THERE WAS NO shortage of scoring moments for Aaron Gillane during the 2019 hurling league but the Limerick forward reserved his most special contribution for the final day.
Gillane chalked up 2-45 during Limerick’s route to spring glory, his return of 1-9 in the final victory in March rounding off an explosive start to the season.
The standout strike was his stunning goal in the decider against Waterford, parallels drawn with Jimmy Barry Murphy’s goal for Cork in the 1983 All-Ireland semi-final.
Pure class by Aaron Gillane to find the net for @LimerickCLG pic.twitter.com/lp1ao1jXL9
— The GAA (@officialgaa) March 31, 2019
Today's wonder-goal by Aaron Gillane which helps Limerick follow up All-Ireland with League glory reminds me of Jimmy Barry-Murphy goal vs Galway in the 1983 All-Ireland Hurling Semi-Final. #Limerick🇳🇬 on 🔥😉
— Rob Cross 🇮🇪 🇪🇺 (@RobCross247) March 31, 2019
Full Time: Limerick 1:24 Waterford 0:19#LIMvWAT #AllianzLeagues #GAA pic.twitter.com/WSP2Y6Vzf0
“I still don’t know what I was doing to be honest,” reflected Gillane.
“I barely flicked it, it was just pure luck I’d say. Sure you’re not going to know if you can do these things unless you try it and no better place to try it than in Croke Park.”
As to which was the better strike of doubling in the air, Gillane was in a magnanimous mood.
“I’ve seen a few clips of his goal across Twitter alright but I’d say his one just pips mine now.”
The league triumph was the latest example of the rise in Limerick’s hurling fortunes. Rather than stagnating after their All-Ireland breakthrough, they have pushed on impressively. The pursuit of additional silverware is not a surprise to Gillane.
“I said it there a while ago, I don’t see why any team would enter into a competition if you’re not going all out to win it but we didn’t sit down at the start of the year and say we have to win the league, we have to do this, we took every match as it came.
“That’s just testament to the management team that we have, they didn’t leave nothing get to their head. If we went away and thought we were brilliant after winning one All-Ireland, we could be waiting another 45 years to win something again so hopefully that isn’t the case now, we stay grounded and we’re obviously hungry to win more again.
“That’s a sign of the character that we have in the team. I don’t see the need for it to change anyone. We’ve been normal up along and I think that’s why we did win it, I don’t see why we’d change what we do because it might result in us not winning it again.
“There’s always a lot of talk about teams in the past. Coming up to the All-Ireland final and league final, everyone kept saying Limerick hadn’t won an All-Ireland, hadn’t been in a All-Ireland final since 2007, hadn’t won a league in 22 years. I just keep saying, ‘I’ve no interest in Limerick teams that have gone before us’. We’ve our own team and we’re just looking to create our own history.”
*Limerick hurler Aaron Gillane was on hand today in Croke Park to launch the 2019 John West National Féile and to announce the sponsorship renewal for a further four years until 2022.
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