Limerick hurling star Adam English hoping to add to his success

THE last five months have been a memorable time for Adam English.English helped Doon win their ever first ever senior hurling championship title against Na Piarsaigh in October. The East Limerick man scored the match winning point in their county final success.

English then had an impressive start to the Allianz Hurling League with Limerick, scoring 0-7 in the opening two games against Cork and Tipperary.

Last Saturday, the Doon clubman stepped up with 0-2 in UL's victory over DCU in the Fitzgibbon Cup decider.

“I can't complain now, back to Limerick now and hopefully more achievements coming there,” Adam English said.

It has been a busy few weeks for the Fitzgibbon Cup players involved with Limerick. English said the Limerick management have made things easy for the players.

“It has been very hectic, to be fair John (Kiely), (Paul (Kinnerk) and our strength and conditioning coach Adrian (O'Brien) they have got it spot on. They have modified our sessions and it's been brilliant. We are really feeling very fresh.

“Over the moon to get over the line today, it's been a tough few weeks. We are delighted to get the win. We were very confident the whole year. We knew the panel we had and we knew we wanted to right the wrongs of last year,”Adam English said.

UL hit six points without reply in the opening eight minutes of the second half and that proved to be a huge turning in Saturday's Fitzgibbon Cup final.

“We said at half time that we really needed a big ten minutes. We wanted to work hard and we did that.”

English feels the reason Fitzgibbon Cup hurling is so special is players get to experience playing with hurlers from other counties.

“That's the joys of Fitzgibbon hurling, you're playing with the likes of Gearoid O'Connor. Every player you come up against is an inter-county hurler.”

After coming up short in last year's Fitzgibbon Cup final, manager Brian Ryan was relieved to see UL lift the Fitzgibbon Cup for the third time in four years.

“We've good teams in UL and sometimes we don't always reach the pinnacle of the ability of the players. It's nice then when you reach that,” said UL Fitzgibbon Cup manager Ryan.

Eleven of UL's starting XV have featured for Limerick, Galway, Clare, Waterford and Tipperary throughout the Allianz Hurling League.Ryan said there can be challenges with the number of players they have involved with county squads.

“That's the nice part about it, you are working with such a talented bunch of players from several different counties. It's trying to get that mix right and trying to work with their managers.

“There's a lot of commitments on these young lads trying to get on county panels.”

The South Liberties clubman has guided UL to their third Fitzgibbon Cup title in four years.

“It's magnificent for all of us involved in the management team. It's a just reward for the efforts we have put in,” added winning manager Brian Ryan.