O’Grady: He always gave every ounce of effort

MY first encounter with Seán Óg O hAilpín in January 2003 as Cork hurling manager was an abrupt one – he was late for our first training session in the Old Mon Field and I had to tell him it wasn’t good enough.

To be fair, he listened, apologised and later explained the reason. He always gave every last ounce of effort on the training field being highly professional in everything he did both on and off the field, accepting whatever role he was handed without any fuss whatsoever.

That wasn’t the first time I’d met Seán Óg on a hurling field, of course. He was playing U14 with the North Monastery and at training sessions his intelligence shone through considering he came late to the game.