"IT'S DO or die." The words escape Stephen McDonagh's mouth with the same considernation he lends to his performances as corner back on the Limerick hurling team. No fuss. Not too much emotion But the message sinks home, ala the same.
All of Limerick, it seems, is aware of what Sunday's All Ireland Senior Hurling Championship Final encounter with Wexford at Croke Park means. "There is no comeback for us if we don't win this match," said McDonagh. A farmer. A hurler. A realist.
Limerick hurlers tend to be realists. It is an ungodly 23 years since the Liam McCarthy Cup was clenched on the steps of the Hogan Stand by a Limerick captain. Two years ago, some supporters left the All Ireland Final with Offaly a few minutes early to celebrate the "win" in a hostelry close to Croke Park but, by the time they completed the short journey, they were consigned to mourning.
The reality this season, however, is that Limerick are back in GAA Headquarters on the first Sunday of September. Within touching distance, again, of the prize. They've done it the hard way, too. Cork, Clare and Tipperary have all perished by different deaths in Munster. The common factor? Limerick were their conquerors.
There have been occasions during the summer when Limerick appeared to be on the way out of the championship. A last gasp point by Ciaran Carey to save the day against Clare. Ten points down at one stage in the drawn game with Tipperary. Testing times. "Maybe the gods are with us this time," said McDonagh.
Maybe they are. McDonagh's mind wanders back to a night some eight months ago when Carey stood in front of his team mates It was either the 12th or 13th of January," recalled the Bruree defender. "Ciaran laid it on the line for us, explained what he expected. He stood up in front of us and told us he wanted to lift two Cups. Said he wanted to be remembered as the captain of the team that won the All Ireland."
But the words had a wider mean,"ing to the players. They wanted to be remembered as players who had won All Ireland medals. "People only remember you if you have an All Ireland. You can win the Oireachtas, win your All Stars, win your Railway Cups. But we want to be All Ireland medal holders - and we want it badly," said McDonagh.
The words of Carey were still reverberating around the room that winter night when the players' began the long trek towards Croke Park. They had eight training sessions in the next 16 days.
"Interestingly, no session was ever gut busting," said McDonagh. "Guys didn't walk away vomiting or anything like that. The training was tough, okay, but Dave (Maheedy) and his team were very, very organised and gradually built us up.
"All the players knew such training, such sacrifices were needed. You're never going to win an AllIreland unless you decide that is what you want. You are only wasting your time. You have to make sacrifices, whether it be wives, girlfriends, jobs. Everything has to be sacrificed."
And, yet, now that the promised land has been reached, McDonagh is adamant he will treat Sunday's showdown as "just another game." No Limerick player wants to fall back into the hype trap which ensnared them in the days leading u to the 1994 final.
"We have been through a hell of a lot since 1994. I felt we were unfairly treated by the media, the way they harped at it for two years. The only way to suck that out is to win Sunday's match. That defeat doesn't haunt me. It's gone. Many, many teams down the years lost All Irelands in fairly traumatic circumstances but what annoyed me most is the way everyone harped on our situation," said McDonagh.
Such trials and tribulations, however, helped cement and build team spirit. And Limerick have no problems in that regard. There is plenty of strength and willpower right through the squad. "No weak minded man has won an All Ireland medal," admitted McDonagh. "You have got to be very strong mentally and you have got to believe a lot in your ability, in what you are doing."
"I've always believed in my own ability. I'm not over confident, not over cocky. But I do believe in my own physical well being and my mental well being. I am not a leader. I'd be known as a quiet kind of individual. I believe in what I am doing, however. I always have. And that won't change on Sunday.
Has the Limerick team matured since 1994? "We have had to mature, none of us are getting any younger. I feel it is now time to deliver. The nucleus of the team is much the same as two years ago, bar Ger Hegarty who is out through injury, but the fact we have brought in three or four young lads has made a huge difference. They have all delivered. Mark Foley. Barry Foley. Owen O'Neill.
In the past, the Limerick defence has come in for some criticism. Sniping. Not this year, though. The full back line has been as solid as any in the country. It is something which pleases McDonagh and his fellow backs.
"Mike (Nash), Declan (Nash) and myself try not to be too spectacular or too fussy," he explained. "We try to do the simple things to keep our forwards from scoring goals, which is what I think a corner back's job really is. You have to minimise the goals and our record so far this season has been reasonably good."
The difference between winners and losers can be very slim. Limerick have already tasted the bitter pill of defeat. "They say you have to lose an All Ireland to win one," said McDonagh. "But Clare proved that wrong last year. I've encountered a lot of Limerick people, particularly old people who have for the first time been able to watch the whole campaign on television, one of the best moves the GAA has made, and they really want us to win this one.
"Twenty three years is a long time, too long. I believe now is the right time for us. Whatever happens on Sunday, we have got to come back to Limerick next Monday with or without the cup. I believe we will be coming back with the cup."
