Seán Óg: ‘As good as anyone, a fantastic athlete’

He gave rise to one of the great Micheál Ó Muircheartaigh legendary live commentary pieces – “His father is from Fermanagh, his mother from Fiji, neither a hurling stronghold”; yesterday Seán Óg Ó hAilpín formally announced his retirement from inter-county fare, thus ending what is surely the most unique story in top-class hurling.

This time too it’s official, his own decision, unlike in 2010 when his ‘retirement’ turned out to have been enforced by the then Cork management team led by Denis Walsh, a fact noted in the statement issued yesterday. “I always felt it was premature to end my career in 2010,” he said; “It was great to get the opportunity this year to re-establish myself in the team and contribute in a meaningful way to Cork.”

It would have been a real pity if it had in fact ended like that. Born in Fiji, raised in Australia, Seán Óg was introduced to hurling only after his family moved to Cork from Down Under in 1988, when he was already 11 years of age.