Nestlé Health Science’s global leading brand Solgar, a provider of high-quality nutritional supplements, are pleased to announce an exciting new three-year partnership with the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) and the Gaelic Players Association (GPA), the representative body for inter-county Gaelic Games players, becoming the official vitamin partner of the GAA/GPA. Solgar will also become one of the title sponsors of the GAA Museum, home to the rich sporting, social and cultural history of Gaelic Games. Pictured at the launch is brand ambassador Limerick hurler Tom Morrissey. Photo by Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile.
By John Harrington
Limerick hurler Tom Morrissey’s pre-season was a little more exotic than the usual fare of wet, cold nights in Rathkeale.
From the start of November to the end of January he and his girlfriend Elaine spent three months travelling in South America.
Starting in Colombia, they hit seven countries as they worked their way through Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Uruguay, and Chile before finishing up in Brazil.
Hiking the Inca trail to Machu Picchu and paragliding in Rio de Janeiro stand out as highlights from a trip that gave Morrissey the rare opportunity to completely plug out from hurling.
"We've always marked that we wanted to go travelling at some point,” says Morrissey. The opportunity came and we said we would go for it.
“Mentally I feel great, feel refreshed and hungry to go again for this season. Three months without thinking about hurling too much, preparing for hurling or holding a hurley really.
"While it is nice to disconnect it does build up a small bit of hunger that you can't wait to get back. There was definitely a part of me that was eager to get back into training.
“But there was another part of me that would have stayed on travelling and enjoying that side of life for a while. But happy to be back.”
Limerick hurler Tom Morrissey with Elaine Dolan upon arrival at the 2024 PwC GAA/GPA All-Star Awards at the RDS in Dublin. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile.
Morrissey arrived back in Ahane on Friday and by the following day had already gotten a training session under his belt with the members of the Limerick panel that weren’t going to feature in the match against Cork that evening.
He’s a bit behind the rest of the pack in terms of his fitness and hurling touch, but the body remembers, and he doesn’t expect it will take him long to get up to speed because he minded himself while he was away.
“Obviously it is three months travel but I was conscious that I was coming back into a competitive environment, senior inter-county hurling," he says.
“I wanted to make sure I was some way ready for that. As soon as Christmas hit, the new year, I started finding gyms over there and running the streets to make sure that I am in some bit of proper condition when I get home.
“I'm sure I'm still not where I want to be and there is work to be done and then the hurling side there is definitely a bit of brushing up to be done but at the same time I'm confident a weeks practice and training with the lads, I'll be up to speed in no time.
"It was good to get training straight away, back into routine and get the body moving. I got that session in Saturday, a gym session in Monday, training tonight.
"While the first one or two might be tough on the body I'm sure by the end of this week, start of next week the body will start getting accustomed to the routine again and the load of training five times and week so I think it will be okay.”
Three-time All-Star Morrissey has been one of Limerick’s most consistent players for the past seven seasons but he knows that offers no guarantees in terms of selection for the 2025 league and championship campaigns.
Limerick players, from left, Gearóid Hegarty, Tom Morrissey, David Reidy and Nickie Quaid leave the pitch after the GAA Hurling All-Ireland Senior Championship semi-final match between Limerick and Cork at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile
Competition for places in his area of the pitch is intense. Cathal O’Neill and Adam English have become more and more prominent in the past couple of sesaons, and other young players like Aidan O’Connor, Patrick O’Donovan, and Donnacha Ó Dálaigh are knocking on the door too.
“Yeah, it’s not just this year, it’s been happening the last few years,” he says. “Those guys have been introduced.
“Cathal has started, nailed down a starting place last year and was nominated for young hurler of the year. The rest of those lads, they were huge impactful for us off the bench last year. I’ve no doubt in their minds they want to be more than impacts off the bench this year, they want to be starters.
“That’s what we need in the set-up. We need people with those ambitions to create that competitiveness to keep everybody else driving on as well.
“They were pushing last year with whoever was there with them as well and it’s just about who is going to be performing best at the time of championship I’m sure John is going to go with. There’s a lot of good hurlers coming through for sure.”
His three-month sojourn in South America was a tonic after the disappointment of last year’s All-Ireland semi-final defeat to Cork, but the loss still rankles.
“There is regret there obviously a small bit,” says Morrissey. “You always think when you lose, individually could I have done anything better and as a team could we have done anything better?
“But ultimately, I think when you have time to reflect and you look back, we lost two games to Cork last year. You just can't have any complaints really. It's just that you weren't good enough. I think it's similar when you look back to 2019 and we lost to Kilkenny. We had lost two games in Munster that year and you can't be giving out about not winning an All-Ireland when you're losing two games or more in a season.
“There are definitely learnings and things you look back on when you reflect on the year as a whole, because you don't just lose an All-Ireland semi-final on the day.
“I know some people think you do but there are probably things that could have been done maybe throughout the year, individually and as a team, that lead to you not performing to your absolute best. We just hope to right that this year."
