First cousins both play for Limerick in Croke Park but not together!
The Doon boys are grandnephews of the great Eamonn Grimes who captained Limerick when they won the All-Ireland in 1973
THEY say you can’t bate breeding and Limerick hurler Adam English and young Fionn O’Brien are living proof as they both graced Croke Park on Sunday.
The first cousins from Doon are both grandnephews of Eamonn Grimes, who captained Limerick to the All-Ireland title in 1973.
Adam English played in midfield - just like his granduncle - on Sunday.
When Adam and his teammates ran off the hallowed turf at half-time, it was time for Fionn to shine.
The son of James and Beth had the honour of representing Limerick in the INTO / GAA mini sevens exhibition game in Croke Park.
It was a very proud day for the families to see Adam and Fionn, both attendees of Doon CBS Primary School, represent their counties with pride in GAA headquarters.
Adam’s dad Richard, from Ballinalard in County Tipperary, in particular, has had a great two years as he saw his native county win in 2025 and his son win another All-Ireland medal at the weekend.
In a coincidence, Adam also played in the mini sevens back in 2015 when he wore the Galway jersey. He got one of the scores of the match on Sunday when he stretched out his hurley like a magic wand to control the sliothar, pirouetted and planted it over the bar.
Adam spoke to Limerick Leader Sport’s Joel Slattery in the former Burlington Hotel in Dublin on the morning after he lifted Liam MacCarthy high in the Dublin sky.
“It’s cool, it’s a nice feeling. It doesn’t feel real yet, I don’t think it will yet but it’s nice. At the start of the year we set out our goals.
“We wanted to win the Munster League, we wanted to win the Allianz League, we wanted to win the Munster final, we wanted to win the All-Ireland final - we got to do that.
“It’s exactly what we wanted to do. We demanded it out of ourselves to perform for the full 70 minutes,” said Adam.
Fionn wasn’t the only local youngster from hurling royalty to get to run out in Croke Park on Sunday as Amy Ryan, Knocklong (pictured above) – daughter of Davy and Cathy - also played in the mini sevens exhibition games at half-time.
Her two uncles, Garryspillane GAA legends TJ and Donie Ryan played in three All-Ireland senior hurling finals for Limerick between them – 1994, 1996 and 2007.
While Amy’s dad Davy also pulled on the green of Limerick with immense pride on the hurling field.