McCarthy’s swipe at London travel plans

NEWTOWNSHANDRUM captain John McCarthy is used to leaving the comfort of the scratcher at an hour when most of us are just turning over for the second sleep.

Farmer John, however, is more than a little perturbed at the demands being made on him to play in today's All-Ireland club hurling quarter-final in Ruislip, against Fr Murphy's of London.

"The team bus will be leaving Newtown at 4.45am in the morning, to make the check-in in Cork at 6.00 for the 7.30 flight to London," he explained yesterday afternoon. "As you can imagine, Patsy Morrissey and the lads aren't too impressed with Croke Park."