It's an ‘absolute honour’ to be captain of Na Piarsaigh says Jerome Boylan

NA PIARSAIGH senior hurling captain Jerome Boylan said it's an honour to lead his club into a Limerick senior hurling championship final this weekend.

“It's an absolute honour, 2011 was when we won our first county I was looking at the likes of Kieran Breen and then we had Cathall King who lifted the All-Ireland. Then we had William O'Donoghue, Mike Casey, they're all the lads who I looked up to since I was a kid.

“And to be put in the same bracket as them is a huge honour, I actually never thought that I would be captaining a Na Piarsaigh team to a county final, it's an honour I don't even know what to say to be honest,” Boylan told Leader Sport.

Boylan said it is good to put injuries behind him after struggling with them over the last few years.

“The first two rounds, I picked up a small knock and it kept me out of the first two games. When you get games in, it gives you confidence, it gets you motoring. Thankfully over the last number of rounds and the semi-final I've gotten gametime and we've played challenge matches and stuff. And thankfully I have been able to stay fit.”

The Na Piarsaigh defender feels injuries can be difficult to deal with at times.

“They can be at times, but the thing is I've had other lads like Mike Casey and Peter Casey have been through it. There's been a number of lads in the club that have been through it, friends of mine, so you have those lads to look at and ask questions and to get around, so they've been have been hugely supportive.”

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Sunday will see the Caherdavin club compete in their sixth county senior final in seven years.

“Obviously lads have moved on, but the core group has stayed the same and every year we are bringing in new lads that have looked up to this team. When you're coming into a team like that and you bring that hunger yourself, it just keeps going and we've been lucky that there is huge work that has gone on in Na Piarsaigh in the last fifteen years.

“We've been reaping the rewards over the last few years, but we know it takes a lot of hard work and a lot of good people put in a lot of time in the Na Piarsaigh underage and thankfully we are reaping some of the rewards.”

The Na Piarsaigh captain has been impressed with his side's form throughout this year's championship.

“We seem to improve every game, we have new coach with Tomas Downes. The styles and game plans have changed a small bit, so it takes a bit of getting used to.

“Over the last the two months, it looks like we have improved a lot and hopefully we can take it one step further on Sunday and go up another level,” added Boylan.

Boylan hasn't been able to watch last year's heartbreaking county final defeat to Doon back until recently.

“Last year definitely did hurt and at the time it definitely did hurt. And I didn't watch back the game until a number of weeks ago, I just couldn't get back to watching it.

“We don't talk about it, once you are back into the new season you have two or three months away from the team if not more. When you come back there is no real talk about that loss, it is more so to look to the year ahead and try to get back there again. In the back of your head maybe, you are thinking you don't want to lose two finals in-a-row.”

Boylan is expecting a massive challenge from Doon in this weekend's county final.

“There is a puck of the ball between the two teams. They're coached extremely well, they're really well drilled and on Sunday it's going to be no different. I don't know what way it is going to swing but hopefully we get the one point victory this time.”

The former UCC student said a county title would mean everything to him.

“It would mean everything, I've missed a few county titles through injury, Obviously, they're special days as a team your career is not that long and you want to win as much as you can and to pick up the Daly Cup would be magical.”