The magic of Mackey still earning pride of Ahane

BEFORE Joe and Henry, before Ring and Doyle, there was one man. Limerick’s Mick Mackey owned the 1930s in hurling.

Mackey’s legacy can be seen today every time a player gets free and throws the ball up on his hurley to go on a solo. It was the Limerick man who brought that art to perfection, even though he bounced the ball on the bas rather than leaving it dead on the stick.

It brought rich dividends: he picked up three All-Ireland medals and five National Hurling League medals. Respected judges put him in the very first rank of hurlers, an evaluation borne out by his selection at centre-forward on the Team of the Millennium and the Team of the Century. Little wonder: he all but defined the duties of the modern centre-half-forward.