‘D’Arcy’ relishing dream role
According to the players, however, he’s a lot more than that.
Moriarty doubles up — quadruples up — as psychologist, stats analyst, tactical planner, an integral and essential part of what is truly a team effort in Limerick, on and off the field.
According to the players also, he’s not Dave Moriarty. To one and all, to all and sundry, he’s D’Arcy.
“My background is rugby,” he explains. “After my training in Templemore (he’s a Garda) I got transferred to Dublin, played with the Garda team for a while, but I transferred to Terenure, played a season of AIL with them. I then got a job back in the Training College in Templemore, and I went back to my old club, Young Munster. Brian Hickey was our coach, D’Unbelievables were in their prime at the time and you know that line, the teacher, ‘Ah you’re a right funny man D’Arcy!’
“Well, I used to do D’Unbelievables a lot, on the bus, and that was my favourite line. I’d slag Brian, all the lads – Peter Claw, Paco Fitzgerald. Eventually Paco christened me D’Arcy, the right funny man. That’s how I got it, and it stuck, for the last 10 years I’ve been known as nothing else – some people don’t even know my proper name, they just know me as D’Arcy!”
Shortly after rejoining Young Munster, D’Arcy – as he soon became universally known – trained and captained them to a Munster Junior Cup. Packing down alongside him in the second-row? A raw red-headed youngster, a fella by the name of Paul O’Connell.
“Paul was very young when he came in, a tall gangly guy but very athletic, had great hands even back then. I always knew he’d go on to greater things but I didn’t imagine him doing what he’s actually done. Captained his country, played test rugby for the Lions – for a guy so young he’s done it all, taken everything on his shoulders, but what I really like about him — he never forgot where he came from.”
Ironically, D’Arcy is now getting his own taste of fame. “Yeah,” he laughs, “This is all totally new to me – tickets, the media, but also the pressure of dealing with the expectation.”
It’s a testament to the management skills of Richie Bennis that the role of Dave Moriarty has expanded way beyond getting the side physically fit and in prime condition for the big day.
It is testament also to the likes of Gary Kirby that that Dave was embraced, his expertise – much of it gained in other codes — welcomed.
“That’s why I’m enjoying it so much. At the start of the year Richie and Gary gave me a blank canvas, told me to do what I wanted. I could have taken them trekking backwards up Devil’s Bit and they’d have said – no problem! But this is the job I always wanted. When I started out training teams, and this is the truth, my ultimate goal was to train the Limerick hurlers, always. I could have had a goal of getting involved with the Irish rugby team, with Munster, but that’s a full-time job, professional fitness and conditioning coaches, that was never going to happen. The pinnacle for me was the Limerick senior hurling team, and even when I was involved with the senior football team and we were going well, I used still look across at the hurlers with a small bit of envy. I was thinking, I’d just love to be in that position.”
Even though the footballers were going better than the hurlers, taking Kerry to the pin of their collar in two Munster finals?
“Yeah, that’s being straight and honest with you, even Liam (Kearns, football manager) realised it was the hurlers I really wanted. I started with Murroe-Boher, my home club, in 1999 (he was born in Croom but raised in Boher, home of the Tobin brothers and Seamus Hickey from the current team), and we won the intermediate county. I was with Adare then, we won two senior titles but failed in the three-in-a-row bid. Then came the senior footballers, but all the time, this was the one I wanted. And all the time I was learning. The day you stop going to school in this job is the day you get your arse kicked. I learned that early!”
For starters he learned that gaelic football and hurling no longer mix at the top level, a legacy from that festering controversy that so dogged Limerick during his days as trainer.
“I was of the opinion at the time that it could be done, but I think maybe I was just being selfish. I wanted them (the six dual players) playing football. But they’re two different games, the physical conditioning, the fitness requirements, are totally different. Hurling is an awful lot faster, your reactions have to be an awful lot sharper; there’s not as much continuous running, it’s more about speed, agility, you don’t need to be as powerful in the tackle. Having said that, one aspect of this Limerick team that we’ve worked hard on for the last few years is their strength.
“The attitude to weight-training has changed drastically, Cork and Kilkenny have raised the bar, very professional in their outlook. Physical training too has changed, most of what we do is done with the ball, 80% of it, all the drills and so on. After every game I’d sit down with Gary, look at the video, ask him if there’s anything I need to focus on in the training — the striking perhaps, the hand-passes not going to hand.
“For that week then I might focus on that. I come from a rugby background, I’ve seen the benefits of weight training, the benefits of preparing properly, doing all the stages; I’ve also seen the benefits of video analysis which is massive. Colm Hickey and Mark O’Leary do our stats, another critical element of preparation. We do it all, very thorough — frees conceded, frees won, wides, scoring, balls dropped short; we do breaking ball, which is one of the most important stats, balls won cleanly or won on the ground along with forced and unforced errors.
‘‘For tactics, it’s Richie, Gary, the other selectors, myself, even some of the players are involved. They might come to Richie and Gary, suggest we could be doing something different, and I think that’s a major difference with the last few years. I’m not sure what went on before but definitely the players are being listened to this year, their suggestions taken on board. It’s not a one-man show anyway. But I’m learning from them, hopefully they’re learning from me, every game in which I’m involved I’m learning more and more.”
The big question, however, the question that will be answered tomorrow – have they learned enough to stop Kilkenny? Those rotating forwards, even more effective than Waterford, but more pertinently, that big match-day experience, can Limerick match that?
“Kilkenny are a savage team, the All Blacks of hurling. I’d have said to the players at the start of the year, the All Blacks have a motto – KISS, keep it simple stupid. When you’re under pressure keep things simple. That’s what Kilkenny do, and they do it so well. We’re 7/2 at the bookies, you can even get us at 4/1, but the expectations within this panel are high.
“There’s a self-belief there now, and I’m certain that if the lads perform to their ability, we’ll be there or thereabouts. It’s up to each and every individual to do that, to play to his potential.
‘‘There is no point in letting the game bypass you – get out there and show what you’re made of.”
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