Did Cork turn its back on Diarmuid Duggan?

HE’S played with Cork at every grade from Under-16 to All-Ireland SFC semi-finals in Croke Park, but when a persistent hip injury finished defender Diarmuid Duggan’s career, friends in high places were hard to find.

The Ilen Rovers man ended up funding his own operation, and being dead-ended by officials in a bid to recoup some of the almost €10,000 he spent trying to revive his football career and improve his quality of health. His loyalty to his county has left him €7,000 out of pocket, the GPA stumping up €3,000 from its benevolent fund.

Today, Duggan goes public on his situation, not to retrieve some of the money he spent, but as a warning to other inter-county players that, in some counties, nobody’s too bothered when you’re on the scrapheap.