Skipper Foley set to prove age no barrier

LAST Sunday, with a top-drawer display at wing-back, it was 36-year-old Tony Browne of Waterford giving the lie to the notion that, in sporting terms at least, 30 is the nursing-home age for hurlers.

Tomorrow, against Tipperary in the second All-Ireland semi-final, it’s the turn of Limerick captain Mark Foley, a mere sprite at 34. And it is a lie, says Mark, an enduring fallacy: “I have no problem keeping going,” he says, “I can understand why people say it’s a young man’s game, but it’s only a young man’s game because of the time it takes up. The older you get, the more you have other distractions like family and so on, but I’m not married, no kids, so I still have as much free time as I had 10 years ago.

“It’s not a physical thing, it’s time constraints, that’s why the age profile of teams is dropping. I wouldn’t say I was ever a sprinter, speed was never my strong point, but I’m not any slower now than I was ten years ago.”