'Phenomenal' Currid key to Limerick mental toughness

Just a few hours previously, Declan Hannon was lifting Liam McCarthy for the fourth time, an unprecedented feat.

"It was probably the most emotional I had been after any of the All-Irelands. I saw Caroline running towards me I said to myself 'pull yourself together' and get going again," said Hannon to Joanne Cantwell at the winner’s hotel on Sunday night.

Caroline Currid has played a key role not only in Limerick’s recent success but also for teams of four All-Ireland winners – Tyrone Footballers (2008), Tipperary Hurlers (2010), Dublin Footballers (2011) and now the four-time All-Ireland winners – the Limerick Hurlers (2018, 2020, 2021 and 2022).

Brendan Maher, three-time All-Ireland winner with Tipp was part of the young crop of players that came under Currid's wing in the late noughties.

"She's not in it to get her name in the paper. What she's really good at is having those open conversations," Maher said on the RTÉ GAA podcast.

"She was massive in terms of my own individual development. I would have met Caroline first in 2009. It was my first year in the panel.

"And you're trying to break onto a team. There's a lot of doubts that would creep in when you're facing the standard that is senior inter-county hurling. A bad game can have a huge impact on you at that age.

"But she was really good for the younger lads. And I think she was really good for the older lads too, who might have had the scars from the years before.

"And being able to bring that together, where the freedom of expression of the younger lads being embraced and then the older lads feeding off that and realising that 'the past is the past, it's all about now'.

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