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INCREDIBLE stories of the Irish GAA network’s resistance to the pandemic are told in a new ‘After the storm’ e-book via journalist Damian Lawlor
Excerpt from “After the Storm”
It was a TV show I didn’t know when to end. Three very long seasons with fantastic plots that curved in all directions.
The pandemic killed nearly seven million people as it swept the world, twisting and mutating all the time. Wuhan, a city of 11 million people, the epicenter of the beginning of the plague.
On New Year’s Eve 2019, a Chinese government showed the discovery of “pneumonia of unknown cause” at a seafood and poultry market.
The immediate and deadly epidemic. Over the next 3 months, the coronavirus spread through human transmission, ruined economies, halted foreign travel, and confined other people to their homes. It had a lot of faces, which made it harder to limit. It was of silence. The global has been closed.
On February 29, the Limerick launchers returned to Dublin Airport after a five-day camp in Portugal. They entered the arrivals corridor as the country plunged headlong into the storm.
When they landed, Tom Condon, one of their most experienced players, realized that things had changed.
“The first case of covid-19 was detected in Ireland on the same day as our return flight. Our doctors gave us masks and gloves for the airport, although we were the only ones wearing them inside.
An organization of guys in shorts and a GAA suit with a mask: other people were looking at us and wondering, “What are those guys doing?”
But in a very short time everyone dressed in them. Everything stopped.
And no entity or company, or otherwise, would be spared.
TREATY LIFTING: HOW THE STORY OF LIMERICK MAKING HOWLERS TRANSFORMED THE GAME
WITH the Delta variant in operation, it was at the end of November 2021 that Limerick was finally able to enjoy their own official birthday party for the last two championship wins.
That night, Kyle Hayes won 11 medals in the county’s all-Ireland medal rite at the Strand Hotel.
Hayes, who was only twenty-three, returned home with more honors than a decorated army sergeant. A month later, he won a third All-Star award along with 11 other teammates. They had swept the boards.
His adventure that a maximum of players can only dream of. Two Celtic crosses from the 2020 and 2021 All-Ireland senior finals won Cork and Waterford respectively.
The team also won trophies for their victory in the Munster Hurling League in 2019, the Super 11s Fenway Hurling Classic victory in Boston in November 2018, while medals were also awarded from the minor finalists of Munster and All Ireland in 2016. That golden catch, enriched through additional titles from Munster and All Ireland, its third in a row, in 2022, reflected the county’s existing dominance on the hurling coasts, years away from the empty trawls that returned to Shannonside after decades of unfortunate and fortunate excursions. His good fortune has also transcended sport.
“These guys have replaced a lot of things for the other people at Limerick,” said former player Niall Moran, who played forty-six league games in the green and white uniform.
“For years, the county has struggled with our identity away from playgrounds. Limerick had a bad reputation and we had to downplay much of what was done with us. Labels that have stayed, such as “Stab City” or “Crime Capital of Europe”. It’s very unfair and we had to deal with that.
“So, in the gambling field, and before 2017, we had a reputation for being an almost dysfunctional county in GAA circles, rife with stories of bad fields and an alcohol culture. Like accusations of being the capital of crime, those labels were completely unfounded.
“But since 2018, we’ve been seen as a shining example of what GAA deserves to be and how the modern game deserves to be played. And it’s had a huge impact on the morale and self-esteem of others. “people from Limerick.
“Morale is also at an all-time high. The regeneration of the city and county has been strong. Industrial spaces like Raheen have more and more power.
“Companies come to Limerick and settle there, and our sense of identity has stepped up and strengthened. Ten years ago, a pitcher from Limerick could walk unrecognisably on the street, while a rugby player from Munster was being chased. “Now children wear Limerick clothes and players are immediately recognizable. People are very proud of them for what they have done for us over the past few years.
Moran makes no secret of the comfort the team has provided to the rest of the people of Limerick during the public fitness crisis.
“In some rural areas, there are two social outings: a mass and a game on weekends. Masses were taken away from other people for a long time because of covid, and everyone had to be waiting to watch games on TV and dissect them.
And look at what the Limerick team has done for those people.
Slowly, they heal the deep scars of the beyond, wounds self-inflicted or infrequently due to lack of organization and quality that cross the ranks.
From 1973 to 2018, the county did not win an all-Ireland senior title, and when they controlled with comic strips the rough skeleton of a roadmap, the transition to elite was blocked through a series of obstacles.
Over the years, the pursuit of happiness has persisted painfully, prompting local hurling enthusiast Henry Martin to write an e-book describing pain, an e-book aptly titled Unlimited Heartbreak. They had stages of joy here and there, but they were as fleeting as a firefight. star.
Between 2000 and 2002, the county, led by Dave Keane, won 3 U-21 All-Ireland titles in a row. These youngsters were the elegance of 1992’s Limerick. But unlike Old Trafford, they did not dominate at the highest level. Several of those minor stars figured at the highest level, but some only in costumes and stars. The managers arrived here and left like buses in a depot. There were five between 2000 and 2006, adding Eamon Cregan, Dave Keane, Pad Joe Whelahan, Joe McKenna and Richie Bennis. It didn’t help. There is no continuity.
They reappeared slightly at the U-21 point for another 8 years. One point shy of Clare’s record of 17 problems in the 2006 All-Ireland playoffs.
Another defeat for Tipperary in 2009 in the All-Ireland semi-final. This beating is a eureka moment.
Later, involved citizens like Shane Fitzgibbon, Eibhear O’Dea and Joe McKenna knew it was time to act. They arranged a kind of intervention in the ranks of the miners.
Damian Lawlor is a best-selling and sports broadcaster for RTÉ. He is from Kilruane, County Tipperary and lives with his circle of relatives in Naas, County Kildare. This is his seventh book.
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