Mourne Mauler

He saw off Kerry’s Tom Spillane and Meath hard man Mick Lyons in the space of a few mad weeks almost 20 years ago. So what ever became of Down powerhouse and All-Ireland winner Peter Withnell? Brendan O’Brien tracked him down

HE was 21 before he made his senior debut with Down and just 28 when he called time on his inter-county career but Peter Withnell squeezed all he could from his playing days.

In one memorable four-week period in Croke Park in 1991, he terrorised the Kerry defence and went toe to toe with big, bad Mick Lyons. But his is a career that can’t simply be shoehorned into one summer, or even one code.