Captain Damien champing at the bit

Limerick’s captain has had a mixed season, but has his sights set on beating Waterford, writes Diarmuid O’Flynn.

IT is a dark evening in Ballyagran with grey skies and rain pelting down on a Limerick U21 match between Hospital/Herbertstown and Croom.

The medical officer for Croom is Stephen Lucey, full-back for Limerick in tomorrow’s All-Ireland SHC semi-final against Waterford. He walks across the sodden pitch as the teams warm up, eases up behind a guy in a Hospital/Herbertstown tracksuit, gives him a nudge of a shoulder, staggers him slightly and joshes him gently. Damien Reale turns and grins. Rain or no rain he’s happy to be here, doing his bit for his club and exchanging banter with his line-mate on the Limerick team.