Hickey: Hurling cynics get less reward

It’s already five days since Seán Cavanagh dragged Conor McManus to the turf in Croke Park, but the tackle — helped by Joe Brolly’s TV rant — refuses to depart the stage as hurling prepares to reclaim top billing this coming weekend.

So it was that Limerick’s Seamus Hickey found himself discussing the big ball controversy in Dublin yesterday and, specifically, whether such levels of blatant cynicism were peculiar to football or whether hurling has been similarly infected.

“Compare the situation in hurling,” said Hickey at the launch of Liberty Insurance’s new GAA Club offer. “That foul is a very scoreable free. You bring up Nicky Quaid or one of your heavies, Shane Dowling, and that’s a very scoreable free, no matter how many lads you put in the goals.