Piarsaigh’s rocky road to the top

Kevin Downes still smiles at the memory of Sean Stack’s first night training the Na Piarsaigh hurlers in early 2009.

“We were training in January and he said, ‘Right, we’re going to win the Munster club this year’,” said Downes. “We were looking around saying, ‘What is this fella talking about?’”

Downes’ shock might seem surprising now, considering they’ve collected four of the last seven Munster titles and are unbeaten in 11 games outside their county.