“Every challenge you throw at them, they go after it” | Caroline Currid on relentless Limerick side

Caroline Currid has worked wonders with the Limerick hurlers helping to usher in an unprecedented level of success.

Psychology in sport has become an important factor in recent years for athletes and teams alike and it’s no different for the Limerick hurlers.

Players will perform to their highest ability when they’re up to scratch mentally, which is exactly what sports psychologist Caroline Currid has implemented into this Limerick side.

Since beginning her role as Performance Psychologist for the Shannonsiders, she has been a part of Limerick’s most successful hurling side in history, as they’ve lifted the Liam MacCarthy Cup four times in the last five years.

When Limerick finally bridged the gap to All-Ireland honours in 2018, Declan Hannon directly referred to the work of the Sligo native.

She came into the side with a huge reputation as part of All-Ireland winning squads in Tyrone, Tipperary and Dublin but since then she has added four Celtic Cross medals to the collection.

And speaking to The Sunday Game after Limerick’s triumphant win against Kilkenny in the All-Ireland Final, Currid was full of praise for her Limerick colleagues for embracing her.

“These guys (Limerick hurlers) embrace psychology massively. I do a huge amount of one-to-one work with these players, every time you ask for a one-to-one or you engage with them to meet, they want to do it, they embrace it.”

“Everything you throw at them, every challenge you throw at them, they go after it.”

The psychologist also praised their ability to always want more out of themselves and to grow mentally stronger game after game.

“We do a huge amount of groupwork where we’re always challenging each other mentally and saying ‘what more can we learn, what more can we do, is there anything we can learn week on week from each game.’”

“Every time we’ve performed we’ve learned from the psychology side, from the mindset side and then we go out and you perform, so we set targets for ourselves and we keep chasing them.”

But while she has been quick to compliment the sqiad at her disposal, it is clear that the system works two ways as she has developed talented players into one of the greatest teams of all time.

And from a Limerick standpoint, long may it continue.