Limerick coach hails champions: ‘When they’re under pressure that’s when they perform best’

By Cathal Dennehy

On the wall at his home in Tralee, etched in words big enough to see anytime his eyes wander from his work, Joe O’Connor has written a reminder:

‘Simple that works is better than complicated that doesn’t.’

Over the years he has worked with various inter-county sides, from the Waterford hurlers in 2010 to the All-Ireland-winning Clare hurlers in 2013, while more recently his fingerprint has been witnessed on the Kerry footballers and, of course, the Limerick hurlers.

Since 2016 he’s been their fitness and nutrition coach, but a deeper dive into his methods may disappoint the gurus of marginal gains — as Leonardo da Vinci once said, simplicity is often the ultimate sophistication.

We look at GPS data, like every inter-county team, and I’m a fan of heart-rate technology, but outside of that we’re not too techie,” says O’Connor. “You’re going back to the fundamentals of coaching: Talking to a human being who’s trying to play a sport. So often I feel we over-science it.

“You need clear and simple metrics that are valuable and reliable and a lot of sports science doesn’t fall into that validity or reliability structure.”

As a lecturer in exercise physiology at IT Tralee, O’Connor keeps abreast of the latest developments across the dizzying spectrum of sports and nutrition science, but when it comes to preparing a team to win an All-Ireland, it goes back to basics.

“I look at every training session as a bit of hay that goes into the barn and you just hope that when you get to the biggest days, your barn is full and you haven’t gone mad with peaks or troughs, just chronically exposing them to specific training.”

In this sense, he references a discussion with Paul O’Connell and the need to focus on the big rocks that form the foundation of performance.

“There’s a big magpie effect in GAA,” he says.

We go and get the latest shiny thing simply because it’s the newest thing and everyone is doing it, but no one asks whether it’s good or bad, is this right for players in the context of their development? You don’t disregard all the science, but there’s a skill in knowing the right thing to do.

After helping Clare to All-Ireland success in 2013, O’Connor took a step back from inter-county training following the birth of his second child. Three years later, when the call came from then Limerick hurling manager TJ Ryan, he felt a duty to his native county.

“Just to have the chance to work with Limerick is what I always dreamed of. I wouldn’t have put it out there that I wanted it that much, I’d be reserved that way, but I just couldn’t say no.”

He was there in ’94, a young lad of 14 sitting with his dad in Croke Park and bawling his eyes out as Limerick imploded in the All-Ireland final, surrendering 2-5 to Offaly in the last five minutes and with it, the Liam MacCarthy Cup.

Two years earlier, O’Connor had a lucky escape after breaking his back in three places in a horse-riding accident, with doctors judging him to have a 20% chance of walking again. His career in field sports was hampered thereafter and he gravitated towards athletics, a passion he continues to indulge today.

This morning, as celebrations rumble into a sixth day for Limerick, O’Connor will be toeing the line at the Quest 12, a 146km adventure race through mountainous terrain along the Wild Atlantic Way.

If there’s one principle that’s guided his work with Limerick, it’s specificity. “You can’t treat everybody the same,” he says.

It has to be a player-first approach. You want an optimal performance, but that is a balance between optimal training and optimal recovery.

Down the stretch last Sunday, as eight minutes of injury time and two Galway goals rattled every Limerick man to the core, O’Connor remained confident on the sideline. “When they’re under pressure, that’s when they perform their best. They’re competitors, they’re winners and they‘re like a horse that isn’t great at leading a race but when someone comes on their shoulder they’ll kick on.”

In 2013 he experienced that exultant sprint from the sideline at full-time with Clare, but this time was different, inevitably meaning that little bit more. “It’s on a different level,” he says. “Last Sunday was a childhood dream.”