Limerick All Star Shane Dowling and his Na Piarsaigh team-mates have just one fixture left in their third Munster hurling campaign and the Limerick city club have yet to lose a single match in the province.
On Sunday, with Dowling weighing in with seven frees, they defeated Tipperary champions Thurles Sarsfields and now face Waterford’s Ballygunner in Sunday’s Munster final in Semple Stadium.
Two titles already under their belt, the Limerick champions are expected to make it three but they played the same opponents en route to the 2011 provincial championship and Dowling says that the team takes nothing for granted, particularly after losing to Loughgiel Shamrocks in their first All-Ireland semi-final.
"They probably will want to get a bit of revenge because we went on to win it that year. They might have looked at it as one that got away. Listen, I know it's a cliche, Paddy Power probably have us as red-hot favourites [they do, 1/2] but I've said it before; Paddy Power has never played hurling because if he did, Thurles would be in the final and not us.
Sent home
“I don’t pay too much heed to that because in 2011 we looked ahead of where we should have been looking and we got sent home with our tails between our legs above in Parnell Park. So if we’re beaten on Sunday, it certainly won’t be from looking ahead, it’ll be down to Ballygunner probably being better than us on the day.”
That sense of wariness extends to the whole championship. At present Na Piarsaigh are favourites to go one better than their county rivals Kilmallock, who lost last season's All-Ireland final against Ballyhale Shamrocks. The champions didn't make it out of Kilkenny this year and fellow heavy-hitters Portumna, Gort and St Thomas's from Galway are also out of contention, leaving the field very open.
Asked had their minds strayed to the prospect of ultimate success, Dowling denied it. “It’s a good question. All I can say is that because of what I said earlier on, 2011 versus Loughgiel Shamrocks, we have vowed to each other that under no circumstance will we look ahead – and I am not saying that as a cliche, that’s exactly what [we’re avoiding]. It would be very easy to do that because, as you say, the heavy-hitters are out, but we’ve learned our lesson from 2011 – play it game by game.”
He sees the sense in current proposals to conclude the club championship by Christmas instead of the traditional date of St Patrick’s Day. But also the problems.
“See, there’s two sides to it. I think hurling should go from January to January right. If it does, then the All-Ireland final will be in December; but if you don’t, it will be played in March, probably in better conditions. So I think it should be played in the one calendar year but then you’re bringing the risk of playing it in snow . . .
“I think it should be played in one year, definitely. For the sake of club players, for the sake of county players, you’re on the spin a long time; you need to get a break. If you bring it into one year, you’re playing it in December; but if you don’t, it’s a long year, so I’d be in favour of having it in the one year, but how I don’t know.”
Reflection
Dowling also said the bereavement suffered by their Thurles opponents, whose selector Jack Griffin recently lost his life in a traffic accident, had given him pause for reflection.
"We were in the dressing-room and Larry Hogan our kitman came around and put black tape around our arm as a mark of respect. I was thinking, 'can you imagine when the black tape is going around the Thurles fellas arms, what they must be feeling?'
“I was saying after the match that I only ever lost one person through a road traffic accident, who I only kind of knew and I still got some hit, so I can just imagine what they must have been going through over the past two weeks.
“Their training regime, everything, probably went out the window. It was very, very tough for them and, listen, Munster clubs, county championships, sport is tiny when it comes to life. But that man’s family and the family of the driver whose car hit him – they’re going to find it difficult for the rest of their lives.
“Sport is very small compared to stuff like that.”
