Shane Dowling looking for more silverware: ‘If we can match their hunger, we hope our hurling will take over’
Shane Dowling admits a break would be welcome but the prospect of claiming another county title with Na Piarsaigh can’t be turned down.
Between club and county, Dowling, Mike Casey, Peter Casey, William O’Donoghue, Kevin Downes and David Dempsey have had little time away from hurling over the past 13 or 14 months. Beat Doon in Sunday week’s final and they will be fancied to extend their interests into 2019.
It was obvious that Na Piarsaigh’s All-Ireland pursuits impacted on the first team chances of the quintet with Limerick with only Mike Casey starting the All-Ireland final. More of the same could follow next season but Dowling doesn’t interpret it like that right now.
“I would love a break. I would love four or five weeks off to be able to put the gear to one side and not worry about anything but I would love another county title more. That’s just the reality of it — you can’t have it every way.
Ten years ago, if we had won a county semi-final there would be huge celebrations. That’s not the case now because we have set standards and standards are not winning semi-finals anymore. Standards are winning county finals and that’s where it is.
Speaking the morning after August’s All-Ireland final win over Galway, Dowling insisted the medal wouldn’t change him.
Na Piarsaigh reaching a seventh county final in 10 years indicates it hasn’t. However, in a thinly-veiled message to some of his younger county teammates, he hopes they are thinking of themselves first as the celebrations and demands on their time continue.
“It didn’t change me,” he says of the success. “Some people ask me am I getting sick of it, going to this thing and that thing but I would have been more sick if that last (Joe Canning) ball had dropped into the back of the net.
“Whatever people want, we’re trying our best to facilitate it. Obviously, there are some things just not feasible to keep doing. I don’t have previous experience of dealing with All-Ireland county titles but I know what it is to be a young lad. You’ve to put Shane Dowling number one and when Shane Dowling is happy he’ll try and make other people happy.
When I was a young lad, 19 or 20, I tried to make other people happy and I wasn’t happy in myself, and I’m just hoping that some of the lads who are that age now are putting themselves number one and ensuring they are happy. If that happens they can help other people more.
Na Piarsaigh hope to successfully defend the John Daly Cup for the first time in 11 days’ time but there’s also the fact it’s 2009 since a team last achieved that feat in Limerick when Adare claimed a hat-trick of titles.
Facing Doon, who were many of the Caherdavin men’s strongest under-age rivals, will add spice to the occasion.
“It hasn’t been done in quite some time,” says the 25-year-old Dowling. “Back-to-backs is a motivation but Doon aren’t going to hand us the cup. There’s been nothing in it between us over the years and it’s a healthy rivalry. They’re looking for their first one so they’re going to be extremely up for it so. If we can match their hunger and eagerness, then we would be hoping our hurling will take over. We showed a good bit of hunger against Kilmallock. I think that’s the one thing that’s been questioned — whether we have the hunger for the back-to-back — and we want to answer those questions.”
The final has been fixed for Saturday, October 27 in the Gaelic Grounds at 7.30pm.
