Tom Morrissey insists 'success was ingrained in us' in Limerick Hurling Academy

IN September 2012 Limerick won the All-Ireland U16 hurling championship.

Tom Morrissey, Cian Lynch, Sean Finn and Barry Nash were all in the team.

That title win in the Tipperary Supporters Club sponsored All-Ireland U-16 hurling tournament kick-started a remarkable nine years for Morrissey and Limerick hurling.

In all but one of those nine years Morrissey has won a championship title – 2012 (All-Ireland U16), 2013 (Munster MHC), 2014 (Munster MHC), 2015 (All-Ireland U21), 2017 (All-Ireland U21), 2018 (All-Ireland SHC), 2019 (Munster SHC) and 2020 (Munster SHC).

No time to look back just yet for the Ahane man though.

“You don’t think to reflect when you are in the middle of your career - that’s more for a time when I am retired and I want to look back on my Limerick career. I will then decide if it exceeded my expectation and what not,” Morrissey said at Limerick’s pre-final media event.

”At the moment the current focus is living in the now and trying to win every game and trophy that is there to be won each year that we go out and each competition that we play in. There is no denying that the last few years have been unreal for Limerick hurling considering the lack of success in the years before. We are a very ambitious group and we probably were lucky enough to have success at underage as well. My group started at U16 and won an All-Ireland, back-to-back Munster minors and two Munster and two All-Ireland U21s as well. Success was something that was ingrained in us,” explained Morrissey, who made his senior debut in 2016.

Hand-in-hand with his inter-county hurling, Morrissey had Ahane, Harty Cup with Castletroy College and Fitzgibbon Cup with UL across a decade of success.

“We don’t mind what went on in Limerick hurling past, we are just fairly keen that every day we go out training or playing a match that we want to be the best that we can be and set our own history. We are going to continue to give our best and be greedy and try and get as much success as we can because a sporting career is short.”

Ahead of a second All-Ireland SHC final in three years, Morrissey doesn’t talk of legacy.

“In my eyes if we do want to be a great team it’s to push on and obviously win an All-Ireland or a few more, if you want to be considered a great. For a motivation we try not to think of our legacy or anything like that. Our motivation going out each day is to get a big performance and to work hard and generally the result will follow and that’s what we have been doing and luckily we have been successful at picking up trophies by doing that along the way.”

2020 has already returned three trophies – Munster League, National League and Munster SHC.

“The belief is instilled in us now and you saw that the last day against Galway and in the Munster final and the last quarter against Waterford when the game was going down to the wire but this team has the belief and character to pull it out of the bag and get the result that we needed on both days.”

At U21 and senior, Morrissey has shared much success with manager John Kiely – their sixth season working together.
“As long as I have known John he has been the same manager - winning is the only mentality and the only thing that matters. Even from the U21 days, that was blatantly obvious and from his team talks before games and it’s still the same today. That is the only thing that he cares about and I think that rubs off on the rest of the group. You want to win as much as you can,” he outlines.

Another integral part of the Limerick management set-up is Caroline Currid - Team Performance Psychologist.

“There is no secret that Caroline is very successful at what she does and she came in with us in 2017 and ‘18 for an initial two year stint. Her being involved with the set-up, it’s not a coincidence that we have been successful in the years she has been with us - she is a top woman and she does have a big influence and she just gives us an edge that you need to be competitive at this level, as do many people involved in the backroom team. We are surrounded by a lot of top class people and they each give us a competitive advantage that you need over others teams at this level,” said Morrissey referencing all of Limerick’s 21 strong backroom team.

Sunday will see Morrissey line-out at senior level for the 23rd time. 

“Experience does bring that bit of calmness. I know this year is obviously different to others - you are usually running out to bid crowds on Munster final day or Croke Park in an All-Ireland semi final and I was trying to reflect at the weekend and I definitely was more relaxed against Galway but I don’t know if that was due to an empty stadium or what not. That would generate extra nerves, especially on matchday. You are able to get a feel for the game that bit easier and the nerves aren’t there and you can see that in the players in the way that we are playing - there is more composure on the ball and games’ are high scoring and I think the fact that the stadium is empty it does allow the player to be more relaxed and composed on the ball.”

In 2020, Morrissey and Gearoid Hegarty have been ever present at wing forward but the no11 jersey has inter-changed.

“There has obviously been a bit of change but I don’t think there was too much adjusting to do - my job individually and our role as a half forward line has maintained the same. Going out on the pitch there are no worries that I would be able to fit in with David Reidy or Cian Lynch or whoever does fill that no11 role since Kyle has gone back to wing back. You still have your own individual role to carry out for the team and that’s the same no matter who is playing alongside you. We could put anyone into the roles at 10,11, 12 and we will play the same way,” he explains.

What of Sunday December 13?

“Most neutrals do go for the underdog but it wouldn’t really play in our head too much. We are focused every day that we go out with our own job to do and we are not going to let anything external factors impact our performance because at the end of the day we don’t really mind who the public want to win because we have our own objective and we want to hit them to make sure we are successful.”