Mardyke salute for icon John Egan

Early in 2010 Micheál Ó Muircheartaigh was visiting an old friend in hospital when a lady recognised him. She introduced herself as a Kilkenny native and asked if he saw any team stopping their drive for five senior hurling All-Irelands in a row.

“From the way she was talking I could tell she only wanted to hear me say ‘no, there’s nobody will beat them’,” he recalls now. “I just pointed to a few other good teams who might get in their way, that there was a bit to go before winning the All-Ireland. That cut no ice with her and she asked if my friend would have an opinion.” The other man said: “Did you ever hear the story, ma’am, that there’s many a slip between cup and lip?”

Ó Muircheartaigh then introduced the lady from Kilkenny to John Egan, who was the Kerry captain when they came within minutes of five in a row themselves in 1982, and then the lady from Kilkenny sailed on, perhaps with the first seed of doubt gnawing away.