Peter O’Reilly, captain of the senior hurling team at Patrickswell GAA, is part of a club that has made an impressive name for itself in the annals of national competition.
“It’s probably considered a bit of a cliché at this stage, because of the likes of the AIB ads, but what I enjoy most about being involved in the GAA is the sense of community it helps to foster,” says Peter O’Reilly, captain of the senior hurling team at Limerick’s Patrickswell GAA club. “When you’re playing for a club you’re playing alongside the guys you grew up with and went to school with.”
Peter O’Reilly first became involved with the GAA when his family relocated to the area around Patrickswell, about seven miles from Limerick city centre. His older brother quickly joined up and Peter followed him in a year later, in 1986.
Peter, who has represented Limerick, says: “I’ve had county experience, but with your club there’s a special bond between the players who, more often than not, have played together from under-12 level up.” The familial connection so common in GAA circles was strengthened with the addition of a third brother, and now three young O’Reilly men line out for the hurling side.
Patrickswell is synonymous with hurling in Limerick. In 1973, when the Limerick inter-county team won its first and only all-Ireland hurling final title, Patrickswell were the backbone of the team. Among the Patrickswell members of the Limerick side that took the greatest prize in hurling was current Limerick county manager Richie Brennan.
“Down through the years when Limerick were going well Patrickswell was very prominent in the set up,” Peter notes. “We’re probably one of the more dominant teams at the moment and although we lost our last county final last year, we always tend to be there or thereabouts.”
One factor that emerges when playing for the likes of Patrickswell is that younger players can find themselves at the same club as their inter-county heroes.
“At Patrickswell you would be looking up at the senior team and then before you know it you’re playing with them,” says Peter. “Ciaran Carey – who, when I was 12 or 13, was making his debut with the Limerick team – played for our senior team… I always looked up to him and today I play alongside him.”
The area around Patrickswell has been undergoing changes in recent years. “It was in a rural area but with urban sprawl the suburbs are coming out to meet it,” Peter points out. “There’s a lot of development going on.”
But the club has attempted to turn the urbanisation of the region to its advantage: “A few years ago, Limerick racecourse moved out to Patrickswell. Since then we’ve been holding annual race days every May bank holiday Monday. It’s turned into a really big event. We charge 60 euro per head and we try to get a lot of corporate sponsorship. We also bring in a high profile figure from the GAA. It’s become a great day in terms of gathering funds for the club.”
Patrickswell has had plenty of areas on which to spend the money it generates. “Our facilities would be primitive enough, considering we’re such a successful club. Up until recently all we had was a slanted hurling field and a clubhouse with two dressing rooms,” says Peter. “About four years ago the club invested in a floodlit AstroTurf pitch. It lends itself well for winter training, but we still haven’t got match standard floodlights on our main pitch, or a gym or anything like that. Considering the standard played here, we’re still very basic.”
Those at the club are still making the best of what they have, and Patrickswell now boasts both a senior and intermediate team – the only club in Limerick in a position to do so. Hypothetically, this could cause problems for the Limerick county board in that if the intermediate team qualifies to move up a division, two Patrickswell sides will have proved themselves good enough to play senior hurling.
Peter believes much of the success of the club is down to its juvenile set-up and some clever use of other local facilities. “We’ve very strong juvenile teams,” he says.
”We’re next to a school and that lends itself well in terms of extra curricular activities. The school really puts a huge emphasis on the game among its students and it does a lot in its own right to nurture the talents, particularly of the hurlers.”
One misstep in the onward march of the club came earlier in the season. Peter explains: “Our last big game was seven weeks ago. It was the first game of the championship, but we lost it to Murroe-Boher.” But the game the club will be looking forward to most will hopefully come at a later stage in the tournament. “We are second in the role of honour for the championship. We’re one behind Ahane,” says Peter. “They would be our main rivals. Those matches are hard-fought and sometimes nasty, but everyone at the club looks forward to them. I’m sure it’s the same over at Ahane.”
