Ryan and Reale bow out
October 19, 2011
Limerick's Damien Reale
30-year-old Reale - who captained Limerick in the 2007 All-Ireland final - has cited work commitments as the reason for his decision (having recently started up his own company).
An All-Ireland U21 winner in 2000, '01 and '02, he says he had informed Treaty County officials of his decision before the 2012 squad was announced yesterday.
Speaking to the Irish Examiner, he confirmed that 34-year-old Ryan has also hung up his hurl: "It's the end of the Three Amigos - Mike O'Brien, Donie Ryan and myself - who travelled together to training for years, and had serious craic in that car.
"Mike was the first of us to go, and myself and Donie decided earlier this year that this would be it, our last year. Donie too has retired.
"I know I retired again in 2009 when I refused to hurl under Justin, but I couldn't finish like that which was why I went back this year.
"It's nice now to finish on a positive note. We had a good year under Donal O'Grady, won back a lot of the ground we had lost over the last few years." Tweet
