Kirwan ok for final despite hurley slap

REFEREE Diarmaid Kirwan, who received much more publicity from last weekend’s Limerick/Galway NHL match than he could ever have imagined, is fit to take charge of the AIB All-Ireland Club SHC final on St Patrick’s Day between Loughrea and Ballyhale Shamrocks.

Offaly-born, but living in Cork since the late 1980s and attached to the Éire Óg club, he was hit accidentally on the ankle minutes from the end of the game at the Gaelic Grounds when he awarded a throw-in and got a slap from a hurley. “The very second it happened I thought about the club final; would I miss it or would I be all right?’’ he said.

“The Limerick doctor, Dave Boylan, looked after me and gave me pain-killers. It was quite sore at the time and swollen, but I was relieved when I woke up on Monday morning and it wasn’t any worse.