Munster star Hurley proud of his Rebel roots

DENIS HURLEY jokingly claims to have a Cork accent. True, he was born in Ballineen, West Cork, but the family emigrated to the US when he was little more than 12 months old and when they returned to this country four years later, his father’s work took the family to Co Meath and a new home in Kells.

And even when he next arrived in Munster, it wasn’t to Cork he came but as a repeat final year student at St Munchin’s College, Limerick.

After that, though, it was on to UCC and a chance to brush up on his ‘Corkness’. And yet, even though he spent most of his youth in Meath, his father saw to it that his heart and mind should rest not in Leinster but in the province of his birth. And perfectly understandably, too, given that dad Gerry was an outstanding forward in his own playing days and as a member of Sunday’s Well, was the substitute hooker in the Munster team that beat the All Blacks at Thomond Park in 1978.