Darragh O'Donovan has no regrets about Cork flag plant: 'I'd do it again tomorrow morning'

Darragh O'Donovan of Limerick celebrates after the GAA Hurling All-Ireland Senior Championship Final match between Galway and Limerick at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile

Darragh O’Donovan says he has no regrets about planting a Limerick flag in SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh following last month’s Munster final win over Cork.

An All-Ireland winner for the sixth time on Sunday having added a seventh Munster medal, O’Donovan admits he did it in the spur of the moment and it was “a moment of madness” but looks back on it with a smile.

“Oh, Jesus. Stop! No, look, I don't think at times, do you know what I mean? I think characters have died out of the GAA since. I'm not saying that I'm a character or anything like that.

“Look, it was a moment of madness more so than anything, not in any disrespect to Cork or anything like that. We were saying it on the field afterwards (on Sunday), but the jubilation after the Munster final because it was a one-point win, and (All-Ireland final) was an 11-point win, they're different.

“When you win by one point, it's brilliant. It was a moment of madness but I don't have any regrets about it either. I'd do it again tomorrow morning."

O’Donovan maintains he has the height of regard for Cork. "I thought about it a lot afterwards. I have great time for some of those Cork players and for their manager Ben O'Connor, growing up idolising Ben and things like that. These things happen.

“I actually saw Mark Coleman, he did an interview and he just said it (the flag planting) is what it is. They came to Limerick and they celebrated. I'm sure they had their few bits and pieces. But at the end of the day, I think we did our talking on the field all year with our performances in games.

“Sunday was the pinnacle of that. We actually hadn't put together a 70-minute performance all year. Probably going back to the Tipp game in the league, that was the last time we put a real performance together.

“But I said to the lads last Saturday (week) morning, we had a meeting before training and I said, 'This doesn't need to be a one-point victory, why can't it be an obliteration? Why couldn't we just stamp our authority on a team and put the foot on their throat?' You just keep going and keep going and that's what happened. It was phenomenal. It was class to watch it."

O’Donovan felt Sunday’s All-Ireland final was over “after 45, 46 minutes” but sensed Galway were a beaten team at half-time when Limerick led by five points.

"The body language, you could see going in at half-time that they looked broken. Their system, they were going short all the time and our lads were just putting the pressure on with the press, the squeeze in the middle third and the amount of turnovers that were executed then. They looked like, 'What are we doing here? What are we going to do? What's the plan?' There wasn't. And that's down to our lads. The work they put in, the tackles were ferocious. It was like watching the All Blacks in their prime."

Despite starring in Cork last month, O’Donovan was dropped for the All-Ireland final following a disappointing show in the semi-final win over Clare. He had anticipated the axe.

“I had a strong Munster championship campaign but a very poor game against Clare. And I knew. Coming home on the train that evening, I said, 'I've lost my place now for the All-Ireland final'. And that's the way it has to be.

“I'd be saying the same thing if I was in the fellas' boots behind me. I'd be saying, 'I want to get in here, that fella didn't play well'.”