It’s going to be a warm winter for Effin

EVEN the most rural of parishes has its GAA pub, a local hostelry where players past, present and future meet, an informal community centre where supporters of all generations congregate after victory and defeat to mourn or to celebrate as the occasion demands.

Such a place is Barrett’s Pub in Effin and on Sunday evening – as on many another Sunday evening over the last two glorious years – it was rocking as a club and a parish celebrated the Munster club intermediate hurling title win.

Even on a day when the players gave probably the ultimate team performance, all 15 who started and the two replacements (Enda Kelly and Hugh O’Neill) hurling their hearts out, centre of much of the talk was one player, Nicky Quaid, and his display at centre-back.