Once again, O’Gara gets the timing just right

Reading Ronan O’Gara explain the timing of his retirement in these pages the other day, it reminded us of the outlook of another Cork sporting legend on the end game.

A well-known hurler from another county met Jimmy Barry-Murphy the summer after his last game with Cork, the victorious 1986 All-Ireland final, and enquired why he had quit while he was still operating near the height of his powers.

Barry-Murphy, as genial as ever, remarked with a grin: better to have people ask “Why aren’t you still playing?” than “Why the hell are you still playing?”