‘Anyone who says Kilkenny are gone are codding themselves’

For a while, Limerick’s All-Ireland win of 1973 was a topic Eamonn ‘Ned’ Rea didn’t wish to speak about, not publicly at least. Until last August, when Limerick finally ended their 45-year hoodoo, the 1973 full-forward fielded plenty of media requests to talk about the county’s ‘last’ MacCarthy Cup win but always knocked them back.

“I didn’t want to be seen talking about 1973, you can imagine people, ‘Here he is back again talking about ’73 — let it go!’ I didn’t want to be intrusive or to allow ’73 to be talked about,” said Rea.