From the outside looking in it would seem like this Limerick hurling team are creating a dynasty for the ages.
With back-to-back All-Irelands and three of the last four annexed, the awarding of 12 All Stars (a record) the other night only served to convey their greatness.
But as Cian Lynch – who joined the company of other greatness in becoming only the second player to win multiple PwC GAA/GPA Hurler of the Year honours, alongside Henry Shefflin – puts it, there is no talk within the tight-knit camp of creating dynasties or such like.
“To be honest we try to stay in the moment; especially how changes in the world have been the last few years, there is no point in getting carried away and looking beyond today or tomorrow because nobody knows what it will bring. I think each of us as a group try and just focus on what you can do today to better yourself for tomorrow,” said Lynch.
“The individual award itself is huge for each player in any county or code. It is kind of special to have the 12 lads and obviously the three boys were unfortunate to lose out too but they are the bonuses at the end of the year, they are the extras. For ourselves we just want to keep driving on and enjoy the few weeks off.”
Lynch, at 25 years of age, has a lot of hurling ahead of him for sure. But he admitted that joining Shefflin – a three-time winner of the Hurler of the Year - as a multiple winner of the award brought considerable satisfaction. Lynch previously claimed the honour in 2018.
“Growing up I would have been idolising the likes of Henry Shefflin, those Kilkenny and Tipperary teams from the ‘noughties . . . [and] while the award itself is huge and is a massive honour on an individual level, it is just a credit to everyone else, the team and panel, the backroom staff in Limerick because without every other player it would not be possible to reach those heights,” said Lynch.
And for Lynch there is also an importance to enjoy some down time over the winter months. Of barely touching a hurl at this time of the year, he remarked: “when the season is over it is massively important to switch off . . . you want that appetite and that hunger to be sparked again. It is this time of the year you want to do other things, a bit of indoor soccer with the lads or going out to meet friends you didn’t get to meet the last while as a result of restrictions or you are trying to protect yourself, I suppose in the different bubbles.”
