Cian Lynch taking stardom 'with a pinch of salt'
Cian Lynch taking stardom 'with a pinch of salt'
Cian Lynch taking stardom 'with a pinch of salt'
By Peter Sweeney
Youngsters are calling into the local shop in Patrickswell just to get a look at one of their employees.
Limerick's newest hurling star is working in Spar during the summer and since his Man of the Match turn against Clare last month there has been a lot of interest in him.
"Young fellas come in and I'd be laughing away myself, having the usual craic and just being myself," said the 19-year-old.
"Lads come in and want you to sign something and looking up at you. You'd say to yourself 'what are they staring at?'. It's changed, but you wouldn't want to dwell on it, you wouldn't want to get bogged down in it because it's only one match.
"It's great because I remember being that age and looking up to hurlers, saying to myself 'jeez, that's Séamus Hickey or that's Henry Shefflin', you know. It's cool enough, but you have to take it with a pinch of salt - you don't want to get carried away.
"It's all part of it. Supporters are as important as the players at the end of the day."
Lynch was captain of the Limerick minor team that made last year's All-Ireland final and he was thrown into the deep end with the seniors during this season's League.
He made his senior Championship debut in the thrilling win over Clare recently and he looked born to the big day, an occasion he likened to stepping into the Roman Colosseum as a gladiator.
The teenager hasn't let it go to his head though and he only has focus for the upcoming Munster Senior Hurling Championship semi-final against Tipperary.
"It's what you dream of, even leading up to it when the team was named I was trying to soak this in and make the most out of it," he recalls.
"The time I walked out to the pitch before the match you are looking around like the coliseum going out there, like the gladiator going into the ring. Thank god it kind of went well but you have to keep the head down too.
"It's always the first ball, if you win the first ball it is that extra kick up the backside, you are after starting off well. But then if you miss the first ball you go for the next ball. Thank god I had a bit of luck on my side and it went well after that.
"It flew, went very fast. It comes and goes, you wouldn't think it - 70 minutes of hurling, you think it would draw or drag on, but it went by very fast. The pace is totally different to any hurling I have ever played in before."
Speaking about his Man of the Match award he revealed: "It put the icing on the cake. Even after the match I was there and I saw the supporters coming on when one of the security fellas in Thurles came over to me and grabbed me, told me I was after getting Man of the Match.
"Sure I didn't believe him, I thought Man of the Match now you'd have to be the likes of the top guys. It was surreal. It was a nice way to start but you have to try keep the head down now, forget about that and move on."
Limerick take on Tipp in the semi-final on Sunday, June 21 and his will be a house divided. His father Sean is from over the border in Loughmore and, in fact, Lynch even went to school in Tipperary for a brief while.
"He's Tipp, but I wouldn't say that loudly," Lynch laughed. "He is a Loughmore-Castleiney man.
"Jeez, I'd say he will be sitting on the fence, anyway. You wouldn't know which side he would be - he will be happy either way, I'd say.
"We even went to school for a couple of months in Castleiney so I would know a few of the Tipp lads fairly well. Would have been good friends with John Maher, he's on the Tipp senior squad and the McGraths, I would know fairly well."
