{"id":560094,"date":"2026-07-21T03:38:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T03:38:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/560094\/"},"modified":"2026-07-21T03:38:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T03:38:10","slug":"best-team-in-the-world-limerick-hurlers-welcomed-home-to-a-sea-of-green-and-white-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/560094\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Best team in the world\u2019: Limerick hurlers welcomed home to a sea of green and white \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The heatwave brought fevered celebrations to Limerick<\/a> as the county\u2019s newly-crowned All-Ireland senior hurling champions<\/a> were welcomed home to a green-and-white party on Monday.<\/p>\n

Tens of thousands descended on the city centre for the occasion. They cheered their hurling heroes off a train at Colbert railway station, into the People\u2019s Park and onto a concert stage at Pery Square.<\/p>\n

Arguably the greatest-ever hurling team, they were joined on stage by the Limerick minor team who won the minor All-Ireland title last month.<\/p>\n

Senior captain Cian Lynch led them off the train holding aloft the Liam MacCarthy Cup as manager John Kiely summed up the mood: \u201cHappy days, happy days.\u201d <\/p>\n

The Sunday Game Hurler of the Year, Gear\u00f3id \u201cHego\u201d Hegarty, said: \u201cMy message to the Limerick supporters is, they are just the best fans in the world. We love them so much and we are looking forward to celebrating with them over the next couple of hours and days. This is what we (the players) dream of.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"FansFans during the homecoming on Monday. Photograph: James Crombie\/Inpho <\/p>\n

Supporter Paschal Meade brought along his \u201clucky charm\u201d, eight-year-old grandson Adam Manai, to soak up the celebrations. Adam said he had \u201cprayed to God for Limerick to score a goal\u201d against Clare in the semi-final and against Galway in the final. To his delight, his prayers were answered on both days.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love them,\u201d said Adam of the team. \u201cAnd when I\u2019m older, I\u2019ll bring my sons to the games.\u201d <\/p>\n

Meade said: \u201cThis Limerick team are the best in the world, they are creating fantastic memories for me and Adam. They keep getting better and the new blood coming is making the future bright.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"LimerickLimerick supporters welcome home their newly-crowned All-Ireland senior hurling champions on Monday. Photograph: James Crombie\/Inpho <\/p>\n

Aidan Woodhouse (50), a native of Limerick city, was in attendance to welcome the team off their train. He said: \u201cI don\u2019t know how they do it, but they do it. I\u2019m following them since I was knee high; I never thought I\u2019d see them win as many All Irelands as they have.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gerard Lonergan (62), from Cappamore, serenaded his fellow supporters with a rendition of the county\u2019s GAA anthem, Se\u00e1n Sabhat From Garryowen.<\/p>\n

\"VantageVantage points were at a premium as thousands turned out to welcome the Limerick hurlers on Monday. Photograph: James Crombie\/Inpho <\/p>\n

\u201cThis year they really bonded together again and gave it one right good lash, and fair play to them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Mary Fitzmaurice from Ballyhahill, Co Limerick, brought along her eight-year-old twin grandsons, Michael and Thomas. She said: \u201cThis team brings great life to the place, they are brilliant.\u201d<\/p>\n

Just shy of 90 years of age, Limerick nun Helena McCormack travelled from her adopted home of Essex in the UK to welcome the Treaty hurlers home.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re special, they\u2019re special, and they did a great job on Sunday,\u201d she said. \u201cSix All-Irelands in nine years, I tell ya boy, you couldn\u2019t beat it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The crowd chanted \u201cLimerick, Limerick, Limerick\u201d as Mary O\u2019Mahony of Munster GAA carried onstage four of the five hurling cups won this year by the county. <\/p>\n

Mayor of Limerick John Moran described the latest achievement as \u201ctruly remarkable\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cOnce again, they have demonstrated extraordinary commitment, resilience and belief on the biggest stage in the game and the people of Limerick could not be prouder.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The heatwave brought fevered celebrations to Limerick as the county\u2019s newly-crowned All-Ireland senior hurling champions were welcomed home…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":560095,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1965,4183,42,92418,1396,17406,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-560094","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-hurling","tag-gaa","tag-headlines","tag-hurling-championship","tag-limerick","tag-limerick-gaa","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/560094","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=560094"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/560094\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/560095"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=560094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=560094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=560094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}