HURLING royalty Ciarán Carey is the latest guest on ‘GAA Minor Moments’ podcast.
In a lively chat with host Fergal O’Keeffe, the three-time All-Star offers a compelling look back at his formative years, from an inter-county debut at just 14 to featuring in goal for his beloved Patrickswell at senior level only three years later.
He also provides insight into the profound role sport and the GAA played in shaping his life and can have on shaping the lives of youth today.
Carey too shares his experience with mental performance and the unique pressures of elite competition.
Naturally, the discussion revisits Carey’s iconic Munster Championship winning score for Limerick over Clare at the Gaelic Grounds from 1996.
The episode explores the emotion Carey experienced watching Limerick’s breakthrough win of 2018.
“I was with my wife (Miriam) when it happened and I actually shed a tear. I had that family connection (uncle of Cian Lynch), number one. I knew a good few of the players, number two. And Tom Condon was married to my daughter Sarah, number three. So yeah, it was an emotional rollercoaster… for the right reasons,” he told the pocast.
Back in 2014, manager Carey gave his nephew a start in a Munster Under-21 Championship fixture with Clare.
Carey recalled: “There was a bit of controversy. We were playing Clare and Cian was sitting his Leaving Cert the same week. I came in to Cian and said, ‘Look, no pressure. It’s completely up to yourself. If you’re given the green light to play, I’m going to drive on and pick you. Politically, it’ll be wrong and everyone will come at me… but I’ll be tough enough to make that call.’ You can imagine the argy-bargy that came afterwards!”
The podcast, of course, also includes Carey’s take on Championship 2025.
