Shane Dowling was one of the heroes for Na Piarsaigh in the Limerick Senior Hurling Championship semi-final victory over Doon at the weekend.
Dowling - converted from a forward to goalkeeper - saved four penalties in a decisive shootout. The game had finished level, Na Piarsaigh 2-23 Doon 0-29, after extra-time sending the last-four game to penalties.
"It was just drama galore," 2018 Limerick All-Ireland winner Dowling told RTÉ Radio One's Sunday Sport.
14 October 2023; Shane Dowling of Na Piarsaigh scores a penalty in the shoot-out during the Limerick hurling semi-final between Na Piarsaigh and Doon at the TUS Gaelic Grounds in Limerick. Photo by Tom Beary/Sportsfile
Dowling - who scored twice in the shootout - saved penalties from Limerick All-Ireland medallists Darragh O'Donovan, Pat Ryan and Adam English as both sides scored two of their first five. The shootout then went to sudden death during which Dowling saved a strike from Cormac Ryan and Kevin Downes hit the winning penalty for Na Piarsaigh.
"The easiest one of the lot to save [I didn't save it], and that was the one to win it, to add more drama," said Dowling.
"I missed [a penalty] in extra-time. Had I scored that, the game probably wouldn't have went to penalties. The pressure was certainly on. I was fierce disappointed with the first one. Usually, you might have to wait a long time to redeem yourself but luckily for me, I only had to wait 20 minutes.
"The pressure isn't on the goalie, the pressure is on the penalty taker. You're 21 yards out, you're expected to score, [the goalkeeper] isn't expected to save it. When you save them, it's a bonus."
Na Piarsaigh will face Patrickswell in the Limerick SHC final after they defeated Kilmallock in the weekend's other semi-final.
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8 May 2022; RTÉ analysts Shane Dowling and Liam Sheedy, left, with presenter Joanne Cantwell during the Munster GAA Hurling Senior Championship Round 3 match between the Limerick hurling team and Tipperary hurling team at TUS Gaelic Grounds in Limerick. Photo by Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile
Dowling, who was forced to retire from inter-county hurling in 2020, was converted to a goalkeeper last year.
"I was going alright out the field," he explained.
"I got on in a game, I was training away but it was taking me too long to recover. I could do the training and I could do it to a decent enough standard but then I'd have to miss a number of sessions afterwards and obviously, you can't do that.
"I said I'd go back in goals because my knee was in a fairly good place and it allowed me to do that. I went back and played with the intermediates last year. We won the championship with them, had a great time. There was a change of management [with the Na Piarsaigh senior team] and Shane (O'Neill) has stuck me in this year.
"I thought that I'd never experience that buzz again. I was three years without playing and you forget what it's like. It's a lot easier to be sitting in a nice studio talking about it and tell people what they're doing wrong."
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