‘When you’re at the top there is only one place you can go’

“Not being hungry enough. Winning one year and being happy with it. Trying to win the second year but not putting everything into it and then you lose and you feel guilty and you correct the wrongs the following year. It’s as simple as that.”

Shane Dowling is explaining Na Piarsaigh’s record of being unable to put Limerick SHC titles back-to-back, those gaps between their 2011, ’13 and ’15 triumphs.

“Other teams have been hungrier. It’s like everything in life: When you’re at the top there is only one place you can go and that’s down and that’s been the case every second year.”