Shaughs’ day for silencing doubters

THERE are people I know, hurling people, who have doubted Andrew O’Shaughnessy.

They have doubted his temperament, doubted his ability to produce on the big day. They don’t know Andrew O’Shaughnessy.

He’s been on the Limerick senior team for a number of years but has yet to really grab the headlines. This has not been his fault. Through all those years he’s been stuck in the corner as Limerick battled out the field, was fed on crumbs — badly-aimed crumbs at that — high balls, bad balls and scrappy balls.

He is now a mature 22-year-old, strong, powerful, far more able to fight his own corner. Yesterday, for Limerick and for Andrew, it all came together.

“Yeah,” he agreed, “And it was long overdue. We’ve been criticised in the past but we’ve just taken it and said to ourselves – ‘next year, next year, next year we try to get ourselves right’. Hopefully we’re maturing now, we seem to be and this was a badly-needed win.”

O’Shaughnessy added: “Every game is different. The Tipp games were pure dogged and high intensity. This one was more free-flowing, so while it was possibly more attractive to look at. I don’t think it was our best performance. We weren’t happy with our first-half display; we were on top but we missed a lot of chances. That’s something we’ll have to work on.”

One thing this game was not — it wasn’t a collision, not as physical as people had expected it to be.

“As physical as people hoped it would be,” he laughed. “But it was physical enough. That’s all part of the game now.You expect knocks to come in, and there’s something wrong with you if you can’t take the belts.”

Taking the belts was what he was doing yesterday, taking the belts, and giving them back. They’re well-fitted to doing that, this Limerick team, those forwards especially.

It wasn’t just Shaughs yesterday, it was full-forward Brian Begley, throwing his considerable bulk around, it was Ollie Moran, Michael Fitzgerald, Kevin Tobin, along with James O’Brien and Barry Foley, when they made their appearances.

All big men, all strong men, but all capable also of taking their points.

“And good points,” Shaughs said. “You get a bit of confidence when you see another lad shooting and the ball going over. That breeds more confidence and we’ll take that into the next game.”

Oh yes, there was yet another Limerick substitute, goal-scorer Donie Ryan who was introduced in the opposite corner to Andrew and yet — a measure of what this game meant to them – both were to be found around midfield late in the second half, battling for possession, determined not to cede an inch.

What was Andrew’s take on the mercurial Donie? “He was hitting a bit of fresh air near the end.! He was delighted, but that’s the thing about Donie — he came on against Tipp as well and did well, but that shows the depth in the panel now. He got a goal today, a couple of points, and at vital times. He’ll be fighting for his starting position now.”

He will, but it won’t be for Shaughs’ spot. During the last week, while looking forward to the Croke Park experience, he had said he preferred the Thurles sod to any — what was his opinion now?

“Ah, Croke Park is lovely. It’s a fine surface, it takes you a while to get your bearings. We’re not used to it, it is such a big stadium. The goals look to be further away than they actually are, but eventually you get the measure of it. At least this year now we’ll get two go’s in it, which is a bit of a novelty for us.”

Two, maybe three?

“Maybe, but there’s only one game left for us at the moment, the winners of Cork and Waterford. That’s the focus for us now. Two superb teams, we’ll be going in as underdogs, but we’ll wait and see.”

We’ll all wait and see, but this guy isn’t finished yet.

As Tony Considine said when challenged that Clare had no answer to O’Shaughnessy: “Andrew O’Shaughnessy will cause defenders problems for a long, long time. Fair play to him, we put different fellas on him, changed fellas, but when a fella is on form like that, winning frees, getting scores, there isn’t much you can do.

“Limerick’s confidence is up, there’s no doubt about it. You look at this team, they were 10 points down against Tipperary at half-time, dead and buried. Then they decided themselves, on the field, they were going to win it and fair play to them, they did.”

Limerick decided, Andrew O’Shaughnessy decided. Their time has come, their time is now.