“It’s a nice piece of history for me, but it’s always about the group” | Record breaking Declan Hannon reflects on three-in-a-row

Declan Hannon became the first player in history to captain a team to four All Ireland Championships.

Limerick were made to work extremely hard to overcome Kilkenny’s fierce battle in Croke Park on Sunday, as they made it four All Ireland wins in five years.

The Shannonsiders joined an illustrious group of counties to make it three Liam MacCarthy’s on the spin, with only Kilkenny, Cork and Tipperary also completing the feat.

The man from Adare that has been the captain of the recent Limerick success, Declan Hannon, was full of praise for his team-mates and highlighted the hunger of his side as the focal point to their success.

“The three in a row for the group is a serious achievement like, the standard of hurling across the country is amazing to be able to back it up year in, year out is testament to the lads and the hard work and the hunger that’s still there in the group.”

“It could be easy to just roll over and say ‘I kind of have enough now’ and let somebody else do it but there’s a great hunger there.”

The three-in-a-row triumph for Limerick wasn’t the only achievement for the GAA history books, with Hannon himself becoming the first captain in history to lead his team to four All-Ireland titles.

In a competition with a 135-year history, this is quite the achievement for the Adare hurler but he admits he’s more focused on the group than personal achievements.

“It’s a nice achievement to have, but it’s funny as a player, your job is to do a job for the team and individual accolades like that are not irrelevant, but when you’re still playing they kind of are.”

“I’m overjoyed for the group obviously and everyone winning and it’s a nice piece of history for me but it’s always about the group and it has to be about the group otherwise, we wouldn’t be where we are.”

Hannon and his Limerick team-mates will be hopeful they can continue their rich run of form ahead of the 2023 championship, as they look to join Kilkenny and Cork as the only teams to achieve four on the bounce.

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