After Limerick's Shane Dowling announced his unexpected retirement from inter-county hurling this week, OTB's Arthur James O'Dea reflected on a career's worth of moments.
There was no hint of forewarning as news of Shane Dowling's inter-county retirement surfaced this week. An experienced figure for club and county, there remained a kind of captivating nascence to the 27-year-old which never led one to countenance the necessity of a conclusion.
It reflects the occasionally frustrated, but ultimately rewarding, role he played for John Kiely’s All-Ireland winning Limerick team, perhaps.
In the winning of the Liam MacCarthy Cup, the Na Piarsaigh man amassed barely one game’s worth of minutes against Kilkenny, Cork, and Galway; even allowing for a semi-final that went to extra-time. Nevertheless, he scored 2-5 across all three and became synonymous with what was achieved.
The assured regularity with which he was sprung from the bench betrayed any notion that he was Limerick’s Plan B. As tired bodies allowed for greater space in a diminishing amount of time, Shane Dowling's proficiency in action made him indispensable.
As with Mark Twain's assessment of what a reputation for early rising can do for one's sleeping pattern, however, the 'super-sub' title doesn't truly do Dowling's quality justice. With the insinuation being that good fortune has happily compensated for a player's shortcomings, that simply is not a true reflection of him at all.
Shane Dowling excelled in the dying moments of hurling matches because he possessed no fear of time running out on him.
29 July 2018; Limerick manager John Kiely is lifted in celebration by Shane Dowling. Photo by Stephen McCarthy/SportsfileConsider his match-winning penalty in the All-Ireland semi-final.
In the second-half of extra-time in Croke Park, a breaking ball just inside Cork’s ’45 presented Shane Dowling with an opening. The consequence of camera work, watch it now and his emergence from no place of absolute certainty confuses the viewer as it clearly disorientated Cork’s lagging backs.
With ball in hand, he races toward Anthony Nash's goal and attempts to execute an overhand finish that would come off one year later against Kilkenny. Not to be denied, Cork's only solution is to push him over and Limerick have an opportunity to extend their one-point lead with a penalty.
“I looked at Paul [Kinnerk],” he later revealed of a conversation with the Limerick coach just before the penalty was taken, “and his words were, ‘this is how championship games are won – go for it!’ So, I did.”
It was straight forward advice taken on board by Dowling and the resulting goal had Limerick on their way to an All-Ireland final.
A team for whom success arrived before its likely period of blooming, Shane Dowling, ravaged by the impact of his "diseased" knee, was already playing on borrowed time, however.
Goal for Limerick! Shane Dowling wins and converts this penalty! pic.twitter.com/0QarOXJ1sZ
— The GAA (@officialgaa) July 29, 2018
My father and I are shamelessly susceptible to hurling's potential for emotional outpourings.
Without ever getting too bogged down in tactical nuance or the finer details of what constitutes a wristy hurler, we live for the moments.
Whittling away the time in transit between Dublin and Sligo recently, these moments are a conversational source of refuge. That Shane Dowling should have been central to so much of what we discussed isn't all that surprising.
Be it Cork, the goal against Galway in the final or the sheer sight alone of him entering the field when Limerick were in need, his is a career not uniquely defined by what he could do with just a moment.
How many times Dowling managed to create great memories from those moments is a rarer talent, however.
As he explained himself on Friday's OTB AM, Shane Dowling has achieved all that he could ever have wished for already. We weren't to know then that he had provided us with our fill of memories, but so be it.
In the midst of a summer strewn with lost potential, at 27, Shane Dowling must now contend with whatever impact the loss of his identify as a Limerick hurler has on him.
"I want to ensure that this doesn't just become about my knee injury," he remarked of his career's ending on Friday's show. "Yeah, it is very sad and I'm heartbroken, but I'm extremely lucky to have had this career, to have played with the people I played with and won what I won."
The hurler who thrived when time was in short supply, Shane Dowling will remain forever young.
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