Shanahan insists old foe Seán Óg ‘still had something to offer’

PERHAPS it was fitting that having first crossed hurleys 16 years ago, Dan Shanahan and Seán Óg Ó hAilpín would finish their inter-county careers at the end of the same campaign.

There is a chance in the next year or two of course, that Shanahan’s Lismore might meet up with Ó hAilpín’s Na Piarsaigh in the Munster championship, or even in a challenge match, if former Cork great Tomás Mulcahy remains as manager of the Waterford club next year.

The sense remains though, that hurling has lost one of the game’s great rivalries and two of its enduring characters.