Source: http://www.the42.ie/clare-aaron-cunningham-hurling-3502334-Jul2017/?utm_source=shortlink

'After Christmas there, he was going away evenings in green gear and I knew something was up!'

WHEN THE NAMES were drawn from the bowl in RTÉ’s studios last October, the Shannonside rivals were pitted together in Munster hurling.

For Clare forward Aaron Cunningham, there was the chance to reach a provincial senior decider at last after they were handed a semi-final assignment.

He didn’t know then that when he was celebrating that success in Thurles in June, there would be a familiar figure amongst the defeated Limerick management team in his father Alan.

“At the time last October when the draw was made, I didn’t know he was involved with them at all,” says Cunningham.

“After Christmas there, he was going away evenings during the week in green gear and I knew something was up! He told me then. After Christmas we played them in a Waterford Crystal game. It was strange enough.”

Alan Cunningham has been a respected coaching figure for some time. 20 years ago he guided Wolfe Tones of Shannon to the All-Ireland senior club hurling final where they were overturned by Galway’s Athenry.

Last year he was part of a winning outfit in Croke Park on St Patrick’s Day, involved as Na Piarsaigh became the first Limerick side to achieve that club honour.

On the inter-county stage he worked with Mike McNamara in Clare and with Ollie Baker in Offaly. The latter role saw him face off against his son for the first time on the inter-county stage.

In April 2012, Clare came from behind to deny Offaly in a league game in Tullamore and it was Aaron, then a teenager fresh out of the minor ranks, who shot over the winning point.

“I was on the end of a ball, I think we beat them by a point, so they weren’t long running him out of Offaly after that,” laughs Cunningham.

“He’s still with Na Piarsaigh as well. We actually wouldn’t talk much about hurling to be honest. He lets me do my thing, I let him do his.

“There’s not much conversation really. It’s probably best that way really because you’d be saturated by it otherwise.

“You’re spending so much time at it, the last thing you want is your downtime to be surrounded by it as well. I don’t get any hassle about it at home or anything, it’s grand.”

He’s been flying the family flag for Clare this summer, joined by his brother Jack who came on for the county U21 side in last week’s Munster semi-final.

Aaron was sprung from the bench against Limerick and again in the recent senior decider against Cork. He lofted over an excellent point when introduced then but could not halt the Rebels run to glory.

It was the first reversal in Munster career after a stunning underage career that yielded two minor accolades and three U21 honours in the time frame spanning 2010 to 2014.

“If you take the All-Ireland final and league final into it, it was probably the first final any of the lads have lost,” says Cunningham.

“So definitely (it was) a new experience and probably not one we want to see more of.

“For some reason in Clare, we haven’t been getting there, 1998 is the last time the Munster final was won, which is a huge gap.

“We put a lot of effort into it this year to try and bridge that gap but fell short.”

Despite that wave of underage success, Cunningham has faced difficulties in establishing himself at senior level. He collided with Waterford defender Noel Connors in a game in 2012 and suffered shoulder damage that was slow to heal.

“It persisted over the next year so I had to get that sorted and get shoulder reconstruction.

“I’d a bad year then with hamstring injuries as well. So thankfully now I’ve had a fine run for the last year and seem to be back.”

There’s been glimpses of Cunningham’s potential. 2-1 off the bench against Limerick in the Munster quarter-final in May 2015 and 2-3 from the start against Kilkenny in the league semi-final in April 2016.

He’s hoping he can make his mark at some stage on Saturday as Clare’s season reaches a defining moment with their All-Ireland quarter-final against Tipperary.

“The way it’s so competitive with the inter-county team when you’ve 35 lads there, you don’t be long going from 14 to 30. You slip back a lot and it’s hard to get back in again.

“There’s huge competition there so you definitely have to be performing well to get in. We’ve a brand new challenge ahead and I think the two week gap suits us down to the ground.

“I think Tipp were wrote off a few weeks ago and nobody expected the performance they put in against Dublin. It was a bit stupid really because they’re All-Ireland champions and the quality of hurlers they have, they’re unbelievable.

“They beat us in the league and beat us well too. It’s a huge battle for us going down there playing Tipp in a do or die game.”