As part of our build-up towards this year’s All-Ireland finals on St Patrick’s Day, we take a closer look at some of the clubs involved. Here, we focus on Limerick hurling champions Na Piarsaigh.
ABOUT 35 YEARS ago, local school teachers decided to introduce hurling training at Na Piarsaigh. Now, the club is just one win away from being crowned All-Ireland champions.
The Limerick club was founded in 1968 in a traditional rugby heartland in the city, just two kilometres from Thomond Park.
As the city started to expand in the 1960s, families flocked to the area from rural parts of the county and even further afield. That eventually led to the club being founded by a former Dublin hurling captain, who later went on to manage Limerick’s seniors, the late Noel Drumgoole.
Bill Kiely has been with Na Piarsaigh since the early 1970s and knows its storied history better than most.
“The club was founded in 1968 by Dublin man Noel Drumgoole, a St Vincent’s man,” Kiely told The42. “That’s why the club wear blue and white.”
“He was captain of the Dublin team in 1961 and they were beaten by Tipperary,” Kiely said.
“He lived in our parish, Our Lady of the Rosary. At the time the area was beginning to expand with new housing estates. So a number of people got together to start the club.”
Kiely joined the club as a social member in 1972 before finalising a transfer from Dromcollogher/Broadford in 1976.
Na Piarsaigh has played a big part in the retired teacher’s life since; he was school liaisons officer in 1979, has been involved with hurling teams, was vice-chairman, PRO and spent 14 years as the club treasurer.
Attention
Na Piarsaigh’s hurlers have come to national attention in recent years, following Munster championship wins in 2011, 2013 and 2015, but it was another code that was the focus of the club in its early days.
“When it started it was mainly Gaelic football, there was success with the football in the ’70s,” Kiely added.
“I’m sure the lads used to dabble in the rugby and soccer as well because at that age they all kind of played every game.
“It wasn’t until about ’80/’81 that some of the teachers got together from the two local schools to start hurling coaching.
“Young lads came together from the two schools and we won our first under-12 championship in 1981. And that team went on to contest the Féile final in 1983, which we lost. Then we had another team in the Féile final in 1984 and we won that one.
Then we were in the Féile for another four years after that, six in a row. And that’s where the earlier teams started.
“Then, in the ’90s we won the under-21, the minor, the junior and came up into intermediate and then into senior. Since 1994 we’ve been a senior club.”
Blood
A St Patrick’s Day with a difference now awaits this Limerick city community. A second train to Dublin has been scheduled for the day of Ireland’s patron saint to aid supporters planning journeys to the capital.
Kiely is also keen to point out that there are a number of Na Piarsaigh members from different backgrounds but many of them have brought invaluable experience with them from previous GAA clubs. And that is clearly paying off on the field with a first All-Ireland final, against Antrim’s Ruairí Óg Cushendall, to look forward to.
“We have a good community around us, the area that we’re in has an awful lot of country people that have moved into Limerick.
“A lot of the people involved would be coming from Tipperary, County Limerick, Clare and other counties like Mayo.
“We’ve had two past chairmen from Mayo, a chairman from Cork and a chairman from Galway. They all know what it’s about.”
Success
Despite their mixed backgrounds, Kiely feels that the united front and solid club structures have paved the way for success. There is great local pride in the club and what they have achieved in a relatively short space of time, he explained.
“There’s a lot of work going on with the underage teams every Saturday morning and that’s where this team has come from.
“They’re all our own and have been involved since six, seven or eight years of age. We’re very proud of them.
“The management are very professional, the lads are very good at what they’re doing.
“They’re very focused. We’ve lost two All-Ireland semi-finals so they don’t want to let another devastating defeat like that happen again, so please God it won’t.”
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