Getting the chance to play in an All-Ireland U-21 HC final makes all the hard work worthwhile for Limerick's Cian Lynch.

The Patrickswell clubman and his Treaty County team-mates will line up opposite Galway at Semple Stadium this Saturday with a place in the 2017 decider up for grabs.

"You're training since October and November and they're the hard nights when you're training and you don't have a championship match until May or June," he commented to The Irish Independent.

"You're training and slogging away thinking, 'Why are you doing it?' But this time of year, when you're coming close to the end of August and the ball is hopping off the ground, you kind of say, 'Jesus, it's worthwhile'."

An U-21 medalist in 2015, Lynch acknowledges that the Tribesmen pose a significant threat to their ambitions of outright glory but confidence is high in their camp after they claimed the scalps of Tipperary, Clare and Cork in Munster.

"Beating Cork was huge. I know it's past tense, but at the start it was Tipperary and by the time we played Tipperary, it was a huge game for Limerick and luckily we got over it.

"It was the same with Clare, and with Cork, they're coming back. Their senior team was unlucky at the weekend. Their U-21 team has some great young fellas and we didn't take any of it for granted.

"This weekend is totally different against Galway, we've played them at underage and minor in the last two or three years. They're always strong and you just have to respect that."

Tweet

Most Read Stories