‘An unforgettable evening’: All-Ireland hurling champions Limerick arrive home to warmest of receptions

Thousands of Limerick GAA fans swarmed a sweltering Shannonside to welcome home the newly crowned three-in-a-row All-Ireland hurling champions on Monday.

As temperatures soared to more than 30 degrees, the hurling stars arrived into Colbert railway station carrying the Liam MacCarthy Cup and sparked a homecoming party to set the city alight for months to come.

A tsunami of green and white supporters swept into the city to catch a glimpse of the hurling champions who were carried in an open top bus to the TUS Gaelic Grounds for a homecoming celebration.

Conor Campbell Vereker (12) and his cousin Sophie Crowe (13), both from Corbally, who had been lucky to have seen the team win at Croke Park on Sunday, went one better when they managed to join their heroes on the team bus.

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“It was just amazing, we just walked with the players on to the bus, we couldn’t believe we were on the bus with them, so we just stood in a corner watching everything,” said Conor.

Earlier, he received a handwritten letter from Limerick defender Diarmaid Byrnes, who unwittingly left the lad hanging for a “high five” after a previous match earlier in the year. “And some of the players said they would send me some hurling gear,” he added.

Seven-year-old Heidi Donnelly, from Broadford, travelled to the Gaelic Grounds with her mother Miriam with a hand-made card she drew for her favourite player Cian Lynch, who she had previously helped save his gear bag when it almost got swept away in the tide at Ballybunion Beach last year.

She wrote inside the card: “To Cian, hope your leg is better soon, you are awesome”, after the Patrickswell hurler of the year missed the final due to injury.

Her mother said it had been a “fantastic” few days for the pair after Heidi “won tickets to the All-Ireland final yesterday, and she got a sliotar signed by Sean Finn”.

“I was at the final in 2018 and it was awesome, but to see the three in a row – what could be better, they are such a great team,” Donnelly said.

Overjoyed at the return of the crowd celebrations, following Covid-19 restrictions in 2020 and 2021, Donnelly added: “It’s a great atmosphere tonight, it’s great for the county and we can’t wait to celebrate even more.”

Paul Foran (69) was in tears as the players made their way to greet him with the All-Ireland cup: “It’s unbelievable, they are the best thing in the world, they never give up, I don’t know where we found them.”

“We brought the holy grail home again, that’s what I call the Liam MacCarthy Cup. We can go for six or seven in a row now, they can do it, there’s no one that can stop them,” said the Garryowen man.

Michelle O’Donnell, from Knocklong, and her sons Joe (10), Lee (6), and daughter Grace (12), slapped on the factor 50 suncream to catch a glimpse of the Limerick hurling stars.

“They’re all huge fans, they couldn’t go to the final because it was too hot to take them, but this is wonderful to see the payers up close,” she said. “It’s at a stage where the children know no better but I’ve had to wait so many years for an All-Ireland and there was lots of disappointments and this lot have seen the team win three in a row and my youngest is only six.”

Flag sellers made hay as the crowds travelled from the city centre to the Ennis Road sportsground where green and white ice-cream cooled down the blistering masses.

Fresh from her appearance at the Glastonbury music festival, local star Denise Chaila, along with MuRli and God Knows – who all performed together as Narolane – headlined a stellar line-up of music acts, including Emma Langford and Moncrieff, for what organisers CWB and Limerick GAA described as “an unforgettable evening”.

Gaelic games commentator Liam Aherne, whipped up the crowd in preparation for the appearance of the All-Ireland champs on stage, and when they did walk on, it was green and white bedlam.

“It’s beyond our wildest dreams,” an emotional Byrnes told the crowd after he had been crowned hurler of the year.

Limerick mayor Francis Foley summed up the mood: “People of Limerick, does it get better than this, our hurling heroes are now undisputed kingpins of the hurling game.”