'It was crazy to be out on the pitch': Liverpool title celebrations and Limerick hurling glories

The 42

14 hours ago

DAVID BREEN MAPS out his recent tour of sporting arenas.
Last night was at the Aviva Stadium, a chance to catch up on the progress of the Ireland soccer side he worked with as a physio last year, his time overlapping the interim reign of John O'Shea and the start of the Heimir Hallgrímsson era.
Tonight he'll be at the Gaelic Grounds, the pitch he was acquainted with in his Limerick hurling days, just a kilometre away from his club base in Caherdavin with Na Piarsaigh.
Rewind back two weeks to another venue.
Anfield on Premier League trophy presentation day. The first time Liverpool got to share title celebrations with their fans in 35 years after the Covid-disruption of 2020.
Breen linked up with the club last November, starting a role as first team rehabilitation physio.
The outburst of vivid colour and deafening noise and wild joy a fortnight ago set him back.
Having a front-row view on the pitch for those couple of hours after the draw with Crystal Palace, created memories that will always linger.
Liverpool players celebrate their Premier League title win. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo
'The atmosphere at Anfield is is pretty special regardless, but when you're there when they win the league and lift the trophy, you're just seeing the energy around the place and the emotion.
'It was crazy to be out on the pitch and celebrating. It's something that you'd watch on TV and then you're in the middle of it. It's surreal.
'The way in which the league was won against Spurs, with four games left, it was a real long build up to lifting the trophy after the Palace game.
'So it almost felt like the excitement built even more.
'When you experience it, you're pretty sure you'll never ever experience anything like this again.'
Breen was mainly a Celtic fans growing up, a connection that hardened when he spent time studying in Scotland.
Stepping into the working world as a physio afforded him opportunities with an array of sporting sides, rugby a dominant theme. He worked with the Leinster Academy for a couple of years, Tadhg Furlong a housemate for a while. By April 2017 he was in England with Wasps and returning home to face Leinster in a Champions Cup quarter-final.
Different roles followed since the summer of 2020, time in the Manchester City academy, a couple of years back in Limerick with the Munster rugby setup, a year with Harlequins in the English Premiership, and then Liverpool.
His latest sporting adventure commands more interest from friends back home.
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'I've plenty of mates that are Liverpool fans and let's just say a lot more people got in touch since I've been with Liverpool than getting tickets to some of the rugby clubs I worked for!
'Obviously the club is global and the support back in Ireland for Liverpool is crazy. You do get a sense of walking into the place that it's such a historic club, all the players that have played there, they're on the wall. You're looking at the trophies that have been won and you can just tell it's a winning club that that goes about its business in the right way.'
David Breen with the Premier League trophy.
Breen's day to day is spent with those stuck on the treatment table for extended periods of time. He's dealing with players operating at a stratosphere of fame, but their application remains laser-focused.
'Like any any top team players, they set their own standards and are role models in the squad. Younger players will look up to older players that have achieved a lot in their careers and they see their prep and good habits, and that spreads throughout the throughout the squad.
'The physio group is split between the rehab side, dealing with the players that have short or long term injuries, and then guys that are on the medical performance side and they travel to most of the games.
'So I tend to do a lot of the rehab with the longer term injuries, that's been my role in a few different clubs. You work around the team schedule, so whenever the team is playing, if it's playing on a Monday or if it's playing on a Sunday, you kind of map out your week from there.'
It's a different world but there have been enough Irish connections dotted around Anfield and Melwood to help him settle in.
'Caoimhin (Kelleher) and Conor (Bradley), I got on well with with those two lads in particular, so it was nice to suppose celebrate with boys that you're close to in the squad. Conor Bradley is is a really, really top fella, like he's a great lad.
'I would have known Caoimhin from from the Republic of Ireland squad before coming into the club. Caoimh has moved on now this week to Brentford. He's an immensely talented player and he's a huge character as well. He's a fella that was very much loved by staff and players, whatever dressing room he goes into, he'll bring that with him, and I'd just wish him all the best with it.
'Then we've got some staff as well like Conall Murtagh (head of physical performance) is Northern Ireland, Chris Black's (lead S&C coach) from Northern Ireland, Clare Farrell (lead performance nutritionist) is from Longford. I would have worked with Clare in Munster.
'You do definitely get the sense that there's a strong kind of Irish connection in the club there and there's a lot of love for Irish people I think in Liverpool.'
David Breen with Conor Bradley and Caomihin Kelleher afer Liverpool's title win.
In a past life his focus was on the pitch rather than the physio table. Years hurling at the elite level of county and club games with Limerick and Na Piarsaigh.
When Breen joined the club, Kelleher spread word of that sporting prowess in the dressing room.
'Caoimhin had told a couple of the lads, and then Andy Robertson was one guy in particular that really jumped onto the whole kind of hurling thing. He's always had plenty interest in it.
'Guys would be aware of hurling without majority of them haven't actually probably seen a game. We brought in the in the hurleys one day, myself and Caoimhin, and and had a few pucks and a few of the other staff had a go as well after training.'
There is a contrast between the time Breen spent hurling for Limerick and the current Shannonside crew.
When he takes his seat this evening, his mind will wander back to the last Limerick-Cork Munster hurling final at the venue.
Breen started wing-forward on the 2013 afternoon when Limerick closed a 17-year spell of hurt and frustration.
'It was very different for us. It really just felt like a watershed moment, you were able to just get over the line and and it was it was like our All-Ireland in many ways.'
Limerick's Donal O'Grady lifts the cup after the 2013 Munster hurling final. Lorraine O'Sullivan / INPHO Lorraine O'Sullivan / INPHO / INPHO
Memories of that showdown?
'Probably missing a goal in the first half,' laughs Breen.
'The other memories were just how hot it was.
'It was just intensely hot and we were doing our warm up and people were packed into the stadium.
'I know that that's the norm now that there's no empty seats left anywhere, but I think in 2012, 13, there wasn't many games where every seat was taken. So just the energy and the intensity from the crowd just in the buildup to the game stands out.
'In the warm up we couldn't get more vaseline on the forehead or the eyebrows and just towels out trying to rinse the sweat off the grip.
'And then just obviously the noise of the place. That's probably the first game where where you're screaming at a guy that's 15 metres away and he can't hear you.
'It felt like we were on it from early doors againt Cork that day. The biggest thing for us and for the crowd and for everyone is that we were able to see it through. There's plenty of times prior to 2013 where you've been on it and you just can't get over the line.
'It was all moral victories and all nearly stories but that day we did see it through. Fellas came off the bench and finished the job. The pitch invasion then was pretty legendary stuff.'
Stephen Walsh, Seanie Tobin, David Breen and Thomas Ryan in the dressing room after the 2013 Munster final. James Crombie / INPHO James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO
If that achievement was isolated, the relentlessness of the present Limerick group in gobbling up trophies stands out.
He has some insight to the group through four Na Piarsaigh club-mates, players he combined with for 2016 All-Ireland club glory in Croke Park – Shane Dowling, Mike and Peter Casey, and William O'Donoghue.
Wear his physio and hurling hats, he is struck by the resilience of the Casey brothers who have persisted after a series of shattering injury setbacks.
'I think that's the modern day GAA player now. They have to take big injuries on the chin and like they're so professional too that there's no reason (not to come back). I mean, you get a big injury, you have surgery, you rehab it, you might have to write it off that season, but you look to the next season. It's very much a professional mindset in terms of how guys deal with injuries now and how they deal with setbacks.
'That was a really big injury that that Peter picked up, probably in the most public of forums really, but, he's done his ACL, he did his ankle last year, he'll have that kind of confidence that he can deal with big injuries like that and he can get back. Same with his with his older brother Mike.
'I think all of that Limerick squad seem seemed pretty mentally strong, they're able to handle handle big injuries and hats off to the medical team inside there. They've had their fair share of big one big injuries like that over the last few years and they've dealt with them very admirably.'
On the sideline is another familiar figure. His link with Paul Kinnerk stretches back years to their school days.
He has watched his friend become one of the greatest coaches operating in Irish sport over the last 15 years.
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Paul Kinnerk Coaching Honours List
All-Ireland senior – 2013, 2018, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023.
– 2013, 2018, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023. All-Ireland U21 – 2012, 2013, 2014.
– 2012, 2013, 2014. Munster senior – 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024.
– 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024. Munster U21 – 2012, 2013, 2014.
– 2012, 2013, 2014. Munster minor – 2010, 2011.
– 2010, 2011. National League – 2016, 2019, 2020, 2023.
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'It just goes to show his quality and talent. My close group of friends would know Paul just from growing up with him and being a close friend, but we know how intense he is, about anything really that he puts his mind to.
'Obviously since since finishing his own kind of playing days in football, he's really just gone all in around his PhD and and his coaching, as well as obviously his family, but he is really passionate about the coaching and he's a fierce competitor as well.
Limerick head coach Paul Kinnerk. Tom Maher / INPHO Tom Maher / INPHO / INPHO
'He does not like to lose. I think you have to be that way if you're going to be put your mind to anything and if you're going to be passionate about something. We've been with Paul through thick and thin, those experiences of winning and having big highs, but also he's had had games that they've lost as well, where they haven't won championships and and and he's absolutely devastated.
'He really goes all in on it and I think any player that's worked with him or being coached by him would be the first to say that. He gives everything to it.'
The energy and effort has blended together to power Limerick to the cusp of seven-in-a-row in Munster. Breen saw enough demoralising days to appreciate the uncharted waters they now sail in.
And yet he's grateful to have sampled a Munster final day in the winners' enclosure.
There'll be reminders in tonight's participants. Horgan, Harnedy and Lehane still in the attacking mix for Cork, while Dowling, Hannon and Quaid endure in Limerick colours.
And there's an appreciation as well for the Cork man guiding the Limerick fortunes 11 years ago.
'John Allen was a real standout manager for me in my years of playing county. He went against the grain on a lot of things. He had the courage of his own convictions. I was just delighted on that day, in that year, his approach towards training, his approach towards team selection and things paid off for him.
'It would have been easy to come under pressure or feel that you have to toe the line with people's thoughts are that you should play a different team or players shouldn't play in this position.
'I was delighted for John Allen that day as much as anything else.'
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