Downes ready for toughest test

KEVIN DOWNES confesses it was weird. When he entered the dressing rooms of the Staker Wallace club in Martinstown near Kilmallock last January, he was unsure. On a black winter’s night, he was introduced to the world of senior inter-county hurling, just over four months since he’d torn open the envelope and digested his Leaving Cert results.

All around him were matinee idols. He may have been too young to appreciate selector Ciaran Carey’s momentous run and shot against Clare in 1996 but his new teammates were the heroes he travelled the country supporting in Limerick’s run to the 2007 All-Ireland final.

“They were my heroes and it was very weird that first night going into a dressing room with them,” he said.