Donal O'Grady on Limerick hurling lessons learned from his Cork namesake

AN All-Ireland SHC final with a Donal O’Grady in each backroom team.

Back in 2011 the Granagh-Ballingarry and the St Finbarrs’ Donal O’Gradys were both in green.

This week Limerick coach-selector Donal O’Grady called the vital role his namesake played in putting Limerick hurling back on the right track after a turbulent 2010 season.

"We had a great experience with him and, in fairness to him, he would have set a new standard of what it takes to be tactically and, as a person, an inter-county hurler at the top level and he instilled that fairly quickly into us in 2011,” outlined Limerick’s 2013 Munster SHC winning captain.

"He was a great man, real into his video analysis and that and you can actually see a lot of that in what Cork are doing one, their puckouts and so forth and the way they set up. I do think he has a big influence in that, yes,” he recalled.

"It’s amazing, we’re nearly 10 years now, 2011 to 2021. It’s amazing how the game has evolved since but then the fundamentals are the same, primary possession, that real will to win that contested ball on the ground and then you can have your platform to move forward and he was a firm believer of that in us and it was amazing the little tweaks he made back then with us, even the running game and he instilled that in us in 2011 and even persistence in training, we did see the fruition of that to a certain extent and obviously if he’d had another couple of years with us we might have seen a bit more but that’s the way it was.”

This January, former All-Ireland winning manager Donal O’Grady has joined Cork’s senior hurling management group to work on analysis and coaching.

"He seems to be only in the background - he doesn’t really be out on the limelight or on the sideline or anything like that. Obviously they’ve a good management team there without him but I think it’s just advice and experience in the back there and he was always great to do tactical and his analysis of games, I would like reading to listening to whatever he had to say so yeah, very highly intelligent man when it comes to hurling.”

Ahead of the third meeting of the teams in 2020, there can’t be too many unknowns between the teams?

"We have and in the 2018 one, it was us that came back in near the end and then kicked on in extra time. But look in this year alone we have played them in the league here, we played them in the championship obviously and they got one over us there the year before. Very little between us. The one thing about Cork is: they are a hurling team. Very skillful. A lot of similarities with Limerick. And at the same time a lot of differences in how we set up. So from that side, we have seen enough of each other through this year. A lot of games take their own lease of life and both teams stick to their plans so it will be very interesting to see how it pans out,” outlined the former Limerick midfield star.

When Limerick and Cork met in the 2018 All-Ireland SHC semi final, Croke Park was a novelty but now a second home to Limerick with seven games in GAA Headquarters across the last four years. 

"It was a big thing going up there. The quarter finals were in Thurles, if we were lucky enough to be in one, and a semi in Croke Park. But I think the lads are in a great routine now. Up on the train that morning. Home on the train that evening. There is a routine and we have been blessed that we have been there on a nice number of occasions over the last three or four years. Croke Park is where every player wants to be so I can’t wait for the occasion,” he said.

"Well I suppose from a supporters’ point of view, yes, they’re getting to go to Croke Park on  lot more occasions than they had been over the previous 10 years but yeah, but again, as I said, we’re lucky to have them. There’s a great squad there with Limerick, they are absolutely a driven bunch. They had reasonable success at underage and they just gelled it together with that group, Nickie and them lads that were there and joined up. So they’ve really kicked on and, I suppose, just watching them play, it’s nice to see a Limerick team… I think a lot of the Limerick supporters are really proud to be associated with them as well, which is a big help. And, again, as I said, for the crowd to see this group, we’ve been starved of it for a year or two, the supporters coming up in trains and buses and cars, getting into Croker and now they have the chance to do it next Sunday and it should be great.”

He added: "They’re just an elite bunch of players that Limerick are lucky to have. I suppose the one thing about them is, you can mention their past successes, even recent successes, but they’re so grounded. They’re only interested in what’s happening at training this week, which is freakish. For me, if I was lucky enough to win an All-Ireland I’d still be talking about it. These fellas just want to go next game, next game. It’s amazing. You’d always have five or six lads like that but when you’ve a group like that, they are a special group and it’s just a privilege to be involved with them to be honest."