Gillane keen to embrace Limerick's four-in-a-row achievement

LIMERICK forward Aaron Gillane remains a firm favourite to land the prestigious Hurler of the Year award following Sunday's All-Ireland final victory.

Gillane landed five points in the win over the Cats and admitted that what this group of players has already achieved is starting to come home to roost.

“It’s really kicking in this morning,” Gillane told reporters on Monday when speaking outside the Woodlands House Hotel in Adare, which hosted a private function for the team on Sunday night. Last night, people were asking us ‘how does it feel’? But you were just wrecked.

“It’s an awful long day. The emotion of everything just takes its toll on you. Waking up this morning was unbelievable. It’s kicking in a small bit how much of a massive achievement it is. We have to acknowledge the massive achievement that it is. We have to acknowledge that. We are over the moon.

Aaron Gillane celebrates with Sean Finn and Mike Casey following their win over Kilkenny. PICTURE: Sportsfile

Gillane was surprised that Limerick had actually won the game by such a margin - an indication of how focused the Patrickswell sharpshooter was on the contest.

“It’s very hard when you are out there to be honest. You wouldn’t know who’s playing well or who is not going well. Someone told me after the match that we won by nine points and I kind of got a bit of a shock because I thought it was very close.

“We wouldn’t be too happy with the first half. Paul (Kinnerk) got his hands on us at half time. He really showed us what he wanted us to go after in the second half. I suppose we did and we came out the right side of it.

“There are two things with this group. The first one is that we are hard working. We have that never give up attitude. That’s epitomised by the lads down the spine of the team.

“The likes of Dan (Morrissey) at full back and William (O’Donoghue). Just monsters. Cian (Lynch) just taking the ball when nobody else wants it and there are three or four fellas hanging off him. Just to have players like that on the team, we are absolutely blessed.

“It doesn’t matter who gets the points in the forwards or who is making the scores in the forwards, as long as it’s Limerick that scores. That’s all the important thing.

“I would be stubborn enough myself. I would be thinking to myself that I have a point to prove. Once I set myself a target I go after it.”

Aaron Gillane in action during the All-Ireland final win. PICTURE: Sportsfile

The Limerick number 13 added that simplicity was key at the break in turning the game around. Gillane said that Kinnerk's approach was vital to give the clear messages in bringing Limerick's second half play to a new level.

“Everyone thinks that Paul is this and that but everything he does is so simple. He puts it all out on the line for us, breaks it down to make it as easy as possible. It’s quite handy for us.

“All we have to do then is to go out and do what he has shown us. We have worked on everything that Paul tells us week in and week out in training.

“It’s not as if he is going out and asking us to change anything or do anything new. The simplicity of it and the way Paul and Seanie (O’Donnell) give us stats at half time. That really stands to us.”

Gillane has been far and away Limerick's top scorer this season and has arguably been in the form of his life.
He has finished the championship season with an impressive 3-47 scoring haul but says that he feels no pressure in taking on that mantle.

“I wouldn’t really. I suppose a lot of the scores that myself and Seamus (Flanagan) being the two deepest inside come from the quality of ball that we get in from (Darragh) O’Donovan, the likes of Declan (Hannon), Kyle (Hayes) and Diarmaid (Byrnes).

“It depends on the boys but they hit the half forward line with the balls on Sunday and they were getting the scores. It doesn’t matter who gets the scores, as long as it’s a Limerick fella getting them.”

Gillane saved his greatest praise of the morning for his club mate and close friend Cian Lynch. It has been a tough couple of years for Lynch since he won Hurler of the Year in 2021 following Limerick's final win over Cork.

Lynch has missed a lot of this year and most of 2022 with a number of injuries that saw him ruled out of last year's final as well. Gillane says there is nobody like his captain in the last two games.

Darragh O'Donovan and Aaron Gillane celebrate after the final whistle. PICTURE: Sportsfile

“He is unbelievable. Cian is a born leader. I would trust Cian with my life. Any final that we have been involved in, whether it’s with Mary Immaculate, or the club, he is always the man that is coming out on top.

“He is the man for the big days and really shows that. He would take the ball with four or five fellas hanging off him and he can just bring someone into the play with the click of his fingers.

“That’s a testament to Cian and the type of player that he is. All the hard work that he has put in over the last couple of months has got him here again.”

Gillane wouldn't be drawn on being red hot favourite to win the Hurler of the Year gong this year. It would be a remarkable achievement and would follow Lynch and Diarmaid Byrnes in the previous two years as Patrickswell men to win the award.

“I wouldn’t be looking too much into that. We have no in it really so there is no point wasting our energy thinking about it,” was Gillane's response to questions about the award.

“The most important thing is the goal of the whole group. That has to be number one. What the team is trying to achieve. If anyone has any bit of go and ambition about themselves they will be setting themselves targets.

"I would like to think that I have knocked some of them off my list but we’re not done yet,” smiled the free-scoring forward.