The minor foundations beneath the Limerick's senior hurling success

The younger members of Limerick’s All-Ireland winning squad benefited from twice coming up short at minor level, according to former county minor boss Brian Ryan.

Having served as Limerick minor manager in 2013 and 2014, Ryan worked with eight of Sunday’s starting team — Sean Finn, Richie English, Mike Casey, Darragh O’Donovan, Cian Lynch, Tom Morrissey, Aaron Gillane and Seamus Flanagan — along with subs Pat Ryan, Barry Nash and Peter Casey.

The county won back-to-back Munster minor titles during his tenure, but were unsuccessful in their bid for All-Ireland glory, losing the 2013 semi-final and the 2014 decider. Ryan is adamant the setbacks these players endured at minor level, on top of gaining All-Ireland final day experience at such a young age, were key factors in their progression to senior level and their contributions to last Sunday’s triumph.

“Absolutely their prior Croke Park experience stood to them on Sunday,” he said.

“If you analyse previous Limerick teams, they have lacked that experience of the big day, the atmosphere, going to the dressing-rooms.

“If you go through that once, then you won’t be overawed by it again.”

“We were there in 2013 and we had the HawkEye incident when losing to Galway in the All-Ireland minor semi-final.

“That hurt the players and they learned from it.

“In 2014, you had the All-Ireland semi-final against Galway, which we won, and the final against Kilkenny, which we didn’t. In a perverse type of way, not winning the minor final strengthened the players. Many a great minor team has won an All-Ireland, but then the players haven’t developed after that. With our group, however, a significant number of them graduated to the senior hurling squad in a very short space of time. On Sunday, I was delighted.”

Hindsight, of course, is a wonderful instrument, but Ryan did see something different in the groups he oversaw. Mind you, that doesn’t mean he was predicting All-Ireland success three and four years down the line.

“We never had any issue with them in training. We had to send some of them home to concentrate on their studies as they were that eager about their hurling.”

“We had them during their formative years and so it is very important the foundation stones are set solid in this period and there is good guidance. We tried to develop their character, leadership skills and their decision-making.

“The post-primary schools played a hugely significant role in their development too. All those players played Harty Cup and a number of them have Harty Cup medals. Now, they were defeated in an All-Ireland colleges final. For young players, they have suffered quite a few defeats. They have built from those experiences and gone on to greater things.”

Having tasted senior success so young, Ryan believes the players need to be “minded” to ensure Sunday doesn’t become a once-off.

“There is a sense among the county board, the management and the academy that these young players need to be minded, needed to be left grow gradually and mature further. In one sense, it is great to win an All-Ireland, but we can’t wait another 45 years. We have a team that is ready to dine at the top table for the next four or five years. It is up to everybody to ensure that happens.”