The Big Interview with Pat Donnelly: How Limerick hurling warmed up and shaped up

I remember we played a challenge match in Newtownshandrum and Cork gave us a hiding. After the match Leo said to the players, ‘Okay, go warm down’ and an official within earshot remarked, ‘Sure ye haven’t warmed up yet!’

Then Limerick U21 manager Pat Donnelly encourages his players during the 2017 Bord Gáis Energy GAA Hurling All-Ireland U21 Championship final win over Kilkenny. Picture: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

Before he became a key part of the solution to Limerick hurling, you could nearly say Pat Donnelly was part of the problem — or at least a passive witness to it.

Long before he took up his current role as manager of the Limerick hurling academy, or managed Kyle Hayes and the crew to an U21 All-Ireland title in 2017, he was involved with another Limerick team in that grade.