LAST TUESDAY EVENING, Darragh O’Donovan was summoned for a pre-training conversation with John Kiely.
A heads-up was given before Limerick’s public team announcement later that week. O’Donovan would begin All-Ireland final day on the bench rather than on the pitch, breaking a sequence of five midfield starts in the Croke Park deciders during the Kiely era.
The news was no bombshell. O’Donovan didn’t need anyone to spell out the personal consequences after Limerick emerged from a ferocious semi-final battle with Clare. Withdrawn after 13 minutes from the second half, he had dipped from the high midfield standards set during the Munster championship.
Darragh O'Donovan in action against Clare. Ryan Byrne / INPHO
Ryan Byrne / INPHO / INPHO
The disappointment was digested, O’Donovan remained conscious of the bigger picture at play. On Sunday he was pressed into action in the finale, Limerick’s latest Liam MacCarthy Cup success already confirmed at that point.
“I had a feeling it was coming. In this team, it’s such a competitive environment. You can’t afford to have one poor performance. I had a strong Munster championship campaign but a very poor game against Clare.
“And I knew. Coming home on the train that evening, I said, ‘I’ve lost my place now for the All-Ireland final’. And that’s the way it has to be. I’d be saying the same thing if I was in the fellas’ boots behind me.
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“John said, ‘Look, you’re not going to be in the team for Sunday’. And I said, ‘Do what you need to do for the team, do what’s best for Limerick’. At the end of the day, I had my opportunity and I lost out on it. Someone else comes in and does the job. He got the call right anyway, didn’t he?
“We go back to last November when we pulled ourselves back together. There were very honest and hard conversations that we had. It’s all about the team and the environment of who we are.”
Brilliance
Sunday captured Limerick’s brilliance. They reserved their best performance of the year for the biggest stage. O’Donovan watched his team-mates blow an emerging Galway side away, almost left awestruck by the intensity on show.
“Probably going back to the Tipp game in the league, that was the last time we put a real performance together. But I said to the lads last Saturday morning, we had a meeting before training and I said, ‘This doesn’t need to be a one-point victory, why can’t it be an obliteration? Why couldn’t we just stamp our authority on a team and put the foot on their throat?’
“That’s what happened. I looked at Galway going in at half-time and they looked broken. You could see, the game plan, they couldn’t execute it. Our full-forward line, the tackles that they got in – Aaron, Shane and Peter – they chased out the field and condensed the middle zone.
“You can’t be running the ball into a brick wall. That’s what was happening. Coming to Croke Park in 24, 25 degrees heat in the middle of July against guys that are just primed, they want to hunt and want to work and want to tackle and want to turn you over. It was phenomenal, like watching the All Blacks in their prime.”
Limerick players celebrate with the Liam MacCarthy Cup. Bryan Keane
Bryan Keane
The power of Limerick’s performance enabled them to cruise to success. It may only have been three years since they previously climbed the steps of the Hogan Stand in celebration, but there had been too much pain contained in the interim for their liking.
“I’m just delighted to get another All-Ireland medal and to say I have it. At the end of the day, people say, ‘You’re into enjoying it and having the craic’ but there’s no craic in losing. We lost for the last two years and there was absolutely zero craic in it. There’s zero enjoyment in it, there’s zero memories in it.
“It’s about winning, it’s about having medals in your pocket. It’s like Argentina – they’re not going to say that the 2026 World Cup was great. It wasn’t. It’s only great when you come home with the silverware.”
“I was two years of hurt. Before that Dublin game, it was the Munster final, really, and it was like a bomb exploded. Mentally, it drained us. You’re going back in the middle of November, no one sees that stuff. The running, all the gym work. There’s no hurleys. You’re thinking of playing Cork in the semi-final in ‘24, Dublin last year, and you’re hearing The Frank and Walters in ’24 being played out and you’re hearing the Dublin song last year.
“You’re like, ‘I don’t want to hear that again in Croke Park. I want to hear ‘Dreams’ by The Cranberries.’ That was something in my mind anyway, and I know with a lot of our lads, with the younger lads in particular, they wanted to put their stamp on it, and this is their team now, you know. Aido (O’Connor), Cathal O’Neill, Adam (English), The Bull (Shane O’Brien), this is their team now, they’re driving this, which is fantastic.”
Limerick's William O'Donoghue and Darragh O'Donovan during the warm up on Sunday. Ryan Byrne / INPHO
Ryan Byrne / INPHO / INPHO
Satisfaction
Missing out on a final start could not cloud O’Donovan’s overall satisfaction at how 2026 unfolded after injuries had disrupted recent seasons.
“At the beginning of 2024, I picked up a calf injury and it continued for two years. I saw doctors, specialists, the whole lot. I just couldn’t get the better of it. I remember myself and John chatting last November and he had mentioned that I had missed 30-something weeks in the last two years with injury.
“I just had to build my body up. I spent a lot of time in the winter in the gym. I didn’t do the normal kind of gym programme that most other lads are on. I had to do my own specific one.
“And then in the middle of the league, I picked up a very bad injury in my shoulder. I thought my season was done then. But in fairness to Mike O’Riordan (Limerick secretary), he organised for me to go into a specialist the following morning. Your man told me he’d get me back in the next four-to-six weeks, I think I got back in three or four weeks and got back for the league final.
“I didn’t think I’d play again this season. It leaves you with a lot of questions. But there’s loads of other lads in those situations. Ciano has had some horrific injuries over the last couple of years, Peter Casey, Mike Casey, Seán Finn, so it was my time to get those.”
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Darragh O'Donovan celebrates winning the Munster hurling final. Morgan Treacy / INPHO
Morgan Treacy / INPHO / INPHO
Limerick secured silverware in a different manner earlier this summer. Claiming the Munster title away to Cork by a point was cherished, O’Donovan planting a Limerick flag in the Páirc Uí Chaoimh pitch caught the eye in the celebrations.
“I don’t think at times, do you know what I mean? Look, it was a moment of madness more so than anything, not in any disrespect to Cork or anything like that. The jubilation after the Munster final because it was a one-point win, and yesterday was an 11-point win, they’re different. When you win by one point, it’s brilliant. It was a moment of madness, but I don’t have any regrets about it either.
“I thought about it a lot afterwards. I have great time for some of those Cork players and for their manager Ben O’Connor, growing up idolising Ben. These things happen. I actually saw Mark Coleman he did an interview, and he just said it is what it is. They came to Limerick and they celebrated.”
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'It was phenomenal, like watching the All Blacks in their prime' - Limerick reach new heights
LAST TUESDAY EVENING, Darragh O’Donovan was summoned for a pre-training conversation with John Kiely.
A heads-up was given before Limerick’s public team announcement later that week. O’Donovan would begin All-Ireland final day on the bench rather than on the pitch, breaking a sequence of five midfield starts in the Croke Park deciders during the Kiely era.
The news was no bombshell. O’Donovan didn’t need anyone to spell out the personal consequences after Limerick emerged from a ferocious semi-final battle with Clare. Withdrawn after 13 minutes from the second half, he had dipped from the high midfield standards set during the Munster championship.
The disappointment was digested, O’Donovan remained conscious of the bigger picture at play. On Sunday he was pressed into action in the finale, Limerick’s latest Liam MacCarthy Cup success already confirmed at that point.
“I had a feeling it was coming. In this team, it’s such a competitive environment. You can’t afford to have one poor performance. I had a strong Munster championship campaign but a very poor game against Clare.
“And I knew. Coming home on the train that evening, I said, ‘I’ve lost my place now for the All-Ireland final’. And that’s the way it has to be. I’d be saying the same thing if I was in the fellas’ boots behind me.
“John said, ‘Look, you’re not going to be in the team for Sunday’. And I said, ‘Do what you need to do for the team, do what’s best for Limerick’. At the end of the day, I had my opportunity and I lost out on it. Someone else comes in and does the job. He got the call right anyway, didn’t he?
“We go back to last November when we pulled ourselves back together. There were very honest and hard conversations that we had. It’s all about the team and the environment of who we are.”
Brilliance
Sunday captured Limerick’s brilliance. They reserved their best performance of the year for the biggest stage. O’Donovan watched his team-mates blow an emerging Galway side away, almost left awestruck by the intensity on show.
“Probably going back to the Tipp game in the league, that was the last time we put a real performance together. But I said to the lads last Saturday morning, we had a meeting before training and I said, ‘This doesn’t need to be a one-point victory, why can’t it be an obliteration? Why couldn’t we just stamp our authority on a team and put the foot on their throat?’
“That’s what happened. I looked at Galway going in at half-time and they looked broken. You could see, the game plan, they couldn’t execute it. Our full-forward line, the tackles that they got in – Aaron, Shane and Peter – they chased out the field and condensed the middle zone.
“You can’t be running the ball into a brick wall. That’s what was happening. Coming to Croke Park in 24, 25 degrees heat in the middle of July against guys that are just primed, they want to hunt and want to work and want to tackle and want to turn you over. It was phenomenal, like watching the All Blacks in their prime.”
The power of Limerick’s performance enabled them to cruise to success. It may only have been three years since they previously climbed the steps of the Hogan Stand in celebration, but there had been too much pain contained in the interim for their liking.
“I’m just delighted to get another All-Ireland medal and to say I have it. At the end of the day, people say, ‘You’re into enjoying it and having the craic’ but there’s no craic in losing. We lost for the last two years and there was absolutely zero craic in it. There’s zero enjoyment in it, there’s zero memories in it.
“It’s about winning, it’s about having medals in your pocket. It’s like Argentina – they’re not going to say that the 2026 World Cup was great. It wasn’t. It’s only great when you come home with the silverware.”
“I was two years of hurt. Before that Dublin game, it was the Munster final, really, and it was like a bomb exploded. Mentally, it drained us. You’re going back in the middle of November, no one sees that stuff. The running, all the gym work. There’s no hurleys. You’re thinking of playing Cork in the semi-final in ‘24, Dublin last year, and you’re hearing The Frank and Walters in ’24 being played out and you’re hearing the Dublin song last year.
“You’re like, ‘I don’t want to hear that again in Croke Park. I want to hear ‘Dreams’ by The Cranberries.’ That was something in my mind anyway, and I know with a lot of our lads, with the younger lads in particular, they wanted to put their stamp on it, and this is their team now, you know. Aido (O’Connor), Cathal O’Neill, Adam (English), The Bull (Shane O’Brien), this is their team now, they’re driving this, which is fantastic.”
Satisfaction
Missing out on a final start could not cloud O’Donovan’s overall satisfaction at how 2026 unfolded after injuries had disrupted recent seasons.
“At the beginning of 2024, I picked up a calf injury and it continued for two years. I saw doctors, specialists, the whole lot. I just couldn’t get the better of it. I remember myself and John chatting last November and he had mentioned that I had missed 30-something weeks in the last two years with injury.
“I just had to build my body up. I spent a lot of time in the winter in the gym. I didn’t do the normal kind of gym programme that most other lads are on. I had to do my own specific one.
“And then in the middle of the league, I picked up a very bad injury in my shoulder. I thought my season was done then. But in fairness to Mike O’Riordan (Limerick secretary), he organised for me to go into a specialist the following morning. Your man told me he’d get me back in the next four-to-six weeks, I think I got back in three or four weeks and got back for the league final.
“I didn’t think I’d play again this season. It leaves you with a lot of questions. But there’s loads of other lads in those situations. Ciano has had some horrific injuries over the last couple of years, Peter Casey, Mike Casey, Seán Finn, so it was my time to get those.”
Limerick secured silverware in a different manner earlier this summer. Claiming the Munster title away to Cork by a point was cherished, O’Donovan planting a Limerick flag in the Páirc Uí Chaoimh pitch caught the eye in the celebrations.
“I don’t think at times, do you know what I mean? Look, it was a moment of madness more so than anything, not in any disrespect to Cork or anything like that. The jubilation after the Munster final because it was a one-point win, and yesterday was an 11-point win, they’re different. When you win by one point, it’s brilliant. It was a moment of madness, but I don’t have any regrets about it either.
“I thought about it a lot afterwards. I have great time for some of those Cork players and for their manager Ben O’Connor, growing up idolising Ben. These things happen. I actually saw Mark Coleman he did an interview, and he just said it is what it is. They came to Limerick and they celebrated.”
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Darragh O'Donovan GAA Galway Hurling Limerick