“They’re like my own brothers” | Barry Nash reflects on minor defeat to Cats and bond within the squad

Limerick avenged a couple of Croke Park defeats to Kilkenny on Sunday to claim a three in a row of All-Ireland titles.

Eight years ago Limerick and Kilkenny went face to face in the All Ireland Minor Hurling Final, which saw the Cats run away victorious by four points.

A star-studded Limerick panel included the likes of Cian Lynch, Barry Nash, Sean Finn, Tom Morrissey and Seamus Flanagan were pre-game favourites but fell to a pair of goals from Kilkenny as the Shannonsiders wait for a minor All-Ireland title.

That heartbreak can be detrimental to a career or it could be the spark of something special, which was exactly the case for this Limerick side.

After Limerick got the better of the Cats in an All-Ireland Final on Sunday, Nash reflected on the game of 2014 and the impact it had on his team-mates.

“When we were minors we lost an All-Ireland final to Kilkenny, so I know what the heartbreak of it feels like so I suppose coming into the senior ranks, there was a lot of determination and ambition there to kind of get back to that final stage and to try and bring back some silverware and from 2018 on we’ve been doing pretty well and hopefully we can keep going.”

The jump from minor to senior is no easy feat for any player, but the bond among the squad is evident with a a huge portion of the squad coming up through the age ranks together.

That 2014 minor team provides a bulk, as does the team from the year before and the 2015 All-Ireland U21 winning squad with Nash discussing the importance of the bond between the players.

“When we came into the senior panel and all those older lads were there, they made us feel so welcome. The likes of myself and a couple of the other lads were brought in [and] when we meet younger lads, everyone on the panel does it, whenever new lads come in we make them try and feel very welcome.

“But I see a lot of those lads, they’re like my own brother at home that’s the bond that we have, it’s incredible and it really helps to us getting the success that we’ve got to.”

Please accept YouTube cookies to play this video. By accepting you will be accessing content from YouTube, a service provided by an external third party.

YouTube privacy policy

If you accept this notice, your choice will be saved and the page will refresh.

Accept YouTube Content