Gavin O’Mahony delights at green shoots for Limerick

Saturday’s Fitzgibbon Cup final classic was as much a victory for Limerick hurling as it was for newly crowned champions Mary Immaculate College, according to Treaty centre-forward Gavin O’Mahony.

O’Mahony served as a selector with Mary I and expressed delight at seeing such a high volume of Limerick hurlers in action over the weekend.

Five Limerick players started for Mary I in their historic title win, including senior panellists Richie English, Darragh O’Donovan, Cian Lynch and Declan Hannon, with Tom Morrissey and Kevin O’Brien featuring in the University of Limerick line-up in the final.

In total, there were 13 Limerick hurlers involved between Mary I, UL and LIT.

Lynch, Hannon and O’Donovan contributed 1-20 of Mary I’s 1-30 final tally, while Morrissey hit 1-5 between the semi-final and decider.

“If there were Limerick colleges involved [in the finals weekend] going back the years, it mightn’t have meant much to the county because there wouldn’t have been much Limerick representation. There were 13 involved across the weekend. That is a positive and that is brilliant,” said O’Mahony.

“The more lads you can have playing competitively in this competition is brilliant.

“I think it should be the foundation for any inter-county manager, to come and see players like that. The next step up is inter-county.

“Fitzgibbon is the closest thing to it (intercounty) and to see lads performing out there like they did is very encouraging.”

With nine of the 13 Limerick players having been part of last year’s U21 All-Ireland winning panel, O’Mahony believes the future for the county is bright.

“There is a nice crop of hurlers coming through. It is about consistently having players competing at that level, competing at Harty Cup level to U21 to colleges.

“If you are consistent at colleges, you are always going to be producing good quality players that are able to compete in the white heat of battle.

“Any hurler that is playing at the top level wants to win an All-Ireland.

“After that he wants to win a Fitzgibbon. There is a huge amount of effort and time put into this by the players and by the colleges.

“For a small college like Mary I, this is an unbelievable result.”