Sideline blow fells Corona man Hopkins

THE man behind the public relations company which put together the controversial ‘boot deal’ with two Cork hurlers Niall McCarthy and Kieran Murphy was in the news again over the weekend for a very different reason.

Mark Hopkins of Cork-based Hopkins PR, the company employed by Barry/Fitzwilliams Maxxium, Irish distributors of Corona lager, was in action for his club Glanmire against Castletownbere in the Evening Echo Cork County IFC at CastletownKenneigh.

Hopkins impressed in a tight, tempestuous game, levelling the scores with two minutes left, but he was knocked out cold by an onlooker who came onto the field of play, an incident which started a nasty mass brawl which lasted five minutes.

Referee Joe Crowley did manage to get the game restarted but in the interest of safety and common sense ended it soon afterwards, leaving the County Board with much to mull about.