And rightly so too,hurlings our game in Kilkenny,Football is a pathetic field sport in comparison,why bother with it at all we are all wondering?something to do with maximising funding for KK Co Board from Croke Park etc,the first 15 fellas who show up are starting the next day.
[SIZE=“4”]Able to play ball without the stick[/SIZE]
RICHIE MULLALLY: WE PLAYED hurling with the club from national school level up. Our teacher in the national school, Mick Lynch, was a Kerryman and he encouraged us to play both sports, football and hurling. So with Glenmore at underage, we won football and hurling titles all along I suppose the two of them went part-and-part together.
From 1991 on I played football and hurling in the Leinster Championships with Good Counsel College in Wexford. In 94/95 we won the Leinster A in hurling and football, which I think was the first time the college had done it.
I was corner back on the football team and we got to the All-Ireland final against St Pats of Maghera. I would have played with the likes of Leigh OBrien, Tommy Howlin, Jason Lawlor and David Shannon, who featured with Wexford later on.
I played mostly in the half back line or midfield. In 1997 I started playing with the senior footballers in Kilkenny and I played with them until 2002 when I made the hurling panel. The hurling took over then. It wasnt that I couldnt play football anymore but its probably a choice you have to make.
In Kilkenny, the footballers dont really get a look in but for the years I was there it was as serious as being on the hurling panel. It was a good set-up, we trained hard and it was just a pity we didnt make a breakthrough.
I remember playing Kerry in Ballyragget one year in the league. We obviously got a drubbing and the gulf in class was substantial. For the likes of Kilkenny to be playing Kerry in the league is probably not right, but it was a nice experience to play in it.
I was actually playing centre forward and I was marking Samus Moynihan.
It was an experience, Ill put it that way. I didnt score any points I was trying to distribute a bit of ball but I didnt get much of it that day.
I played football for Kilkenny with some of the hurlers, like Henry Shefflin and Mick Kavanagh, at under-16 and minor and theyre very good footballers as well.
Normally if youre good at one sport youll be good at another and most of the hurlers are decent footballers , like Jackie Tyrrell, Eoin Larkin and Eddie Brennan. But if youre a good hurler in Kilkenny you have to concentrate on hurling.
I remember when I went on to the panel in 2002. Theres so much competition that you feel you have to concentrate on the one code, because if you let it slip you mightnt get the opportunity again on the hurling panel.
The tenacity of man marking is something you could bring forward from football to hurling. I do tend to be a bit loose on the hurling field, marking wise, but when I was playing football it taught me how to man mark tightly.
Speaking of Samus Moynihan, I thought he was a brilliant footballer and I loved watching him. He was always in the right place at the right time and he was always able to make space to clear the ball properly. He had so much energy and he reminds me of Tommy Walsh in the hurling. Hes full of energy and it rubs off on everyone else.
If you look at football in the last few years Tyrone and Armagh have brought up the tempo so that there are no positions as such. There are, but you have corner backs coming up scoring points and they brought fitness to a new step. In hurling, I suppose Kilkenny have brought physicality to a new level; they seem to be a much stronger team than the rest.
Its interesting to watch the likes of Tyrone. People have given out about them for their blanket defence but when you can get a team so fit and so focused that theyre hunting in packs like that, I think its a joy to watch. It proves that theyre totally focused on the job ahead and that theyve peaked at the right time.
When Kilkenny are going well they are hunting in packs. When theyre winning All-Irelands, their forward line their corner forwards and their wing forwards are closing down opposing defences.
Its a trademark of Kilkenny at the moment and hopefully itll continue for a long time.
When I made the hurling panel I had to concentrate on that because places were up for grabs. There was a bit of a reshuffle and the opportunity was there to make the team so I just had to go for it.
It was a pity that I had to leave football behind to do that but in the end I had a good run with the hurlers so Im happy with the way things went.
Kilkenny had an excellent bye last week in Division 4.
[quote=“Pikeman”][/quote]
What paper was this ultra lazy journalism lifted from?
Oirish Toimes
Probably should have quoted it in the original post.
Hope people didn’t think it was my own work.
Can see things really picking up for them now after this.
Is it not written by Richie himself, in what way is it ‘lazy journalism’.
I played football with KK at minor level and would have played with a few lads who also were on the hurling panel. They were all good footballers too. At u-16 and maybe minor we’d be competitive enough but after that hurling takes over.
You reckon there’s ever any hope of it gaining any kind of foot-hold locke? Surely the likes of london wouldn’t be that hard to catch up to.
KK beat London last year in an epic before the KK v Tipp game in the league inside in Nowlan Park. Also they’ve done alright in the O’Byrne cups in previous years.
I’ve said this before but if KK had to give up hurling for 5 years, within that 5 years we’d be pushing for Leinster honours; thats how good the likes of Jackie Tyrell, Eddie Brennan etc are at football. I played a bit of soccer with Peter Barry and I can honestly say that he was the best player I’ve ever shared a field with, class he was. I’m sure he would have been able to transfer that over to the fistball just as easy…
Its the kind of predictable stuff thats rolled out by journos who are struggling for a story every now and then,one of them contacted Richie who threw them out the qoutes,im not criticising the player in any way,ive seen these type of stories re Kilkenny football before a million times,it sickens me to be honest.Ive played football against a good few good hurlers myself and while im sure they would come on leaps and bounds if they gave up hurling for 5 Years who really gives a shit?,why cant Kilkenny just not bother with the stupid game??,if a few other Counties werent bothering with it they might be more successful in hurling.
I played minor with them also Locke but I’d say you were a couple of years ahead of me
I played Gaelic Football in Kierans Juvenile and Junior
Juvenile we got to the South Leinster Final. We beat the shite out of Portlaoise and Peters, and we had two tight enough games with Council but got by them in the end.
We got beaten well by Naas(I think) in the Final.
At Junior level people were beginning to care less and we went nowhere.
There was no football senior team.
We have all the talent needed underage, somewhere along the way the priority changes to hurling and hurling only.
[quote=“cluaindiuic”]I played Gaelic Football in Kierans Juvenile and Junior
Juvenile we got to the South Leinster Final. We beat the shite out of Portlaoise and Peters, and we had two tight enough games with Council but got by them in the end.
We got beaten well by Naas(I think) in the Final.
At Junior level people were beginning to care less and we went nowhere.
There was no football senior team.
We have all the talent needed underage, somewhere along the way the priority changes to hurling and hurling only.[/quote]
So yer saying a bunch of 12 year olds from Kilkenny would make a better fist of it than the senior team. Seems reasonable enough
[quote=“cluaindiuic”]I played Gaelic Football in Kierans Juvenile and Junior
There was no football senior team
[/quote]
That is actually a disgrace to be honest
Bigger schools have no exuse for that. Clare aren’t anything near a strong football county but St Flannans, Caimins etc have always had senior football teams.
[quote=“Pikeman”]Probably should have quoted it in the original post.
Hope people didn’t think it was my own work.[/quote]
I doubt anyone confused you with Richie Mullally.
Anything But Kilkenny
thats exactly what it is Linkle-ogue
With Nickey Brennan packing up his boxes you can expect to see alot more of this type of editorial.
ABK will be the headline writers mission come the hard sod season. And no one in the Croke Park press office will be available to wine and dine the non believers.
The wheel has started to turn and unfortunately Richie Mullally was duped into pumping it up for them.
There’s a reason for it Fran, don’t know the exact reasoning why but I think it was to do with trouble on a bus coming back from a game and the heirarchy there used it as an excuse to pull the team altogether.
Nothing gets in the way of the hurling team. When I was there we had a good soccer team but there were 6 lads who were on both hurling and soccer panels. If training clashed at all the boys had to go hurling training, le fin. Used to drive Jimmy (RIP) mad. It worked out okay in the end as both teams were successful, still though, it was an eye opener for me at the time…