Ciaran Carey (right) and his nephew, Limerick hurler Cian Lynch, pictured at the Gaelic Writers' Association Annual Awards night. Carey was inducted in to the GWA Hall of Fame and Lynch was awarded Hurling Personality of the Year.
By John Harrington
Limerick’s All-Ireland win this year was cathartic for every hurling person in the county, but perhaps especially so for former inter-county players of a certain vintage.
The All-Ireland Final defeats of 1994 and 1996 left a residue of regret that was only washed away once and for all this year when the Liam MacCarthy Cup was won.
Ciaran Carey was the most totemic figure on those Limerick teams that fell short and it took him a long time process the disappointments and absolve himself of any blame for those defeats to Offaly and Wexford.
He had made peace with the past long before this year, but he’s surely not alone in his generation of Limerick hurlers who felt a weight lift off his shoulders when John Kiely’s team reached the promised land this year.
Any remaining bitterness in the county about the near misses of ’94 and ’96 has been fully leached by the pure joy of 2018’s glorious triumph.
“To be honest, '94 and '96 are well and truly gone,” said Carey, who last night was inducted into the Gaelic Writers’ Association Hall of Fame.
“I'm at peace with that a long time ago. I've no notion of bringing that regret into my fifties, sixties, and seventies. I'm pretty okay with that.
“At the end of the day it's a game, it's sport, we got so far and we didn't cross the line, we didn't win it.
“Okay, it took a bit of a while for the pill to be swallowed emotionally to get through it and be able to park it and say, right, we had a good time but we didn't win an All-Ireland.
“But, of course, it (Limerick’s All-Ireland win this year) makes it that bit easier now. It makes it that bit easier because Limerick have been starving and crying out for an All-Ireland since 1973. Now that they're after doing it, you know, the pressure is off now.
“The pressure is off now for the supporters, the past players, past management. There was a huge deal that was made of this, to be fair, because any fella who would have worn the Limerick jersey from '74 to 2018, ultimately that's what they went out to achieve.
“So that will tell you the enormity of it. Myself personally, if they didn't win it this year would it emotionally cripple Ciaran Carey or hijack me emotionally, no it wouldn't (laughs). But, as I said, it was fair special to see history being made this year.
“It was absolutely beautiful spiritually and emotionally. It was massive to see it and massive emotionally for myself as well, especially when Cian (his nephew Cian Lynch) was involved.”
Ciaran Carey in action for Limerick against Wexford in the 1996 All-Ireland SHC Final.
To Carey’s credit, in the run up to the All-Ireland Final he told anyone who’d listen that Limerick would beat Galway.
His confident predictions in the media surely made many in a county haunted by past failures wince, but he was proven right in the end.
Not before, of course, every Limerick person’s last nerve was shredded by the late Galway comeback that threatened an even more disastrous denouement than the late All-Ireland Final collapse against Offaly in ’94.
“Being honest, watching the game it was the type of game you could enjoy,” said Carey.
“I was enjoying the match because I felt that we were in control in a lot of areas in the field, really.
“Especially the full-forward line, I felt 13, 14, and 15 for Limerick had the Galway full-back line in serious trouble.
“It was going so well for so long and then it finished the way it did. There was a bit of a tremor in the last five or six minutes.
“At that stage alright I would have said, 'uh, oh, what's going on here?'
“Thankfully they held out and it was just a flood of emotion then, really.
“I'd be telling lies if I didn't say I cried and shed a tear when I saw Tom Condon coming out with that last ball.
“Emotions would have been huge for most past players I'd imagine. If it wasn't, they mustn't be that human.”
They were heightened all the more for Carey by the fact that his nephew Cian Lynch played such a pivotal role in Limerick’s All-Ireland win.
Arguably the most emotional sports photographs of the year was taken shortly after the final whistle when Ciaran’s sister Valerie was pictured embracing her son on the Croke Park pitch.
Carey missed that moment because he was trying to gather his own emotions as he made his way to meet Marty Morrissey for a post-match interview.
When he heard Valerie had somehow made it through the security cordon to share a special moment with her son, he wasn’t the least bit surprised, though.
“Valerie is Cian's mum and most mums would have done their level best to get on the field, only Valerie is bould enough to try it and get away with it!”, said Carey.
“When your own son or nephew is playing it obviously brings the emotion to a seriously high level compared to if you hadn't blood involved.”
Cian Lynch, a nephew of Ciaran Carey, celebrates after helping Limerick to victory over Galway in the All-Ireland SHC Final.
Carey has been a hugely formative influence on his nephew throughout his life, but he’s also helped hone the hurling ability of many of Lynch’s Limerick team-mates.
Aaron Gillane has hailed his fellow Patrickswell club-man Carey as a huge influence, and as Limerick U-21 hurling manager in 2014 Carey would have worked with other current senior stars like Shane Dowling, Dan Morrissey, Diarmaid Byrnes, Richie English, Darragh O’Donovan, and Pa Ryan.
“Come here, I'm not going to be blowing my trumpet in relation to any of these players,” said Carey. “They're the ones who are after winning the All-Ireland.
“If they crossed my path along the way and I had a positive effect on them, then it's nice to hear that.
“But I'm certainly not going to blowing my own trumpet about any of them.
“I would have overlapped with a good few of them down through the years with the club or at U-21 level, and I suppose that makes it that bit sweeter when they eventually cross the line and win the All-Ireland medal.
“It's beautiful to see and it's lovely to witness it, making a bit of history, and that's what Limerick did this year, to be fair to them.
The ultimate honour might have eluded Carey during his own playing days, but he’s never felt like more of a winner off the pitch than he does right now.
He took a time-out from hurling coaching over the last two years to complete a BA degree in Psychotherapy Counselling, and in the near future plans to open up his own clinic in Limerick city for one to one and group therapy to continue the work he’ll continue to do three days a week in Cuan Mhuire Residential Treatment Centre.
Ciarán Carey of Limerick was honoured as part of the hurling heroes of the 1990s prior to the 2018GAA Hurling All-Ireland Senior Championship Final match between Galway and Limerick at Croke Park in Dublin.
He graduates next month, and he doubts that moment will feel any less special than had he lifted the Liam MacCarthy Cup as Limerick captain in 1996.
“It was a fair struggle,” said Carey of his studies. “The learning part of it was fine, but where it pinched for me really was, if someone wants to drive a car they have to be given a provisional licence, whereas I hadn't my provisional licence for a lap-top or a computer!
“That was the big stumbling block, but thankfully I got plenty of help. My son and daughter were still in College and so was a very good friend of mine so I had plenty of help around that.
“So I wasn't going to let that be a huge obstacle to stopping me either. Thankfully, now, I have it.
“I'll be honest, getting this was equally as important as if I could have won an All-Ireland title. That's how much it means to me.”
Now his degree is completed, the former Limerick U-21, Limerick camogie, and Kerry senior hurling team manager hopes to get back into hurling coaching or management at the highest level possible in the near future.
“Now that I have that qualification, yeah, whoever is going to get Ciaran Carey next you can be sure will be a lucky team because I'm hungry again.”
Carey might not have won an All-Ireland medal himself, but don’t be surprised if he helps in some way to deliver more glory to the Shannonsiders in the years ahead.
