Gearóid Hegarty has warned Limerick's rivals they will be more than prepared for their forthcoming All-Ireland semi-final despite the long wait from their Munster Championship success.
The Treaty County earned a thrilling extra-time win over Clare on 5 June and are not back in action until 3 July when they face the winners of Cork versus Galway.
The side had a similar wait in 2019 when they were crowned provincial champions before being nabbed in the All-Ireland semi-final by Kilkenny, but the 2020 Hurler of the Year said they were more than confident that they could avoid such a pitfall this time around.
"We didn’t have it [a long break] in 2020, we didn’t have it in 2021," said Hegarty. "We haven’t had it since 2019. "We would have learned a lot from the 2019 four-week break.
"To be honest with you, I think there’s a lot made of this four-week break; it used to be a six-week break. There used to be a lot of media coverage about such a long break.
"I thought one of the majors benefits of winning the Munster final was getting a couple of weeks’ break. You could relax for three or four days after the Munster final and then come back into training and have two and a half weeks of hard training before the All-Ireland semi-final.
"You have a bit of downtime away from the GAA when you can relax. This weekend we’ll be training obviously but you can relax at the times when you’re not training.
"We will see, we don’t know yet but I’m sure we’ve learned a lot from 2019 and we’re much more experienced now than we would have been back then as well."
That experience was crucial as John Kiely's side fended off a stiff Clare challenge to win the Munster title on a 1-29 to 0-29 scoreline.
Hegarty grabbed the only goal of the game, a mesmerizing, skill-laden sensation that will be played back for years to come.
He said it was a special moment, particularly as he had been harshly dismissed in a round-robin draw with Clare in their previous game and felt the strain of that afterwards.
Given that no suspension occurred for the double yellow card offence, Limerick were not able to appeal the decision, but if he is sent off again and faces a cumulative suspension, it can be reexamined.
"It was an incredible one, I would hope I’m wrong but I’d say I won’t score a sweeter one than that, it was a great feeling," the teacher said of the strike.
An outstanding goal from Gearoid Hegarty has seen Limerick spark into life #MunsterHurlingFinal #RTEGAA
— The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) June 5, 2022
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"With everything that happened in the previous group stage game below in Cusack Park, it was a difficult enough couple of weeks for me leading into the Munster final. Every single person I met, whether it be in school or on the street, they were all coming up and talking to me about the red card in the previous game.
"I just found it mentally draining for two weeks after the group game so for the week of the game I just really shut myself off and stayed as private as I could be.
"I do find it a little mentally draining when there are so many people coming up to you and wanting to talk about the incident. I went home after the group game and I just wanted to forget about it and move on. I was over it; it was done.
"Obviously everyone I met in the next two or three weeks wanted to chat to me about that incident and it was the one thing I didn’t want to talk about.
"It was a nice release for me to get that goal so I won’t forget it."
Hegarty was speaking at the launch Bord Gáis Energy’s 'State of Play’ campaign to promote allyship and inclusion in team sports. As part of the campaign, 32 limited edition GAA County Pride t-shirts were created to support homelessness in the LGBTQI+ community.
The St Patrick’s man said that it was an important message to lend his voice to and he feels that the GAA would provide a welcoming environment for players should they decide to publicly declare their sexuality.
"The stats do show that there definitely are some players who are maybe part of the LGBTQI+ community in the GAA currently," he said.
"I actually found it very interesting that the professional soccer player [Jake Daniels] came out recently. He’s the first professional soccer player to come out and be openly gay in a long time.
"That’s why I got involved when the lads at Bord Gáis got onto me to see would I help out with this campaign. I said I’d love to because I’m a school teacher and you are dealing with a lot of young people who have all their own lives and are kind of finding their way in life at the moment.
"I don't have a big long spiel to go on about it but I firmly believe that it’s every person’s decision to be who they want to be."
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