Dowling: Limerick on the rise

Ten minutes in the engaging company of teenage Na Piarsaigh prodigy Shane Dowling, that’s all it takes to understand why hurling in Limerick is on the rise and why hurling in the city is going from strength to strength.

A single-syllable interviewee this guy is not – a single-sentence interviewee even, he’s most definitely not.

“It drives me mad for anyone to discuss hurling in Limerick and bring back up the recent troubles,” he said.

“A lot of counties have had their troubles, Limerick was just one. But take a look and see the work being done in the county, the work Na Piarsaigh are doing. Limerick were unlucky to lose to Dublin last year in the All-Ireland quarter-final, unlucky also to lose to Waterford in Munster.

“With a bounce of a ball Limerick hurling is going to be right up there with the top — maybe this year, who knows, but definitely in the next three years. John Allen has been given a two-year appointment and he is going to do huge work, that’s why I think the Munster title is within Limerick’s grasp.

“Look at Tipperary. They might be a step ahead of a few teams in Munster but Clare are rebuilding, Limerick are rebuilding. I personally think Limerick are nearly there, there’s huge talent coming up and everyone has seen them.”

Shane, just out of minor, is one of those young talented players in Limerick, but there are many more as evidenced by the Munster U21 title they claimed against Cork last year. Several of those players have already gone on to play with distinction at senior level, Declan Hannon being the most obvious example.

That game, he says, that win over Cork and the manner of it, still inspires him.

“Some nights before going to bed, for the week after it, you’d play bits of the tape, and I’d still regularly do that — if you could experience that every week it would be super.

“Play it on TV before going to bed, looking at success, the success you’re striving for. Even the crowds that turned out that day.”

Testimony to the fantastic work being done in his club is the fact that Na Piarsaigh had eight representatives on that Limerick U21 panel. He’s conscious of it of course, proud of his club but determined that the senior breakthrough in 2011 will be no flash-in-the-pan.

“I’ve been fortunate to win nearly everything I can with Na Piarsaigh. It’s great, but that’s what the standard is now, and it’s only what I’d hope to do every year. Next year I hope to win the 21s and senior again, and I might be lucky enough to be part of a Limerick set-up. I want to win everything. If you don’t want to win everything why bother to be a part of it.”

Those are big statements for any sportsman to make, especially for a young man just starting out on his adult career but that’s Shane Dowling. Success is the mindset. Ambitious. Ruthless. Single-minded.

“The younger lads coming up, this year we won the minor county title, last year we won the U21; the 16s won this year, the 14s won a couple of years ago. Then the Harty Cup titles [back-boned by Na Piarsaigh, Árdscoil Rís won two-in-a-row], the Limerick 21s.

“With all those players coming on, a different mind-set was brought into the set-up and the older lads maybe bought into it. A couple of years ago if Na Piarsaigh stayed up senior that was a success. Now if we don’t win a county final it’ll be a bad year – that’s a super way to look at it.”