Waterford and Austin Gleeson tired of being hurling’s bridesmaids

Austin Gleeson yesterday picked up the GAA/GPA player of the month award for August. 

He was also the June recipient of same award. In what has been a fairly decent summer for the 21-year old, there have been a couple of player of the match gongs collected too, some he remembers less fondly than others.

Two minutes or so after referee James McGrath brought to an end Kilkenny’s absorbing All-Ireland SHC semi-final replay win over Waterford last month, a Sky handler approached a devastated Austin Gleeson on the Semple Stadium turf to inform him he’d been selected as their man of the match. Crystal needed collecting.