O’Neill’s proving he’s the real deal
Cathal enjoying making mark in Treaty jersey
CATHAL O’Neill has forced his way into the most competitive hurling side in the game — but he says it hasn’t been easy.
The towering 22 year old made his Limerick league debut in 2021 before making his Championship bow in 2022, but he’s had to wait until now to become a regular starter.
In many ways the CrecoraManister man is living proof that the Limerick system is continuing to function to a high standard as the younger players are developing and improving all the time.
O’Neill has pushed on from last year’s super sub role to start every Munster Championship game, and physically he’s starting to look like another Gearoid Hegarty, Kyle Hayes or Diarmaid Byrnes.
Middle
Not only that, but on the evidence of recent outings he is moving towards being one of the main men for the Treaty side.
His Kyle Hayes type versatility alone would suggest this, as he’s played half-back, midfield and half-forward this year and can basically play anywhere in the middle eight.
Nailing down a starting spot this summer, and the huge battle he’s faced to do that, means it has meant more to the four-time Munster and three-time AllIreland winner.
“One hundred per cent,” he says. “Any player I suppose would be lying if you didn’t say it.
“Being part of the team and contributing to it means a hell of a lot, but there’s 36 lads in there and we train so hard every night. I suppose it means everything to us.
“It’s really hard, because there’s a core group there from 2017, 2015, 2018 and I suppose I’m pushing on now, but we are trying to make our stamp on the team.
Trust
“Everyone wants to play and it’s really tough, but every night at training you’ve got to put your hand up and hopefully John
(Kiely) and the management team put their trust in you.”
There are no guarantees, with star men like Cian Lynch and Hegarty either left out or rested regularly over recent seasons.
There’s also the spectre of the returning Sean Finn, Darragh O’Donovan and Seamus Flanagan, hungry for starting spots, while Peter Casey is out for the season.
This has afforded chances to start with the likes of Shane O’Brien and David Reidy coming in and taking full advantage.
Limerick won the All-Ireland last year without skipper, Declan Hannon, who has since reestablished himself as a starter over the past two months after injury problems.
“I suppose it just shows how hard we train and how much trust the management team have with everyone,” says O’Neill, who was top scorer in the Munster minor championship in 2018 and 2019, skippering the side to the title in 2019.
Hungry
“When boys go down it’s the next man and it’s as simple as that. Everyone tries to do their job to the best of their ability and thankfully that paid off again.
“I suppose if you are not hungry, the next lad will take your place, so we have no choice, and sure why would we?
“Limerick, as a whole, we haven’t won a whole lot over the years, so we want to win as much as we can while we can and keep ploughing on.”
Meanwhile, Barry Nash (inset) says Limerick don’t want their incredible run of success to stop here.
The Munster final triumph over Clare was their 11th Championship trophy in eight years under John Kiely.
And they now stand just two victories away from the fabled five in a row and hurling immortality.
Driving
Nash, who started out as a forward with Limerick and is now a full-back line defensive stalwart, said: “We’re always driving to be better.
“We always want to be better for each other and are always pushing each other on the training ground. We don’t want this to stop.
“We want to keep on this road and keep driving on.
“There are some amazing Limerick supporters there and it’s great to see. But look, we’ve another job to do in four weeks’ time, an All-Ireland semi-final, and hopefully push onto an AllIreland final.
“We’ll celebrate it but we’ll be back on the training field on Wednesday night ready to go again for a few weeks’ time.”