He’s going to savour this one.
Limerick won their first All-Ireland in 45 years on Sunday and Shane Dowling is adamant that himself, his 36 fellow panellists and the rest of the Treaty County are going to celebrate like it was 1973 on Monday night and deep into the rest of the week.
John Kiely’s side did it the hard way in GAA HQ on Sunday, hitting 21 wides and also letting Galway back into it for a late, nerve-wracking run but had they lost or even drawn the final there’s no denying the fact that it would have been a travesty for them.
That’s because they were much the better team out there and thankfully, Graeme Mulcahy stood up late on save their blushes and send the whole county into conniptions.
Men like Aaron Gillane only got two hours sleep on Sunday night and didn’t feel up for the breakfast the next morning, but according to Shane Dowling, the celebrations in the City West the night of their great triumph will be nothing in comparison to the scenes Shannonside this evening.
You can listen to interviews with Shane Dowling, Aaron Gillane and Kyle Hayes here, as well as analysis on the weekend’s action.
The Limerick team boarded their Limerick bound train from Heuston at around 5.00 on Monday evening and the boys already have the glad rags on in preparation for a wild night with Liam MacCarthy.
Colm Parkinson wasn’t the only one watching The Sunday Game wondering whether it hadn’t all yet sunk in for the Limerick lads and he asked Shane Dowling about the atmosphere there.
Wooly: “What were the celebrations like last night, it looked subdued, I was watching The Sunday Game last night and Declan and John were up being interviewed and I was thinking, are ye all still a bit shellshocked?”
Shane Dowling had the perfect response. That was the calm, the storm comes tonight and you can take it as a guarantee that the one of hurling’s greatest characters will be stuck in the middle of it all.
“Well I can tell you something, if you do nothing else, go down to Limerick tonight and you’ll see celebrations,” he said to Wooly.
“Last night I think everyone was just relieved to get over the line. There was still a good buzz here last night don’t get me wrong, but what I think what a lot of people were doing, rather than going mad, was they wanted to take a step back and actually take it all in.
“But tonight, I know for a fact, I know what’s going on down there, it will be a different ball game and you’re more than welcome Wooly and anybody else who wants to join the circus, bring them on,” he said.
There’s only one place to be on Monday night.
