WATCH: Hurler of the Year Gillane crosses enemy lines in hunt of his favoured hurls

Limerick's newly crowned Hurler of the Year Aaron Gillane has revealed he crosses enemy lines in the search for his hurls of choice.

Gillane, who was announced as the 2023 Hurler of the Year at PwC GAA/GPA All-Stars banquet in Dublin last Friday, made the admission in a recent interview that he makes the short trip over the border to rivals Tipperary for his favoured hurls following a chance test run in training one evening.

"I actually broke two of my hurleys in training one night and I had no spare hurley then," Gillane told OurGame hosts Shane Stapleton and Michael Verney in a recent interview. 

"I think the sliotar was too hard and cracked it or something.

"Adam English wasn't training the same night so I used his hurley, and it was one from Ronan Maher," Gillane said.

A two-time All-Ireland and All-Star winner, Maher is the current Tipperary vice-captain and also an established hurl maker who learned his trade alongside the famous Tipperary hurl maker John Ryan Moore. 

"I was like, 'Jesus, they're lovely', so I got on to Ronan then. I would have known him from college," Gillane continued.

"I got a couple of hurleys off of him and I've been using them since."

Quick to pounce on the Patrickswell hurler's revelation that he opts for Tipperary hurleys - made by a rival inter-county hurler - co-host Michael Verney remarked: "A Limerick man getting his hurls in Tipperary to hurt a Tipperary man that he could be marking in a game. I love to hear that."

Tipp native Stapleton then joked, "Liam Cahill you're going to have to drop him (Ronan Maher) for this".

You can watch the snippet of the interview posted to TikTok below: