Dubai was never as good as this…
Diarmaid Byrnes made his first start of the year a fortnight ago, against Westmeath, and for all he’s done and won and all the big games he’s played in, it might come as a surprise when he says that he’s rarely felt nerves like it.
But Cusack Park is a long way from the Jumeirah Palm.
He may have been gone for only the best part of a month but it’s a long time in hurling. Especially in a season as condensed as this one and, when you combine the fact that he hadn’t played for Limerick for so eight months and that he really wanted to hit the ground running, that’s where those butterflies came from.
It didn’t help when he realised on the bus up that he’d forgotten his airpods.
“I was so nervous for that first game back against Westmeath.
“On the bus, I forgot my airpods. It was like, ‘what do I do now.’
“Ah no, I was like, ‘Jesus, how will I get on?’
“I was really zoned in. It was probably the most clued in I was for a match. With that then you probably overthink, or over-analyse a game.
“It’s funny…each game will throw up its own scenario. I was only talking to Nicky Quaid the other day…I think he played his first game (this year) in goals against Clare.
“I think Dave McCarthy was in goals against Cork, Nicky played against Clare at the Gaelic Grounds and that was his first game back in goals since we played Kilkenny here (Croke Park) as he plays outfield with the club.
“He said he was so nervous.
“I was telling him on the bus I was so nervous and he was, ‘Jesus, I was the same against Clare’. Regardless of experience, or having done it before, there is always that nervousness that builds up.
“Not anxiety, but excitement in my head.”
Byrnes didn’t go cold Turkey on his travels, he played for the Dubai Celts and, as a team-mate of Colin Fennelly’s and Kevin O’Brien’s,won the Sharjah Gaels intermediate hurling tournament.
It might be hard to believe that the Hurler of the Year was only playing intermediate hurling but the seniors had been training all year and kept to the same panel. Saying that, Byrnes laughs and shakes his head when asked if he ran amok.
“There’s a couple of different rules, nine-a-side and you can’t score from your own half! So they were showing me tricks now, the lads who were used to the rules and used to playing in the heat!”
A self-confessed home-bird, Byrnes said he enjoyed the holiday, and enjoyed the quality time spent with his partner who teaches out there, but was still excited to get back.
“I was flying it,” he laughs when asked if he struggled in the first session back.
“The pace the lads were at. That’s just the standard. No matter what team I went in to it would have been back to the basics, ball to hand.
“It still takes a couple of weeks to zone back in to the movement, the shape.
“Knowing what to do with the ball – I know it sounds crazy. The game moves so fast, if you’re not zoned into your next move before you receive the ball, or capable of making a run to support someone, without even having the ball.
“Especially where I play on the field, those are the things I found.
“When you start hurling, your touch is off. No, it’s been really enjoyable being back with the group.
“It was like being injured, like I was retired. The joy I got when I got back to the group – I didn’t realise how much I missed it when I was gone. A bit emotional in a way – “Jesus it’s great to be back”. Absolutely delighted. I was so happy to be back.”
The new smart chipped sliotar – designed by O’Neills and Greenhills – is one of the changes since his return and Byrnes says he has noticed a big difference in its make-up.
“There’s a big difference regards the qualities.
“I don’t know is it the material. It was Cummins’ ball last year, wasn’t it?
“They were the All-Ireland sliotar. It’s O’Neill’s now and Green Fields is it? It’s like it’s just getting used to.
“We’d always, regardless of what ball we were using, we’d always throw in a couple of different sliotars to get used to different companies.”
As the highest scoring wing back hurling has ever seen, this is obviously something that applies to the 29-year-old.
“It’s like anything, Cummins will believe in making a ball this way and O’Neill’s has to be this way and I’d get a 65 wherever it may be and we’re trying the Cummins balls all the time and the ‘keeper on the opposition throws me out an O’Neill’s.
“‘Sure I’m not using that, I can’t use that.’ Imagine the referee, trying to explain it to the referee so you kind of have to use what’s thrown in front of you and there is a bit of a difference.
“It’s hard to tell at this time of the year because the two matches I’ve played, it’s been miserable so between the ball being wet and soggy and the distance, the ball won’t travel as far when the air is that bit denser and it’s wet.
“But if you’re thinking in golf terms, when the air is a bit thinner it does travel that bit farther. When it’s coming to the summer months, hopefully I’ll see a bit of a difference.”
Well if he doesn’t then we’re afraid no-one will!
21 March 2023; John West Féile 2023 Ambassador and Hurler of the Year Diarmaid Byrnes of Limerick at Croke Park today Tuesday. John West, sponsors of the GAA’s under-15 annual Féile Peile na nÓg (football) and Féile na nGael (camogie and hurling) announced details of its innovative nutrition programme for young athletes. The company also revealed the extension of its Féile sponsorship until 2025 and a partnership with SuperValu to promote John West Féile in stores across the country.
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