An RTÉ TV camera scanned the Limerick dressing-room as the players huddled together and sang Sean South of Garryowen after the 2013 Munster final breakthrough.
A few players had their tops off but most were still wearing the green jerseys which hung limply on their slender frames.
Almost a decade on, the scene from the Limerick dressing-room after this month’s Munster final was equally jubilant but striking for the difference in the players’ physiques.
Coaxed by photographer Ray McManus, Limerick quintet Nickie Quaid, Sean Finn, Mike Casey, Barry Nash and Diarmaid Byrnes, wearing only their togs and flip flops, smiled and flexed for the camera. It was like a scene from a super middleweight world title fight weigh-in.
Eoin Cadogan, who lined out for Cork against Limerick in last year’s All-Ireland final, works in strength and conditioning and the Limerick photo has been brought to his attention several times since.
“A lot of people have asked me, ‘How do you look like that? How do you get like that?’” said Cadogan.
“But that’s just not lifting weights or running around the pitch, that is culture, environment, it is everything about high performance and that’s exactly what Limerick have, a high-performing group with a high-performing culture.
“That, to me, is recovery, it’s sleeping, that is hydration, that is being consistent with your gym work, consistent with your food and really, really buying into it.
“You don’t look like that by just ticking one box, that’s eight or 10 pillars in terms of maximising your physical and your mental self and that’s what that photo reflected to me, not what a fella can bench press but that they live that life and they can go out then and deliver the skills of the game.
“They’re obviously in incredible shape but that for me is a better reflection of the standards that they bear as individuals, that’s what that photo reflected to me.”
Cadogan, with a BSc in strength and conditioning, lived a similar life of devotion himself as a Cork player.
“I used to come home from work early, sleep for 40 minutes, eat and be at training at five o’clock for a seven o’clock start,” he said. “That’s where inter-county has gone, it’s obviously a results business but if you’re not ticking all of the boxes, all of the time, you’re wasting your time really.”
It’s an ominous thought that all of the Limerick players seem to be ticking all of the boxes. Who can possibly beat them, Galway in this weekend’s All-Ireland semi-final perhaps?
“I think purely based off what I’ve seen from Galway and Limerick, I can’t look past Limerick,” said Cadogan. “They’ve found a way each time something has been thrown at them. The Munster final was just another feather in their cap in the sense of how they found a way to win that one.
“So for that reason I feel that Limerick will come out the right side of it, especially when I look back at the quarter-final [between Galway and Cork] and at Cork’s lack of efficiency; against a more potent team like Limerick you would imagine they will put away those scores and really punish you.”
Back in Cork, the championship post-mortem is still underway. They lost to Galway by a point in that quarter-final but pucked away, by Cadogan’s estimation, far more.
“I think in total they left 3-17 behind them that day, they had three one-on-one chances in the first-half for goals, they had 12 wides by half-time and I think I read their scoring efficiency was 27%,” said the former defender.
“It was very uncharacteristic. I hadn’t seen them have that amount of wides really all year. The opportunities were there for them. I think that will be the most frustrating thing for the squad, that they didn’t walk out of it, like after last year’s All-Ireland final, saying, ‘we were comprehensively beaten’. Losing by a point and leaving all those opportunities behind you is hugely frustrating.”
Despite the defeat, it appears the players want Kieran Kingston to stay on as manager following the end of his three-year agreement with the county board. It’s understood the board are willing to offer a one-year extension.
“I don’t think anyone would question really his contribution, and the people that would be saying, ‘it’s time to move on’, of course there’s a time to move on and there’s always another person out there but the question is, who would that person be if Kieran was to step away?” said Cadogan.
“Because there isn’t any ready-made replacement. There’s a huge amount of excellent hurling coaches out there but there’s a big, big difference between being an inter-county hurling manager and being a coach or a selector and you can’t forget about those things.”
Eoin Cadogan was speaking at a preview event ahead of Sunday’s Electric Ireland All-Ireland minor hurling championship final between Tipperary and Offaly
