryan. Three more current players were part of that squad; Richie English (who captained that team), David Dempsey and Mikey Casey.
When Limerick went seeking atonement in 2014, Finn, Lynch, Nash, Morrissey and Flanagan were joined by Peter Casey, Paddy O’Loughlin and Robbie Hanley. Limerick reached that All-Ireland minor final but were beaten by Kilkenny. The dressing room afterwards was a scene of devastation but McDonagh remembers Cian Lynch, the captain, speaking about using the experience as a stepping stone to the future.
Ryan expressed similar sentiments at the team banquet at the Kilmurry Lodge in Castletroy that evening.
“That defeat was personally very disappointing, but I said that it would be the making of that group,” says Ryan now. “It was always about the bigger picture, about educating the players to play on the bigger stage.
The potential to do more was always ingrained and promoted in those players. It was clear from an early stage that the 2014 minor crop were a golden generation.
“We knew at U14 that they were really special,” says Joe Quaid, who managed that group at U14, U15 and U16 between 2010-’12.
“Cian was already outrageously talented but there were brilliant players everywhere. Aaron Gillane was only on the B squad. Seán Finn spent a couple of years with the B squad too.”
Limerick walloped Galway in the 2012 Arrabawn tournament (then the All-Ireland Under 16) final by 21 points. Ryan was also the Limerick U17 manager that season before being promoted to minor manager in 2013.
Ryan had already accumulated huge experience by then. He had trained the Limerick seniors in Tom Ryan’s last year as senior manager in 1997, while he’d been involved with the Limerick minors which reached the 2005 All-Ireland final.
Ryan was also part of Justin McCarthy’s senior management team in 2009-10 when Limerick bottomed out in the second year and a raft of players went on strike.
That was Limerick’s Ground Zero moment. The underage Academy was born out of that debacle. A new path was clearly set.
“It was an unfortunate period but there were learnings there from across the board too,” says Ryan. “The line in the sand was drawn after 2010. And we’ve been moving forward ever since.”
Ryan fully totally immersed himself in trying to alter the culture.
“I took it very seriously,” he says. “Managing those minor teams was a 30-hour a week job for me.”
Forensic attention to detail was his calling card. The week before Limerick played the 2014 All-Ireland minor semi-final, Ryan arranged for Ronan Lynch to tog out with the Limerick seniors for their All-Ireland semi-final against Kilkenny. Lynch took 25 frees during the warm-up before togging in again.
Nothing was left to chance, but Ryan’s philosophy was still always governed by a culture of continuous development. Of the squad which reached the 2014 minor final, 14 were underage again in 2015.
“If guys at 18 weren’t good enough for the team or to come on as a sub, that spot was going to a 17 or 16-year old,” says Ryan. “We just wanted to get lads out of the dazzled headlights going to Croke Park.”
Ryan was never slow to take a chance on promise and talent, no matter how young or unproven they were at minor level. Thirteen days before the 2013 All-Ireland minor semi-final, Ryan rang Brian Finn, then Limerick U16 manager, and asked him if anyone was shooting the lights out. Finn mentioned Seamus Flanagan. Ryan brought him in for training the following night. Twelve days later, Flanagan came on at half-time against Galway.
“As a management team, we were willing to take a chance, to put ourselves out there and make hard decisions,” says Ryan. “At minor level, you do have a lot of parental involvement because everyone wants their son on the squad.
A revolving door policy was difficult on young players but it was still clearly a holistic environment with a clear culture of development across all areas.
“Our attitude was that you could not use being a Limerick minor as an excuse for not reaching your potential in the Leaving Cert,” says Ryan. “We often sent guys home from training to study because we also wanted to manage their academic challenges during that period.
“All those guys did exceptionally well in the Leaving but they were also able to develop and progress as players. We wanted success but we also knew that we would ultimately be judged by how many lads progressed to U-21 and senior. That was the ultimate test.”
They certainly passed it. The core group from that 2014 minor team banked that hurt and put it to good use a year later; Finn, Nash, Lynch, Morrissey and Peter Casey played on the team which won the 2015 All-Ireland U-21 title. Full atonement for 2014 came when Limerick beat Kilkenny in the 2017 All-Ireland U21 final.
"Going into Thurles that afternoon, I said to my wife Kay that Limerick were going to win it handy,” says McDonagh.
“Speaking from experience, you don’t forget losing an All-Ireland final in Croke Park too easy. I knew Kilkenny were going to get a lesson.
"There was temper in Limerick that day. The lads still had that minor defeat in their heads.”
At the time, the 2014 All-Ireland minor final defeat felt like the end of the world for so many of those players.
But the first splashes of colour had already been painted on the canvas of the bigger picture. Ryan was right when he addressed the group that evening.
It was the making of them.
[b]- You can purchase the Irish Examiner's 20-page All-Ireland Hurling Final preview supplement with your Friday edition of the Irish Examiner in stores or from our epaper site.[/b]
