Today’s Hospital Pass hails the return of a legend in an unfamiliar setting and the refreshingly bullsh*t free approach of Down forward Benny Coulter.
Inter-county footballer in hurling cameo shocker, part two
Given the furore that surrounded Seanie Johnston’s farcical appearance for the Coill Dubh hurlers last month, you would have been forgiven for assuming that such a similarly controversial code-switching saga wouldn’t affect the GAA for years to come.
Instead, with Johnston’s cameo so fresh in the memory that Seanie is still picking splinters out of his hands, another surprising example of an inter-county footballer turning his hands to hurling has been revealed.
What’s more, it happened in Longwood, only the distance of a Brendan Cummins puck-out over the Kildare border into Meath and like Johnston, it involves a man more accustomed to kicking over points from the inside forward line than hooking, blocking and having to wear a helmet onto the pitch.
Unlike Johnston, however, there were precious few people objecting to this move, as Meath legend Ollie Murphy, 37 years young, made his senior hurling championship debut in the Royal County last night.
According to the Hogan Stand website, Murphy lined out at corner forward for Kells club Gaeil Colmcille in their 0-11 to 0-20 defeat to Killyon in Longwood last night, his first ever appearance in the Meath senior hurling championship.
Murphy had played a few games for the club’s junior side first to reacquaint himself with the small ball game, which he had played in his youth before shifting his focus to a glittering inter-county career which yielded All-Ireland titles in 1996 and 1999 and a runners-up medal in 2001.
“Ollie approached us a couple of months ago about reviving his hurling career before he retires, and we were delighted to accommodate him. He played a few junior games before making his senior championship debut last night,” a Gaeil Colmcille source told the website.
“37? I would have thought he was 47,” was the response of an unnamed JOE colleague on hearing of Murphy’s exploits this afternoon, but despite having precious few hairs on his head, Murphy is still keeping fit, playing club football with Carnaross as well as hurling with Gaeil Colmcille, while he also patrols the sideline as manager of Meath junior outfit Meath Hill in his spare time.
Banty is unlikely to give him a late call-up ahead of the Leinster Final on Sunday, even though the prospect of Murphy and former partner in crime Graham Geraghty – still on the Meath panel at 39 – in the full-forward line would really have the Dubs running scared.
Hell, why not bring back Trevor Giles (current Meath physio and forwards coach) while they’re at it.
Bullsh*t-free Benny stands out from the crowd
In the lead up to massive county games, it can often be hard to wrangle an interesting quote from the players involved.
The desire not to give the opposition anything at all that could be construed as motivation is understandable, but when you see completely obvious headlines like the one originating from Meath defender Mickey Burke’s comments today which read “Meathman Burke expecting tough test from the Dubs” – no offence meant Mickey, you’re certainly not the only one dealing in banalities – every single weekend, you begin to wonder what’s the point in pre-game interviews at all.
Then someone like Benny Coulter comes along and restores your faith in the exercise all over again. Earlier this week, he was reiterating his belief that Gaelic Football in its current guise is incredibly boring and in an interview with the Irish News, he revealed how he was on the verge of retirement after every summer – except 2011.
“I would have said to the boys ‘That’s me. I’m quitting. I’m not coming back. I couldn’t be bothered with it. We’re going nowhere. What the f**k is the point? We’re training and training and getting beat’.
“Over the last couple of years, even when Cork beat us last year, I remember speaking to Ambrose [Rogers] after it. I said ‘Listen, next year we’ll get back at it again and give it another go and keep at it’.
“That’s the first time after a defeat I was actually looking forward to the following year.”
Let’s just hope that for everyone’s sake, that if Donegal do come out on top on Sunday, that the defeat isn’t severe enough to have Benny considering giving it up all up once again.
Because we like having him around.
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