Barry Nash has revealed how he considered packing in his Limerick career as he fell well down John Kiely’s pecking order.
One of the more celebrated talents from Limerick’s run of underage success between 2013 and ‘17 as they picked up two Munster minor titles before matching that haul at under-21 level and tagging on two All-Irelands, Nash glided straight into the senior team while still a teenager in 2016.
Mainly operating as an inside forward, he started all seven of their League games that year and two of their three Championship games, losing his spot for their final outing, a defeat to Clare in the qualifiers.
Kiely, who managed Limerick to the 2015 under-21 All-Ireland when Nash was man of the match in the final against Wexford, took over as senior manager in the subsequent close season, but it would be another four years before he started a game in League or Championship again.
The graph was clearly trending downwards, with Nash making just five appearances off the bench in 2017, four in 2018 and three in 2019.
He had already been trialled in the half-back line but when Richie English and Mike Casey suffered long-term injuries in 2020, necessity was the mother of invention.
“Paul [Kinnerk] came to me and tried to turn me into a bit of a corner-back,” Nash explains. “I got one game against Waterford prior to Covid hitting and it went fine. It was a bit of a shock.
“I can remember him laughing when he said it to me, 'We're going to try you in corner-back now'. I was like, 'Alright, ok, no bother!' But I was happy to give it a go.
“Richie was obviously for the whole year with the cruciate and then Mike got the injury as well.
“Who knows, I mightn’t even be playing if the boys didn’t get injured so yeah look, I think when the chance comes you have to take it and try and hold on to it for as long as you can.”
Nash is certainly doing that. In Limerick’s 10 League and Championship games in 2020, he started nine and came off the bench in the other. From a sharp-shooting forward on dominant Limerick underage teams, he’s now won successive All Stars at corner-back and was shortlisted for Hurler of the Year last year.
Barely a bit-part player for the 2018 All-Ireland success, he’s been one of their outstanding performers in the three-in-a-row run.
But, in those valley years from 2016-20, he seriously considered throwing his hat at it.
“There was definitely a stage where I was thinking, ‘This isn’t going to work for me’ but obviously my dad would have played for Limerick and I have uncles there, Declan as well, who would have played, all my other uncles on that side as well were great to just…
“I suppose they would have went through stages in their career where they looked at it thinking, ‘I mightn’t be getting in here, is it worth staying, is it not worth staying?’ and they basically talked me into staying, ‘It’s definitely worth it’ and thank God they did at the time. Look what we went on to achieve.
“When you come from underage and you're starting most of the games and you come into senior and you're not getting that same amount of game time, it is hard to take on board but it is important and it shows good resilience to stay at it. And you learn a lot from it.
“Like, I found those few years I worked so hard and really earned it. When I got that start I knew then that I have to continue this to hold onto the position because I don't want to go back to the stage where I have to work so hard to get into my starting position.”
Kyle Hayes, an All Star in defence and attack, sometimes operates in front of him at wing-back, giving that left side of the Limerick rearguard a potent attacking threat, with Nash not averse to getting upfield and taking a score.
“I suppose it depends really on how other teams set up against you. If, for example, someone pushes up on top of me then I'm going to have to find different ways of getting on the ball. It's not going to be off short puck-out or anything like that.
“Look, the game has changed so much over the last 10 years, never mind the last 30, 40 years. Anything could happen, it's hard to tell what way the game is going to go over the next few years. It's only improving, which is the main thing.”
In last year’s League, Limerick were clearly playing catch-up and struggled throughout the competition before finding form just in time for the Championship.
They’ve hit the ground running this year, however, and face Tipperary in tomorrow evening’s League semi-final having already used 37 players in the campaign so far, with Nash ominously suggesting that they’ve never enjoyed greater depth.
“The competition there is ridiculous. If you even go back into goals with Nickie, the competition that he has with Dave [McCarthy] and Jamie [Power], out to us in the full-back line, then out the field.
“It’s a tough environment to be in. But it’s a great environment to be in. Having that competition really drives everyone on. If you didn’t have that competition for places, you might rest on your laurels.
“So yeah, look, it’s important to have a strong panel. And I think it’s one of the strongest panels we’ve ever had.”
Barry Nash was speaking at the launch of the oneills.com All-Ireland Under-20 Hurling Championship.
