GEAROID HEGARTY’S SPORTING highs have been shared with a core group of players, a crew that have endured and succeeded.
Limerick exited the 2017 championship, John Kiely’s first year in charge, at the hands of Kilkenny, From that July evening, Hegarty was one of 11 players who featured in that Nowlan Park contest and then last Sunday collected their sixth All-Ireland senior medal.
Another four players that got gametime in 2018, were also part of their latest collective effort that landed the Liam MacCarthy Cup.
The durability of their group has been remarkable and that longevity has brought them closer as a unit. When it comes to milestone life events off the pitch like Hegarty’s upcoming wedding to his fiancée Niamh in Portugal, the Limerick influence remains strong.
“Nearly all my best friends are inside in that dressing room. I’m getting married in a couple of weeks. Dave Reidy, Sean Finn, are groomsmen for me. My brother (Diarmuid) is my best man, but the two boys are groomsmen and easily could have been several of the other boys as well.
“William (O’Donoghue) is getting married in September. Dave Reidy is getting married in December. Tom Morrissey is getting married in October, November. Guaranteed that bridal parties will be involved with the lads.
“It can be easy to say it, but when it boils down to it in the toughest moments, it (friendship) comes out and it shows how close we are. Because when the heat comes on, like maybe it did yesterday in the first half (against Galway), or like it did especially in the semi-final with 15, 20 minutes to go, when the shit hits the fan, that’s when you see what you’re made of and how close and how tight you are and how much of a unit you are.”
He will head to the Algarve for his wedding celebrations, still basking in the glow of All-Ireland success. Having the two events close together was a private goal that he sought to realise, driven by a desire for family members to share time with their Limerick hurling heroes.
“I was trying to manifest it all year. It was in my head all year about how special it would be. I was always envious of say like, Declan, got married in 2023, I think, and we obviously won the All-Ireland. I was thinking in my head that I want that so badly.
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“And I didn’t want it for me, I wanted it for my family. My Uncle Joe and I are very close, my father’s brother. He’s a diehard Limerick fan. Like, just eats and drinks hurling, all he wants to do is talk hurling. But he wouldn’t annoy me either about it. He just wishes me the best of luck. I’m so happy for him and, my uncles on my mother’s side, my uncle Enda.
“They just love hurling and I’m so happy that these lads who will go down as the greatest hurlers of all time are coming over. That they’ll be there and my family will be able to interact with these people. And I know that they will appreciate that so much. It’s the cherry on top of the cake.”
The contentment that this All-Ireland win has sparked will stay with them for some time with Hegarty selecting his highlights from the post-match scene.
“I hadn’t been to Copper’s after an All-Ireland, so that was a different experience. It was magic. We got so used to being here every single year and then we weren’t here for the last (two years in) 2024, 2025. It was just so satisfying to come up the road yesterday and to have the Liam MacCarthy on the bus coming out of Croke Park was magic. Made those two years of pain worth it.
“I went up to the room when we came back (from Croke Park), it was about 9 o’clock. And Niamh was above in the room and I asked her to come down to get a couple of drinks. I went up to the room and Reidy and Seanie Finn and the two girls came in with him. We sat down on the bed for about 20 minutes, half an hour, listening to a couple of songs. It sunk in then. Beautiful moments.”
Limerick reserved their standout display of 2026 for the day of greatest performance, unleashing a level of hurling that blew Galway away. These final demolition jobs are a trademark. This was their second All-Ireland final success by an 11-point margin, they have enjoyed victories by 16 and 9 points.
“Isn’t it brilliant that that is a thing that’s said about us, that we do perform at our best in Croke Park?,” remarked Hegarty.
“I suppose the one way I might be able to describe it is Croke Park, it’s a magical place. And if you can’t hurl in Croke Park, in my opinion, you can’t hurl. So our game, the way we play the game, it’s designed for space, it’s designed for a place like Croke Park, so it suits us down to the ground when we do get to Croke Park.
“We’re an extremely driven group of people, and we’re always looking for more. Sometimes you get to the end of the year and you are really looking forward to it, to the year being over. This year, whatever way it was, and it’s a brilliant feeling, I can’t believe the year’s over already.
“We do this little thing before the game when they’re showing us a few clips – it was game 14 out of 14 (on Sunday), all the way from the league, league final, Munster championship, Munster final, All-Ireland semi-final, the final, 14 games. And I couldn’t believe that it was showing game 14 out of 14.”
One of the key architects of their success was not a player, yet judging by the vociferous cheers that rang out in Croke Park when team psychologist Caroline Currid was mentioned in Cian Lynch’s captaincy speech, the importance of her presence was made clear.
“She must be the most high-profile sports psychologist in Ireland. Look, she deserves the credit that she gets. She’s an amazing woman. We love her to bits.
“I’m always asked this question about what does she do? It’s indescribable what she brings. She just has everything sorted. She makes our life so easy.
“t’s a big hullabaloo around the All-Ireland final and the week leading up to it. Even things like the bags, packing your bags and the room keys. She just has everything sorted. All we have to do on the All-Ireland final week is go to train on Tuesday, go to gym on Wednesday, go to training on Friday, turn up for the train on Sunday morning and everything else is looked after.
“And it sounds easy but the amount of work that she does throughout the year. We come in after the semi-final and she’s on it straight away. Before we even leave the dressing room things are organised. It’s hard to describe the value she brings to the group but she’s just an amazing woman.”
Reaching the tally of six All-Ireland medals elevates this Limerick group further.
“I do like the sound of it. I think it sounds unreal,” said Hegarty.
“I do love the history around the game. Something that I noticed Sunday, I had a quick flick through the programme and.Limerick had 12 All-Irelands before and now we have 13 and we have 6 of those, which is almost half of Limerick’s tally.
“So if we were to get one more that would be 50% of all the All-Irelands that Limerick have won. So that was an extra bit of something I spotted in the programme. It’s amazing that we only have 13 now, for a county that’s so fanatical about hurling and you see the support we’ve had. I’m just so happy for the people of Limerick.”
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Gearoid Hegarty: 'My best friends are in that dressing room... that's when you see how tight you are'
GEAROID HEGARTY’S SPORTING highs have been shared with a core group of players, a crew that have endured and succeeded.
Limerick exited the 2017 championship, John Kiely’s first year in charge, at the hands of Kilkenny, From that July evening, Hegarty was one of 11 players who featured in that Nowlan Park contest and then last Sunday collected their sixth All-Ireland senior medal.
Another four players that got gametime in 2018, were also part of their latest collective effort that landed the Liam MacCarthy Cup.
The durability of their group has been remarkable and that longevity has brought them closer as a unit. When it comes to milestone life events off the pitch like Hegarty’s upcoming wedding to his fiancée Niamh in Portugal, the Limerick influence remains strong.
“Nearly all my best friends are inside in that dressing room. I’m getting married in a couple of weeks. Dave Reidy, Sean Finn, are groomsmen for me. My brother (Diarmuid) is my best man, but the two boys are groomsmen and easily could have been several of the other boys as well.
“William (O’Donoghue) is getting married in September. Dave Reidy is getting married in December. Tom Morrissey is getting married in October, November. Guaranteed that bridal parties will be involved with the lads.
“It can be easy to say it, but when it boils down to it in the toughest moments, it (friendship) comes out and it shows how close we are. Because when the heat comes on, like maybe it did yesterday in the first half (against Galway), or like it did especially in the semi-final with 15, 20 minutes to go, when the shit hits the fan, that’s when you see what you’re made of and how close and how tight you are and how much of a unit you are.”
He will head to the Algarve for his wedding celebrations, still basking in the glow of All-Ireland success. Having the two events close together was a private goal that he sought to realise, driven by a desire for family members to share time with their Limerick hurling heroes.
“I was trying to manifest it all year. It was in my head all year about how special it would be. I was always envious of say like, Declan, got married in 2023, I think, and we obviously won the All-Ireland. I was thinking in my head that I want that so badly.
“And I didn’t want it for me, I wanted it for my family. My Uncle Joe and I are very close, my father’s brother. He’s a diehard Limerick fan. Like, just eats and drinks hurling, all he wants to do is talk hurling. But he wouldn’t annoy me either about it. He just wishes me the best of luck. I’m so happy for him and, my uncles on my mother’s side, my uncle Enda.
“They just love hurling and I’m so happy that these lads who will go down as the greatest hurlers of all time are coming over. That they’ll be there and my family will be able to interact with these people. And I know that they will appreciate that so much. It’s the cherry on top of the cake.”
The contentment that this All-Ireland win has sparked will stay with them for some time with Hegarty selecting his highlights from the post-match scene.
“I hadn’t been to Copper’s after an All-Ireland, so that was a different experience. It was magic. We got so used to being here every single year and then we weren’t here for the last (two years in) 2024, 2025. It was just so satisfying to come up the road yesterday and to have the Liam MacCarthy on the bus coming out of Croke Park was magic. Made those two years of pain worth it.
“I went up to the room when we came back (from Croke Park), it was about 9 o’clock. And Niamh was above in the room and I asked her to come down to get a couple of drinks. I went up to the room and Reidy and Seanie Finn and the two girls came in with him. We sat down on the bed for about 20 minutes, half an hour, listening to a couple of songs. It sunk in then. Beautiful moments.”
Limerick reserved their standout display of 2026 for the day of greatest performance, unleashing a level of hurling that blew Galway away. These final demolition jobs are a trademark. This was their second All-Ireland final success by an 11-point margin, they have enjoyed victories by 16 and 9 points.
“Isn’t it brilliant that that is a thing that’s said about us, that we do perform at our best in Croke Park?,” remarked Hegarty.
“I suppose the one way I might be able to describe it is Croke Park, it’s a magical place. And if you can’t hurl in Croke Park, in my opinion, you can’t hurl. So our game, the way we play the game, it’s designed for space, it’s designed for a place like Croke Park, so it suits us down to the ground when we do get to Croke Park.
“We’re an extremely driven group of people, and we’re always looking for more. Sometimes you get to the end of the year and you are really looking forward to it, to the year being over. This year, whatever way it was, and it’s a brilliant feeling, I can’t believe the year’s over already.
“We do this little thing before the game when they’re showing us a few clips – it was game 14 out of 14 (on Sunday), all the way from the league, league final, Munster championship, Munster final, All-Ireland semi-final, the final, 14 games. And I couldn’t believe that it was showing game 14 out of 14.”
One of the key architects of their success was not a player, yet judging by the vociferous cheers that rang out in Croke Park when team psychologist Caroline Currid was mentioned in Cian Lynch’s captaincy speech, the importance of her presence was made clear.
“She must be the most high-profile sports psychologist in Ireland. Look, she deserves the credit that she gets. She’s an amazing woman. We love her to bits.
“I’m always asked this question about what does she do? It’s indescribable what she brings. She just has everything sorted. She makes our life so easy.
“t’s a big hullabaloo around the All-Ireland final and the week leading up to it. Even things like the bags, packing your bags and the room keys. She just has everything sorted. All we have to do on the All-Ireland final week is go to train on Tuesday, go to gym on Wednesday, go to training on Friday, turn up for the train on Sunday morning and everything else is looked after.
“And it sounds easy but the amount of work that she does throughout the year. We come in after the semi-final and she’s on it straight away. Before we even leave the dressing room things are organised. It’s hard to describe the value she brings to the group but she’s just an amazing woman.”
Reaching the tally of six All-Ireland medals elevates this Limerick group further.
“I do like the sound of it. I think it sounds unreal,” said Hegarty.
“I do love the history around the game. Something that I noticed Sunday, I had a quick flick through the programme and.Limerick had 12 All-Irelands before and now we have 13 and we have 6 of those, which is almost half of Limerick’s tally.
“So if we were to get one more that would be 50% of all the All-Irelands that Limerick have won. So that was an extra bit of something I spotted in the programme. It’s amazing that we only have 13 now, for a county that’s so fanatical about hurling and you see the support we’ve had. I’m just so happy for the people of Limerick.”
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GAA Gearoid Hegarty Hurling Limerick Limerick leaders