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He’s Limerick’s ‘hardest’ hurler, say colleagues. There’s a time and a place to do it, and if he felt training wasn’t going well — too much messing or whatever — he won’t be slow about mentioning it, says Diarmuid O’Flynn .

IF YOU WANT to know me, come and live with me. Sport’s variation? If you want to know me come and talk to those who play with me, those who train with me.

Limerick centre-back Brian Geary is a little like the Limerick team — unsung, under-rated, and for the most part, unknown. So who is Geary and what’s he like? What are his major attributes as a centre-back, the most pivotal position in hurling, his qualities as an individual?

Muiris Gavin has known Brian since he was a youngster; a senior footballer of high renown with Limerick, but a club team-mate with Monaleen now for over a decade.

“He’s always been a fantastic club man, a very popular figure, a great servant, the mainstay of the team in both hurling and football for the last 10 years,” says Gavin. He gives a recent illustration of Geary’s commitment to the club.

“On the Tuesday after the win over Tipp, he was up at an intermediate club session, showing face. That’s Brian.”

What of his abilities? Geary has been centre-back for the Limerick senior hurlers now for several years, but it’s only this year that hurling fans are waking up to the ability of the big man from Monaleen.

“I’ve always felt his main strength is his positional sense, the way he reads the game,” says Gavin. “Another guy might be flying fast, but when you have a fella who always seems to be in the right place at the right time, that’s no coincidence – that’s ability. He always holds the middle, doesn’t get dragged away, is very cool and calm. Some centre-backs, if the ball is going to the wing, they can get dragged around a little bit, maybe leave the centre open for the runners from midfield — not Brian. He has been excellent this year at reading the game, covering the middle; he’s providing a very solid core to the team at centre-back, vitally important. As a player he’s very strong in the air, but he’s also very clever on the ball. Very often you’ll see him flick a ball out five or 10yards to a team-mate, rather than look for the big booming clearance to nowhere. Retaining possession is important to him, as opposed to just getting rid of the ball.”

There’s another quality — physical power. This guy doesn’t just hold the middle, he commands it.

“He’s a massive man,” says Gavin. “If he hits you in training you know all about it. He’s probably the strongest player I’ve come across, and he does like to get in his hits, let a fella know he’s around, especially a fella who’s coming through the middle. And that’s ideal in a centre-back, that’s what you want, a stopper up the middle. He always hits fairly, that’s the thing; he’ll try to hit you shoulder to shoulder, but when he does, you’ll know about it. Very, very strong.”

And by all accounts, very, very intimidating. Such is the havoc he has wreaked in training, bruisers such as full-back Stephen Lucey and Ollie Moran felled in hits that are now the stuff of legend within the training-camp, that Donie Ryan has made a pact with Geary.

“I’m serious,” says the speedy corner-forward, a much tougher detail than his comparatively slight frame suggests; “I’ve made a deal with him, from two years ago. If he has me lined up coming through the middle, he’s to call my name — Donie! — and I’ll just stop, pass him the ball!”

When the first of those two big hits referred to above, on Stephen Lucey, is mentioned to Geary, he grins a knowing grin. “I know ‘Luce’ has stored that up, he’s waiting his chance!”

One who will definitely not be looking for retribution is Ollie Moran. He comes up against Geary on a regular basis in training, centre-forward on centre-back, but there was a time when they were shoulder to shoulder on a different basis, Moran as Geary’s wing-man in the half-back line before his current conversion to the 40. Given this dual perspective, given also that a few years ago Ollie Moran was the manager of a Fitzgibbon Cup-winning UL team in which Geary was the main man, he is in a perfect position to make an assessment. The report card — straight A’s.

“In UL, there had been a lot of turbulence before that year, they had under-performed for years; what I really asked of Gears was that, as one of the most experienced players there, he should step up to the plate. And he did that, almost overnight. The thing about him is that you need to tell him something only once, and it gets through. He’s extremely honest, and I think that’s something everyone would say to you about him, the most honest, solid kind of guy you could ever meet, either on the field or off. He sets the example for everyone else.”

He looks a relaxed kind of a guy though. Don’t be fooled, says Ollie Moran. “He is easy-going, unassuming, but people can misinterpret that, and often do. He’s a bit like Stephen Lucey — likes to have the craic, but everything changes on the field. He’s got a fierce physical presence, a massive intensity; ask any opponent, ask any of us in training with him — he’s got such a physical presence, and if you get hit by Gears, you know you’ve been hit.

“He’s probably the hardest man on the team, without being dirty, a very, very physical kind of a player. There’s a time and a place to do it and if he felt training wasn’t going well — too much messing or whatever — he’d let you know about it; he’d let fly, and he’s done that on numerous occasions. But on the ball, always on the ball.”

The problem for a big man like Geary, however, is that too many of the modern referees don’t understand the honest hit and very often the bigger man is penalised. It’s a risk Geary is prepared to take, says Moran. “He’ll take the hit for the team, he’ll take a yellow card when he sees the need, where a lot of other fellas might be inclined to sit back. I think that comes from the football, that’s his job on the football field, a kind of a stopper, and I think he brings that across to hurling. And when he lines up his man, more often than not he nails him.”

But Geary isn’t a hit-man; he’s a hurling man, a serious hard-working player for whom establishing a physical presence is just part of the brief.

“I think people underestimate how important he is to us, how central a figure,” says Moran. “Gears does the dirty work, always; he’s not the swashbuckler that other centre-backs are, he won’t be hitting a half dozen long balls, maybe sending them all wide, but one thing you can be sure about with him, always — he’ll have done his work. His positional sense is fantastic, his work-rate enormous. I played alongside him for years in the half-back line and you could hurl away secure in the knowledge that he had things wrapped up down the centre.

“He’s never going to be destroyed; people go on about lack of pace, but his positional sense will always compensate for that. Some of the grief he’s had to take in Limerick, I could never understand it. I’d play a match alongside him, think he’d had a great game, then open the paper and find him being criticised, ridiculed, so that I’d often be scratching my head, wondering if I was even at the same game. But it’s how your peers see you, that’s what’s most important, and Gears is held in very high esteem by us all. You can play to the gallery, hit 20 big balls in the game, going for glory all the time while neglecting the basics, or you can do your job first and foremost. One thing you can always be sure of with Gears, he’ll do the basics, he’ll do the donkey-work. A lot of people miss that.”

First impressions of Geary are that he’s big, broad across the shoulder. But he’s not all coiled muscle, mean and menacing; instead, there’s a soft smile, a loose-limbed amble to a nearby table, a long, languid, relaxed posture as he sits himself down. And there’s a modesty.

“I was on the U-21 football team that reached the All-Ireland final, corner-back — I was useless,” he says. “I marked Eoin Mulligan in the All-Ireland final (Limerick lost to Tyrone), then Mickey Harte’s young fella — he caught the ball over my head and he’s about eight inches smaller than me!” Nonsense, says Muiris Gavin; Geary is as nearly as good a footballer as he is a hurler, but in the same position, centre-back. He was simply in the wrong position.

So, does Geary think Limerick can defy all the odds and beat Kilkenny this week?

“A tough question, very tough. They were awesome last year and they haven’t put a foot wrong this year either, bar the league final when Waterford played really well to beat them. They’re firing on all cylinders, they seem to be able to peak at the right moment. They bring their own intensity to every game; I know we did it against Waterford, but they do that in every game. They did particularly well against Cork in the All-Ireland final last year, they were hunting in packs. They wear a team down, and that’s even before you take their skills into account, the other facets of their game.” So, intensity is their secret, not just the silky skills everyone speaks about?

“Yeah, and that would be my philosophy as well. If you work hard enough, if you’re working and you’re hooking and you’re blocking, you’re always going to get your chances of an easy point or two. And if you have the additional skill then as well you’ll throw over a few more. It’s not about spending your time waiting for a few handy chances; you’ve got to put in the work, and the opportunities follow.”

And their rotating forwards? Limerick managed to hold a Waterford side that has the same tactic, but Kilkenny do it more tellingly, shifting a guy only where there’s a real need.

“Yeah, well, the players they have, Shefflin and Comerford especially — they’re two players who can switch from centre-forward to full-forward, to the wing or the corner, and be equally effective in all positions. They can be used at different times in the match, in different positions, as Kilkenny need them, and they seem to do the job. Eddie Brennan has played very well this year, Richie Power is a player I’d have a lot of time for, he reminds me of Henry a lot when the ball is in his hand, very intelligent, great awareness and speed you wouldn’t expect. Eoin Larkin is strong, very accurate, always seems to pick off a few points, Willie O’Dwyer and Aidan Cummins can hurt you – any of them, no matter who starts or where, is a handful.”

True; equally true, however, is that whoever starts at centre-forward for Kilkenny this Sunday will have their hands full. This guy is a player.

“Football or hurling, you’d always want Brian Geary on your team,” says Gavin. “When things are going badly, when some are dropping the head, Brian is consistent, he’ll keep going. It’s the same when things are going well, he doesn’t get carried away, he can kick on a bit without losing control. He’s also the man in the dressing-room that fellas will listen to. He doesn’t talk often, or doesn’t say much, but what he has to say always makes an impact. He’s really emerging now as a force, on and off the field.”