Thousands say goodbye to true hurling legend

ON the last day of a year in which Tipperary re-asserted itself as a powerhouse of hurling, thousands gathered in a historic corner of the county to say goodbye to one of its greatest ever practitioners.

Former team-mates, old foes on the field, club colleagues, senior GAA officials, politicians and clergy, joined with family and friends of the late John Doyle, who passed away on Wednesday at the age of 80.

Yesterday, he was buried in his beloved Holycross, the place he called home for all of his much-decorated and celebrated life, as memories were revived from the past and stories were told of Tipperary hurling’s halcyon days in the 1950s and 1960s.