Na Piarsaigh stalwart wants to end longest wait
Seven of the side that finished the Munster final replay win over Clare champions Crusheen were U21 but in that replay, as in the equally rugged drawn encounter a week earlier, Shane O’Neill was in the starting 15 for Na Piarsaigh. That same Shane has a tale to tell of dedication, perseverance and overcoming the odds.
It began in 1991, 21 years ago, when Shane was still a minor and lined out alongside his father to win the county title, Na Piarsaigh’s second adult hurling crown. A year earlier the fledgling club, founded in 1968, won its first, the junior A, which saw them win promotion to the IHC. In 1994, Shane now established, Na Piarsaigh won the Limerick IHC title and from that day to this they campaigned at senior level. From that day to this Shane has been an ever-present.
“From winning the intermediate in 1994 up to 2009, the county quarter-final against Croom, I didn’t miss a minute of a championship game with Na Piarsaigh,” he said.
“I came back from my honeymoon to play that game — I haven’t heard the end of that at home yet by the way, it always comes up. We were in Sicily so I had to get to the mainland first, make my way home. We won but I didn’t hurl well, I was taken off with about four or five minutes to go — I think they felt sorry for me. But my father said it to the management team that was the first minute I’d missed since Na Piarsaigh had gone senior in 1995.
“Never suspended, never injured, never dropped, never taken off. It was a great record while it lasted but I have it ruined now. I think though the fact I was there — they were shocked to see me come into the dressing-room, it just gave the whole thing a lift to see someone like myself who was coming to the end of his career putting in a little extra effort.”
He hasn’t come to the end just yet and obviously hopes it’s not going to happen this Saturday. As he puts it himself: “It’s been a hell of a journey.
“A severe test of patience having to wait so long. I’ve been through three different generations if you like. In the mid to late 1990s, following the success of the intermediate title, we had a good side, were in the senior semi-final in ’96 but Patrickswell beat us by a goal. In ’99 we lost in a replay to Ahane and they went on to win three titles after that. That was a good Na Piarsaigh side, should have won a title.
“Then there were the lost years, when nothing happened. The club had won six Féile titles in a row inLimerick (’83-’88 inclusive), including an All-Ireland in 1984. We were the last of that six but there was a big gap then to the next time we won.
“Maybe because we were winning Féile so handily the club took their eye off the ball a bit during that time and that gap is reflected on the teamduring the early ’00s. We were there in 2002, got well beaten by Adare and weren’t competitive again till Seán [Stack, current manager] came in 2009 and helped us get past being happy to just get out of our group, to have real ambition.”
This current team is by far the most successful. Standing between them and Croke Park on St Patrick’s Day is Loughgiel Shamrocks, the pride of Antrim hurling.
“It’s funny but we haven’t even mentioned Croke Park. It’s been such a long lead-in from the Munster final replay and March seems so far away — this is a massive hurdle, one of the biggest games we’ve ever played.”
Wisdom, experience — they may have the youngest team left in this competition, but in Shane O’Neill, NaPiarsaigh are well served.
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