Evicted Underdogs: ‘They made us look like complete messers’

SEAN BARRY, the Underdogs goalkeeper 'evicted' from the TG4 hurling side on last Thursday night’s programme, hit back yesterday at the depiction of himself and his St Finbarr’s clubmate Denis O’Regan in the television show.

Barry and O'Regan were given their marching orders by the management team of Eamonn Cregan, Pat Fleury and Cathal Moore for breaking curfew, and while Barry acknowledged that he and O'Regan had gone "over the top", he said the programme had exaggerated the extent of their misdemeanour.

"They said we got in at 5am," said Barry. "But it was quarter to three. They made us look like complete messers.

"Myself and Denis got involved to improve as players and to play against Kilkenny, obviously a high-profile team. We weren't there long enough to find out much about the lads as coaches but they were good. They were very strict, and we probably shot ourselves in the foot a bit by getting sent home. I know we were late, but we'd beaten Blackrock in the Cork championship two nights before, and that wasn't brought out in the programme at all. We were excused for a game, but it could have been a league game, not a county quarter-final.

"Having said that, we were given a curfew. Myself and Denis should have been in, we'd been reprimanded before that, but as there were 15 of the panel out, we stayed out. The selectors didn't agree, but we thought it was a good idea to get to know lads."

Barry also pointed out that he and O'Regan took a week off work without pay for the first training camp.

"Taking that week off work shows we weren't doing it totally for the craic. I know we went over the top but it was like being caged animals we were kept in rooms individually so that it was impossible to get to know lads you were supposed to play with."

Barry said he and O'Regan didn't know they had to be present by 11am on Sunday.

"We had to ring the selectors on Thursday evening to find out what was happening, and we were just told we had to be up as early as we could.

"I felt it was only a TV show, it doesn't have anything to do with hurling. Putting us up for eviction for being late was fair enough, but they could have acknowledged in the programme that we'd had a senior championship game with our club.

"Maybe the club championships aren't as big in other parts of the country. The next training camp was scheduled for after the All-Ireland final, when there'd be county championship games in Cork as well, so obviously the show isn't geared for Cork people."

Underdogs is on TG4 at 4:35pm tomorrow.