ADRIAN BREEN HAILED Na Piarsaigh’s “winning culture” as they climbed back to the summit of Limerick club hurling with a 11-point final win over Kilmallock.
Breen’s two-goal haul propelled Na Piarsaigh to victory as they reclaimed the crown they lost last season.
The city club were dethroned by Patrickswell in last year’s semi-final, falling by five points, although they had a number of injuries.
“I think last year against Patrickswell in the semi-final, we felt like we let ourselves down,” said Breen.
“I certainly felt like I let the team down that particular day myself. And we just set out from the very, very start of this year – even going into a meeting we had in-house last year – that we weren’t going to let that happen again. We weren’t going to let that kind of performance define our season again.
“So, putting ourselves back into the position where we’re in a final again – yes, against the holders, it’s a little bit daunting, but there’s a lot of experience within this group as well and we were able to just believe in what we’ve been building all year. And it came to fruition on the night.”
It continues a remarkable run for the clubs since their first title in 2011, when current manager Kieran Bermingham captained them. They have now been crowned senior champions on seven occasions in 12 years.
“This is a relatively young club – 1968 we were founded. But really the senior titles only started since 2011. So, we feel like we’re building a bit of a winning culture here now, and long may it last. Hopefully there’s a few more steps left in us this season.”
Breen has played in all seven winning county finals since his first medal as a 19-year-old in 2011, “and a few losing ones as well along the way.”
The 30-year-old netted goals in the sixth and 32nd minutes yesterday, while tagging on three points in a man-0f-the-match performance against Kilmallock.
“I think it managed to give us just a little bit of a platform to kick on in the second half,” he said of his crucial second goal.
“Instead of going in with a four-point gap, all of a sudden it was seven and it just gave us a small bit more breathing space to settle down and believe in our process and kick on again.”
Breen, Peter Casey and David Dempsey did most of the damage for Na Piarsaigh, contributing 3-11 from play between them.
Breen and Dempsey are no longer part of the Limerick county panel, yet remain fine forwards at club level.
Breen came on for Limerick in the 2020 All-Ireland final and won his second All-Ireland medal in 2021 but wasn’t part of John Kiely’s squad this year.
His opening goal yesterday arrived after Conor Boylan fetched a long ball inside and flicked into his path for a simple finish.
Breen’s second green flag was a thing of beauty. Casey’s mishit point attempt dropped shot and Breen fielded over Aaron Costello, before surging through and batting one handed into the net.
“The ball was slightly underhit, I think, managed to catch it and what the lads have been preaching to me all week is just collect that ball, take the man on, and that’s exactly what I did,” he said.
“I didn’t manage the get the cleanest strike away, but it went in between the posts, that’s the main thing.”
Na Piarsaigh now head into Munster championship where they have an excellent record.
They’ve been crowned provincial champions on four occasions, with 2018 final the only time they’ve ever been beaten in Munster.
They lost on that occasion to Ballygunner, who they could meet in the semi-final in three weeks’ time. The Waterford kingpins face recently crowned Tipperary champions Kilruane MacDonaghs in the quarter-finals.
“We’ll certainly take 24-48 hours just to let this sink in,” said Breen.
“Reclaiming this title was obviously the primary goal going into 2022. We’ve achieved that now, so we can just soak that in.
“But definitely we feel like we can match up against any team in the country and please God whoever we meet, I believe it’s either going to be the Waterford or the Tipp champions, we’ll give them a good game on the day.”