Kelly may quit after son verbally abused

WATERFORD sharpshooter Eoin Kelly is considering retirement from the inter-county game after his young son was verbally abused by Déise fans following Sunday’s All-Ireland SHCsemi-final.

In the aftermath of the game, which Tipperary won 3-19 to 1-18, Kelly’s wife and four-year-old son were confronted by Waterford supporters outside the Jury’s Croke Park Hotel.

According to Kelly one of them verbally abused the little boy about his father’s performance. Yesterday the boy was reported to be still distressed by the experience and his father Eoin, who captained Waterford in 2005, said he was considering whether it was “worth it” to play inter-county hurling.

“He’s still very upset,” said Kelly yesterday. “You’d have to ask yourself whether it’s worth carrying on playing for Waterford, if this is the kind of thing you have to deal with.”

The revelation rounds off a weekend when the bad news for Waterford wasn’t confined to the field of play. Not only did they lose the All-Ireland semi-final to Tipperary, but the three-year-old daughter of long-time star Ken McGrath was bitten by a dog on Saturday in Waterford and was rushed to Cork University Hospital for emergency surgery.

Waterford manager Davy Fitzgerald said after the game that at the request of his family, McGrath had not been informed of the attack before the game.

“We would have had no problem if he wanted to get back for that,” said Fitzgerald.

“That wasn’t a problem with us, that was their decision and that was the way they wanted it. I still am passionate about it (hurling) but your health and your family is the most important thing and a few things come into perspective when you look at today.”

Ken McGrath came on late in the All-Ireland semi-final on Sunday and scored three points against Tipperary, but rushed to Cork afterwards to join his daughter, getting a garda escort through Dublin.