Tomas Downes: Peter Casey’s return to full fitness a massive boost for Na Piarsaigh senior hurling team

NA PIARSAIGH senior hurling coach Tomas Downes said it was always his intention to coach his club's senior hurling team at some stage.Downes has previously worked as a coach with Garryspillane, Feakle and Newtownshandrum.

“Garryspillane gave me a start outside of Na Piarsaigh in 2018, I'd be very grateful to them. I've been to Clare and in North Cork last year with Newtownshandrum to get my experience. The plan was always to get my experience and to come back to Na Piarsaigh. I'm very grateful to those clubs for the experience I picked up along the way,” Tomas Downes told Leader Sport.

“It was always the ambition, I started coaching some of those lads with an U12 team. There is a few of them still playing. I told them their ambition at the time was to be senior hurlers any my ambition was to be senior coach. It took me a long road around but I finally got there.”

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Shane O'Neill added Downes to the Na Piarsaigh senior hurling backroom team this year. The Caherdavin clubman felt it was important to get experience with other clubs before returning to his own club.

“It's probably good because without even knowing you can be a little closed off to things and meeting other people outside you can get more ideas. There is awful lot of stuff that I have picked up on my travels that I use over and over again. It's definitely a good way of broadening the mind. A few minds inside with the academy is a place where you pick up another bit of information, it can be very beneficial if your long term ambition is to get to that adult role with your club.”

Downes describes Na Piarsaigh manager Shane O'Neill as a great delegator.

“Shane is great to delegate out, we all have our own roles and he doesn't micro-manage whatsoever. He trusts us in what we are doing and we work well to bring it all together on championship day,” he said.

Doon and Na Piarsaigh games over the past have taken on a life of their own. Downes said it is about getting the work done on the training field to prepare the city side for these games.

“You get to that stage where you need to have the work done on the training field, if A, B or C happens on match day that you have the players equipped to whatever is being thrown at them. Very few of these games are taking a standard pattern that you would expect, there is always some curveball thrown, you have a year's work trying to get them ready to whatever materialises on the day.”

Downes believes one of the main reasons for Na Piarsaigh’s consistency is that the team doesn’t dwell on their past achievements.

“Every year we put a full stop on it and go again. There's no point looking back and giving yourself a clap on the back. The end of the year comes that's it, it is done and dusted.

“We start back again and what we have been blessed with is there has always been a couple of new lads coming into the team, that will be going for their first medal, so just because there is a couple of lads that have a few, you can't be disrespecting their chances either and you've got to keep the show on the road and keep pushing it on. There is a good lot of that 2011 team that have stepped away but they have handed the jersey on in great shape so we just keep that mantra going, that the next crew coming in keep looking to hand that jersey on in as good as shape as you got it.”

The Na Piarsaigh coach feels they have been improving in each game throughout the senior hurling championship.

“We are bit by bit getting better, we are getting bodies back on the field. It always kind of helps, we were relatively happy with the first half against Kilmallock. It was good from us but we fell away a good bit in the second half so we need to extend that good patch we had in the first half. There is plenty of room for improvement but we are happy with how it is progressing but definitely a few steps to go, we will have to be a few levels better to win the final.”

Peter Casey's return to full fitness has been a major positive for Na Piarsaigh.

“Peter could go into any club or county in the country and enhance it. And getting a player like that is obviously going to be a huge benefit for us.”