Limerick hurling superfan Pat “The Bog” Carroll has packed his trademark sombrero for Sunday’s Mexican standoff between Limerick and Kilkenny at Croke Park.
“We have the sombrero ready and a new flag to be unfurled on the day. We’ve changed the phrase ‘In God we trust’ to ‘In John we trust’ and a picture of Limerick’s manager John Kiely underneath it. It is freshly made for its virgin voyage to Croker,” says The Bog.
He will lead the green and white army of supporters into Hill 16 hoping to see the Shannonside warriors skin the Kilkenny Cats’ for the second year in a row and thus secure their fourth All Ireland title in a row.
For The Bog, marching to Croker for the hurling final for the last four years has been “the stuff of dreams”.
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“They are a legendary team, they have given us savage days out. An awful lot of Limerick supporters would have settled for the win in 2018, they’d have been perfectly happy because it gave another generation or two the experience of seeing Limerick win an All Ireland final that hadn’t seen the 1973 win,” he says.
“We had disappointments in the 1990s, but for this Limerick team to have gone and done what it has done since 2018 is the stuff of dreams, in fairness, especially when you are up against teams like Kilkenny.
“I think Limerick are good enough – but Kilkenny are Kilkenny – and this is a better Kilkenny team than last year, and you will always earn it to win any match against Kilkenny, not to mind an All-Ireland,” he says.
The Bog, who will travel to the final with fellow supporters Sean McKenna and Noel Hayes, isn’t getting ahead of himself though.
“I was talking to a Kerry man there lately and he was saying Limerick will do five-in-a-row, and I replied that you can’t win five-in-a-row unless you win four-in-a-row, so we’ll try and win the four, and go after five after that.”
The Limerick All-Ireland hurling champions of 2018, 2020, 2021 and 2022, also hold a special place in Amanda Keane’s heart.
Keane, who transformed her house in Janesboro into a green and white shrine, says the Limerick team are amazing.
“Since 2018 they have kept the county going, they have lifted all out spirits, especially throughout the Covid pandemic, and we will follow them all over the country.”
The scramble for tickets will leave many disappointed but a big screen in Limerick city centre will show all the action from Croke Park.
“We rang all around the country to get tickets, I tried very person I knew in Limerick, and people in different counties, and we got them, so we are delighted and we have our train tickets as well,” says Keane.
“Limerick will definitely beat the Cats, it will be a tough game but they will do it. They are half-time wonders, they always come out after the break and fight in the second half – whatever John Kiely says to them in the dressing room, it definitely makes the difference.”
Noel Burke (72), from Patrickswell, witnessed Limerick’s All-Ireland final win over the Cats in 1973, although it would be 45 years before the Treaty men would repeat that victory in a final at Croke Park.
“I think Limerick will win on Sunday, it’s going to be a battle, but they have improved in the last few matches. They will win it,” he says.
He is immensely proud of his roots in Patrickswell, which has produced Limerick hurling greats like Ciaran Carey, Gary Kirby and now the likes of current stars Cian Lynch, Aaron Gillane and Diarmuid Byrnes.
“We have a feed of Patrickswell on the team, Aaron Gillane is on fire, and hopefully he will be on fire again on Sunday, and hopefully they will all give a great performance and win.”
Recalling the 1973 final between Limerick and Kilkenny, he muses: “You couldn’t compare it with the hurling of nowadays, it is way faster now, the hurling has changed completely, it is way better now.
“Limerick are fantastic, if they win on Sunday, they won’t just be All Ireland champions, they will be world champions – there isn’t a team in the world that will beat them if they beat Kilkenny on Sunday.”