Limerick minors inspired by senior heroes as they claim All-Ireland title

In his second stint as minor boss, Diarmuid Mullins has returned two Munster titles (2019 and ‘20) and this All-Ireland from his three years at the helm.

Diarmuid Mullins: "One thing the Limerick seniors have brought is belief for underage players. All the lads believed if we keep going, going, going, we can get this." Pic: Tom Beary/Sportsfile

Diarmuid Mullins hailed the inspiration of the Limerick senior hurlers as the Treaty minors bridged a 42-year gap to their last All-Ireland title.

Now, their manager hopes this current crop of U17s can provide the spark to ensure the county remain contenders at the grade on a consistent basis.

Trailing by three points in stoppage time, Gavin O’Brien netted an audacious 62nd-minute equalising goal before fellow substitute John Ross O’Reilly pointed the 63rd-minute winner in front of 12,526 fans at the TUS Gaelic Grounds.

“It's great for their development,” said Mullins. “Not all of them are going to go on and play 20s or senior, but an experience like today is really good for them. Playing in front of a big crowd, making mistakes, recovering from mistakes.

“Look at Sam (Collins), our goalie. In the Munster final, a couple of things didn't go his way. Look at how well he played today. Look at his puck-outs, look at everything that he did there for us.

“Tipperary lost nothing really in losing the game today. They have a brilliant team and they'll get players through from that as well.

“But today, it's Limerick's day and we just have to make sure that it's a start to get Limerick back on a more regular basis at minor.

“That's going to be important for us going forward, because the senior team isn't going to be there forever. But there's good players and everyone has to aspire to be a Shane Waters or a Diarmuid Crowe and do as well as they did there.” 

Mullins took a soaking from his overjoyed players as he addressed media questions before expressing his own satisfaction at the match-winning role played by O’Brien, a brother of senior full-forward Shane, and O’Reilly.

“I'm delighted for Gavin. Gavin was on the team in the first couple of championship games. Things didn't go as well as he would have liked, other lads came in, but Gavin's been brilliant. He's trained so well and wanted to get back on it.

“John Ross has been pushing so hard as well to get on the team. It's just brilliant when you see guys come in. The one thing is we've had 37 lads and they've been selfless in terms of what they've done.”

In his second stint as minor boss, Mullins has now returned two Munster titles (2019 and ‘20) and this All-Ireland from his three years at the helm.

The Laois native didn’t refer to the long wait for the Irish Press Cup, last won by Limerick in 1984, nor the previous two defeats to Tipp in the Munster Championship.

“We didn't mention either of the previous Tipperary games and we didn't mention about 42 years. Minor teams change every year, so it's not like you have the same team coming back year on year trying to win something.

“With respect, like say Mayo trying to win their All-Ireland over and over again. You could have a team of 10 years, you could have guys striving to get there. Minors play one year, maybe two years, and I don't think they thought about that at all.” 

Their defence kept them in the contest, limiting a Tipp team that had averaged 3-17 per game to 1-14.

“I didn't think there was much in the first two games we played, so there wasn't much in it again today,” said Mullins.

“We changed a few things at half-time. Shane (Waters) and Diarmuid (Crowe) went a bit deeper into midfield and we started winning breaking ball.

“Three points for all of the hurling that Tipperary had done in the first half, it meant we were within touching distance. One thing the Limerick seniors have brought is belief for underage players. All the lads believed if we keep going, going, going, we can get this.

“I know Sam had to make a few saves, but overall our defenders were very, very brave.

“We could have gone into it and said, we're going to play a sweeper or we're going to play negatively.

“With young players, you have to empower them and go for it. Our defenders went man-on-man and they did so well.”