O’Brien: Piarsaigh hungry for more
The city club won just their second county title, against Adare at the weekend, having made their breakthrough in 2011. That season they dominated Munster before losing to eventual All-Ireland Club champions Loughgiel Shamrocks in the semi-final.
Last season’s 11-point drubbing to Kilmallock cast them as a flash in the pan outfit. With that chip on their shoulder they set out to prove they weren’t flukes.
“We made the breakthrough in 2011 and a lot of people said we got it easy,” said team captain James O’Brien.
“It takes character though for a team to come back and win a second title, that’s the real test. We ground it out. In these kind of conditions the hurling, the talent, the ability, all go out the window and it becomes a battle of wills, who wants it more. This is a massive win for us.”
The problem last year was they simply lost their appetite.
“We can say we didn’t but we did,” agreed O’Brien. “Probably the result of the long season we had. We were in the All-Ireland club semi-final, reigning county champions, got a soft enough group and never really got tested till the quarter-final. Got through that but Kilmallock were waiting for us in the semi-final, champing at the bit to get back at us.
“It all just caught up with us on the day, well beaten. We regrouped for this year, came back strong. This is only our second senior title and it means a lot more to us than two years ago. It was great to make the breakthrough in 2011 but second one is huge. We’ve beaten the top clubs this year, that’s a massive thing for us mentally.”
Munster has already become a target. In three weeks’ time they meet the Tipperary champions (Nenagh Eire Óg or Loughmore-Castleiney).
“Two years ago that All-Ireland club title was there for us; did we deserve to beat Loughgiel? No, not on the day, but we were good enough to win it, we know that,” said star forward Shane Dowling.
“We’d like an opportunity to rectify that but first there’s a Munster club championship and that’s going to be tough. We went up to Ballygunner two years ago and pulled out a win, no reason we can’t do the same in Tipperary.”
For Kevin Downes, there was the matter of recovering from his personal battle with Adare centre-back and Limerick team-mate Wayne McNamara.
“I’ve come up against him enough in training so I knew what was coming. He caught me a good hit in the first half and I’m still feeling it!”
As with O’Brien and Dowling, there are bigger ambitions but first they’ll spend a few days out celebrating.
“We have ambitions, yes, and we’re happy we have the opportunity again, give it a lash, and if it happens for us, great. But first we’ll enjoy this.
“There’s great credit due to everyone in the club. You go down on a Saturday morning and the pitch is full of youngsters. Great to have that back in Limerick city but it’s the result of a lot of hard work, in the club and in Árdscoil Rís, the school. We all know that we have to perform every game because if we don’t, there’s a young lad coming on strong behind us. That’s brilliant for a club team.”
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