Lynch’s hurling honeymoon

Life goes on even for an inter-county hurler.

Fergal Lynch of Clare got married recently and enjoyed Chicago and New York on his honeymoon.

Well, enjoyed it when he wasn’t training. He had to. A Munster championship game doesn’t make allowances for newlyweds. Even then he found it tough going when he came back.

“The first day back was a challenge in Tipperary against Clonlara, I didn’t expect to tog off but halfway through the match I was sent on and I nearly died!

“I got through it. The best way is to throw yourself into the deep end. I had a good bit of training done beforehand and Joe O’Connor set me up with a good programme. While I was out in the States I did that programme in parks and so on. I knew if I came back in bad shape there are lads who’d be nipping at your heels. We still have a few sessions to go to prove ourselves.”

Lynch is correct. The competition for a starting place is very keen on Shannonside.

“You can see for the last couple of years, the minors and U21s that have come through. It’s been reiterated to us over the last few months that only 25 can tog out and that if you want to be one of them then it’s up to you. And in fairness, everyone’s been very competitive in trying to ensure they’re one of the 25.

“The likes of Aaron Cunningham and Daire Keane coming through are unbelievable talents, they’re nipping at our heels and we’re nipping at theirs.

“You need that healthy competition because you see it in Tipp and Kilkenny, if a fella is injured he’s out and could be out for the rest of the year if his replacement holds his place. It’s dog eat dog.”

The man picking the team has inside knowledge of the opposition, but Lynch turns that notion around. Davy Fitzgerald may have managed Waterford, but that also means they know him as well as he knows them.

“He’ll know what Waterford are capable of but they’ll know what he’s capable of as well. Davy’s been there and done it, he’s trained a lot of teams and won many competitions as a player and manager.

“He knows what it’ll take and he knows what’s best for Clare, and while some people mightn’t agree, we’ll go out with the attitude of ‘whatever it takes’ to beat Waterford on the day. Fair enough, he’ll have inside knowledge of some of the players but we’ll still have to go out and stop them from playing.

“Davy can only orchestrate some things from the sideline but he can’t do it for us.”

Still, Clare have advantages. Successful minors and U21s have arrived in the senior dressing-room with the right outlook.

“It’s a huge asset,” said Lynch. “Winning breeds winning. You can see it in the major teams in all sports, if they’re winning they want to keep winning. These young lads want to keep winning. I remember ten years ago going into Cusack Park for my first senior training session with Seanie McMahon and Brian Lohan and Jamesie O’Connor. You were in awe.

“Now you go into a dressing-room and there are lads with All-Ireland U21 medals, minor All-Ireland finalist, and I’m just as in awe of them.

“They have huge talent and they have what it takes to play for Clare, and to win for Clare.”

Still, raw teenagers take a bit of nursing along. They’re nursing us along too with their ability and their hunger. It’s quite difficult. They’re coming in at a stage when we haven’t won much in Clare. The league final over Limerick was the first considerable thing we’ve won in a while — since 1998. Hopefully it can spur on the lads to win a lot more.”

Incidentally, Lynch’s wife is a daughter of Jackie O’Gorman, the former Clare hurler. Her mum is a Bennis from Limerick.

So at least she understood why he was running around parks on their honeymoon... presumably.