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Eimear Ryan: A hurler on the ditch after a lifetime on the field

There is a bit of sadness, as there always is when a chapter closes, when something good comes to its end.

Thu, 19 Oct, 2023 - 16:10

The split season is a great thing, for many reasons, but it puts a very fine point on getting knocked out of the club championship. It seems to happen to everyone, now, within a very intense period of three to four weekends. Team after team, falling like dominos. Your siblings’ and cousins’ teams. Your friends’ teams. Your own former teams.

You’re a former player now. Current spectator. In reality, you’ve never not been a spectator, but this is the first year since childhood when it’s your primary role. And as a kid, you may as well be playing – covering every inch of the grounds in a marauding pack of children, hurley in one hand and tennis ball in the other. This side of your playing career, you’re gradually transitioning to the sort of staunch elder you used observe standing on the high bank that runs the length of the field. A slow slide to hurler on the ditch.

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