Cian Lynch looks at Conor Boylan and Conor Boylan looks at Cian Lynch.
That’s that, and this is this. Here we go.
Having fought on the same side for six months, the GAA season waits for no-one, skip on a fast week after the All-Ireland and the team-mates are now rivals.
Patrickswell are taking on Na Piarsaigh in the first round of the county championship and the boys are ready to get stuck into each other.
“And it was wet and miserable, so you’re getting belts and bouncing off each other,” recalls Lynch, the PwC hurler of the month for July.
“You’re obviously close, because you’ve been together with Limerick, but when you go back to the club, you’re cutting each other and belting each other but you still have that respect.
“Obviously you want your club to out-do another club, regardless of who’s playing with them.”
And that’s what it’s about.
It’s a quick turn-around to be playing club championship only just a week after winning the All-Ireland but, from Lynch’s perspective, given the injury nightmare that kept him out of so much hurling in 2022, he was never going to complain about playing a game.
“I actually couldn’t wait to get back with the club to be honest with you.
“I haven’t played with them since 2021, so just couldn’t wait. There’s so many new young fellas after pushing through onto the senior team, it’s gas, they’re making us feel old now so you’re almost like the auld fella coming back. But delighted to be back. Just looking forward to every training session and enjoying every bit of it,” he says.
Some have complained that, with the current GAA calendar, the inter-county season ends too soon. That we’re devaluing the game’s blue riband event by running it all off so quickly, but from a player’s perspective, club and county, Lynch feels the current set-up is most beneficial.
He says that, indeed, ‘you’ll always have someone complaining.’
“There’s a great thought process behind the split season.”
“You have your time for your inter-county GAA, and then the club lads aren’t waiting around all year either, wondering when they’re going to be playing.
“They know the matches are going to be on this date, and you can go away and plan your holidays. At the end of the day, it is a sport, it is a hobby for us all – you have to be able to have a life outside of it too. So to know when a schedule is great. You can’t keep everyone happy, you’ll always have someone complaining.
“Please God, you’ll push on with the club, but the good thing is you know when the end-dates are, so you can take a bit of leave or book a holiday then.
“Even during the summer, the lads that are playing club, they can go away to America, or J1s or holidays or whatever it may be. You have to have a life outside of it as well.”
Patrickswell lost their second round of the Limerick SHC to a Pat Ryan inspired Doon on Thursday night so really, this thing is only getting going now.
10 August 2023; PwC GAA/GPA Player of the Month for July in hurling, Cian Lynch of Limerick, with his award at PwC offices in Limerick. Photo by Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile.
