Aaron Gillane completed an astonishing hat-trick for the Patrickswell club after he was crowned PwC Hurler of the Year at Dublin’s RDS this evening.
Limerick star Gillane follows in the footsteps of his club mates Diarmaid Byrnes (2022) and Cian Lynch (2021) in landing the biggest individual honour in the game.
Inside line assassin Gillane beat off stiff competition from his Limerick team mates Byrnes and Kyle Hayes to win a vote among his inter-county peers from across the country.
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Speaking about Byrnes and Lynch, Gillane said: “We are such good friends, because we support and encourage each other in everything we do.
“We're best friends on the field and off the field.
“It is nice for the three of us to be able to bring these awards back to Patrickswell and it's probably going to be special for the people in Patrickswell and they all deserve it.”
Limerick's ‘drive for five,’ is likely to be everywhere next year, but Gillane says they won't shy away from whatever narratives are out there in 2024.
And he has backed John Kiely’s men to come back as hungry as ever.
The 27 year old, who collected his fifth All Star tonight, said: “I think it would be a waste of time going back if you weren't as hungry next year as we've been previously.
“Of course I’m confident (the team will be hungry next year).
“The last couple of years we've been in a privileged position to be the title-holders going into a new year.
“We've kind of gotten used to it since maybe 2018 when the question was would we be able to back it up and win another one.
“Then it became can they back it up and win two in a row, three in a row, four in a row.
“We know that narrative is out there and we're not going to shy away from it.
“One thing definitely is that it's not going to hinder our training.
“We're still going to go out and work as hard as we possibly can and try to get ourselves in the best possible condition to go out and represent Limerick next year.
“We just want to be the best team that we all can be for each other.”
Gillane says Limerick were well tested this year. They were almost knocked out by Cork in Munster, but responded with resounding victories over Galway and Kilkenny in the All-Ireland series.
“It was put up to us but you'd expect nothing less from any of the other teams,” he continued.
“They're breaking their backsides seven or eight months a year as well so of course they're going to be putting it up to us. They're not just going to roll over.
“I suppose it's testament to the character that we have in the team and the way we stick to what we do best, which is working as hard as we can.
“The one thing I always say is the harder you work the more luck you get, and thankfully that kicked for us at times and we needed it to.
“They (All-Ireland titles) all mean a massive amount to absolutely everyone.
“One thing I can guarantee you is that you do not get sick of winning anything.
“I suppose a good thing with winning is that it breeds its own motivation. You obviously want to train as hard as you can and work as hard as you can when you know you've a chance to win something again.
“That's our motto and that's what we stick to.”
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