In our latest Hospital Pass, we consider Galway’s hurlers, Moldova’s Eurovision stars and Kilkenny men still hungry after a big feed.
The Galway hurlers are back in action this weekend, trying to rebuild their shredded reputation after their annihilation by those Dublin upstarts. Big Joe couldn’t hit a barn door with a baseball bat. Damien Hayes looked like he’d picked up a hurl for the first time.
They managed one point every ten minutes against Dublin, a scoring rate which fell well behind a group of oddballs from Moldova in the Eurovision.
But the one silver lining of embarrassing yourself in the provincial championships these days is that there’s always a chance of redemption in the qualifiers, and that’s the opportunity which presents itself to Galway this weekend.
Manager John McIntyre has burned five subordinate bondholders, with the fit-again Ger Farragher and Iarla Tannian, Donal Barry, Andy Smith and Clarinbridge superstar Alan Kerins all drafted into the side. Cyril Donnellan, Eanna Ryan, Aonghus Callanan, Damien Joyce and Barry Daly are the five who lose out.
Speaking of losing, consider Tommy Walsh.
This is a 28-year-old from Tullaroan. Tullaroan is a little village in Kilkenny. People from Tullaroan are usually happy with a full belly and a day without rain.
Not Tommy, though. Tommy is the most success-hungry little hoor you’re ever likely to come across. He doesn’t want profile. We requested an interview last year and were told, with what we suspected was an affable smile, that he “doesn’t do interviews”.
“Ah no,” said Tommy. “Best of luck and everything, but I only do two interviews a year.” And, he might as well have added, this won’t be one of them.
So Tommy isn’t interested in profile. As anyone who’s got on the wrong end of his spikiness will attest, he doesn’t seem to be interested in making friends. We suspect he isn’t even interested in All-Stars, even though he’s won one every year he’s been playing senior county hurling. He isn’t interested in anything, apart from working in the bank and winning hurling matches.
That could be bad news for Dublin in Sunday’s Leinster final. Kilkenny have lost twice to the upstarts this year, and they’re mad as hell, and not going to take it any more.
“We’re after losing the All-Ireland final and the league final and they’re not nice places to be,” Tommy sniffed.
“Any sports lad will tell you that when you’re beaten by a person or a team that you’d like to play them fairly quickly again. We have a great chance in the Leinster final to play Dublin again. It gives us a great chance to prove that we’re still up for it.”
Best of luck, Dublin. It feels like you’ll need it.
