Limerick senior hurling selector Donal O'Grady.
By Cian O'Connell
“It’s been a big learning curve for me coming into this set-up," Donal O'Grady says about his involvement as a Limerick selector in 2020. Such a stalwart for the green and white cause in his playing days, O'Grady is now firmly established as a key part in John Kiely's management team.
"They’re probably into year four of their development," O'Grady remarks.
"Just to see their physique and the speed they move at and whole set-up at training and everything, it took me a couple of weeks to get used to it."
O'Grady was aware of Limerick's talent, but the manner in which they are extracting such a consistent level of performance bodes well.
"I played with a few of them and they’re the exact same guys personally as in they’re very driven and they want to do the best and this young group that has come in with them are complementing them," O'Grady remarks.
"As a group, you can’t question what they’re trying to do, just keep getting to All-Ireland semi-finals and finals as much as we can and thank God we’re there on Sunday."
Back in 2004 O'Grady made his senior inter-county debut for Limerick and stresses that the standard has improved in the intervening decade and a half.
“Definitely," O'Grady replies. "From looking at the lads from the outside as a supporter for a couple of years after I finished, I was kind of looking at them, the physique, the speed they’re going at now, getting faster and faster and I was kind of questioning would I ever be able to mix it inside there.
"Then when you see them up close at training and I suppose the whole scientific approach to training now has gone to another level as well.
"All that is incorporated into Paul Kinnerk’s methods with training. It’s just all a totally new level for me, looking in anyway and obviously other counties are at that level as well."
Limerick hurling selector Donal O'Grady.
A cultural shift has happened too in Limerick according to O'Grady.
“Yeah, it would be," O'Grady admits. "I would say as things go on and you see the expense involved in running a senior set up now compared to seven, eight, 10 years ago, there’s a lot more, so much more involved now.
"The players keep raising the bar in the hurling championship and thank God the GAA are moving with it and willing to put the resources in because some of the games like are just spectacular to watch.
"The power of these guys and the pace and the skill, everything that goes with it, it’s just a pleasure to watch.
"Obviously you’re looking back and there’s great players that have gone 10 years ago and 20 years ago, but I just think hurling is in a good place at the moment and thank God Limerick are there or thereabouts."
Does it make a difference that Limerick terminated a 45 year waiting for an All Ireland title in 2018 going into Sunday's encounter?
“Personally if I was playing I would say yes because you can feel that anxiety in the crowd," O'Grady states.
"You can block all these things out but a lot of these lads are working day to day and they would hear little snippets and this and that and I think that we do control them as much as we can but, yeah, that can happen.
"Just looking at our lads, I look at them and last year is what it is and this year is what it is and they treat every game as the next game and that’s the way they’ve approached it and it has worked so far."
That is for certain and Limerick will treat the Waterford challenge with the utmost respect.
