Brian Barry
GAA Editor @BrianGBarry
Shane Dowling says he would 'give anything to go back' hurling with Limerick
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Last Updated: 29/08/20 11:29am
Recently-retired Limerick hurler Shane Dowling says he would give anything to go back to playing with his county.
The 27-year-old was forced into an early retirement from intercounty action in July due to injuries, and he feels the coming months will be difficult once intercounty action resumes.
"You just don't know when it's all going to come to a finish," he said on Inside The Game. "There's so many injuries out there nowadays with lads doing cruciates. There's just a long list of injuries.
"You just don't know when it's going to come to a finish. I know I certainly didn't know.
"We'd be giving out about going back [training] to Rathkeale here in Limerick where it's very, very tough, and quite open when the sleet and the rain is coming in on top of you. And you'd be cursing it at the time! But I'd tell you something - I'd give anything to be going back there this November, December, to go back and give it another shot."
Nonetheless, he enjoyed some memorable days in the green of Limerick, none more so than the 2018 All-Ireland final as his second-half goal helped the Treaty bridge a 45-year wait for Liam MacCarthy success.
"I'd just love to relive those moments again. They were moments of a life-time, and something I thought would never happen," he smiled.
"If we didn't win that, having to sign off recently would have been a hell of a lot harder."
Announcing the news was a difficult move, but the reality has now sunk in.
"After two or three days, the dust does settle," he explained. "The way I describe it to myself, it's like a funeral. The day or so of it, you're surrounded by loads of people and you're getting plenty of calls and messages. The following week, things do settle down. Essentially, you're on your own after that. When I say you're on your own, you've obviously got your close family and friends, and that's it.
"It has been made easier for me that there's no games going on. It's not the middle of a summer where there's 40,000 people at the games.
"The dust has definitely settled. I'm just trying to keep myself occupied, and that's all I can do really."
'For a couple of years the game of hurling did get very, very serious'
Now that the Na Piarsaigh man is finally out of the bubble, he reflects on a decade as an intercounty hurler.
"I believe for a couple of years the game of hurling did get very, very serious," he observed.
"People had blinkers on, and you couldn't do anything from January until the season finished. I was one of them, but I wasn't enjoying my hurling and I think my performances reflected. Then when John [Kiely] came in, we started bringing in the 99 van [after training], having a few drinks after matches, started enjoying it for what it was.
"The craic we used have in the dressing room...I'll certainly miss that. They're the days you miss. The sing-songs in the dressing room before and afterwards. Playing is one thing - there's highs and lows for everybody. But it's the craic and the lads and the group and everything. I'll miss that so much, I can't even explain to be honest."
And so intercounty hurling will move on, and Limerick must proceed without a forward who was central to so much of their success in recent years.
But does he think the Treaty can regain the Liam MacCarthy Cup in 2020?
"Well I hope some manager brings the Liam MacCarthy back in 2020, because I hope the season goes ahead," he remarked.
"They may be favourites, they were going well before the league [ended].
"As a team they're good enough. You need a lot of luck to win an All-Ireland. You look at it; in 2018 we got it, in 2019 against Kilkenny we didn't.
"They're good enough, the right management team is there, they're young enough, and I don't see any reason that if they keep progressing that they can't."
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