It may not compare to the time Mike from Essex watched hurling and concluded that the Irish were all mad, but foreign observers are once more paying tribute to the most glorious sport.
This time, it's a little old daily called the New York Times. Sports reporter Dan Barry was down in Kinvara (south Galway in case you weren't aware) taking in a game between Connemara (not hurling country) and the home side.
In keeping with the approach foreign broadsheets adopt towards hurling, this beauty of a piece is a poetical ode to the game, rich in descriptive imagery and replete with commentary on the sport's place within Irish society.
However, the best part of this piece is that the reporter briefly sketches the career of Kinvara's most famous son, the legendary Gerry McInerney.
Back in the golden years of the late 80s, McInerney worked in construction in the States. Every August he would return home for a couple championship matches, aka, the All-Ireland semi-final and the All-Ireland final (assuming Galway got there, which they did most years at that time).
One of the best Galway hurlers ever was Gerry McInerney, who, as a boy in Kinvara, practiced his swing while tending cows. A nationally prominent player in the 1980s and early ’90s, he was known for his fierce defense, distinctive mullet and white cleats — a rebellious fashion statement within the staid Gaelic Athletic Association, the cultural organization that oversees Irish sports.
While working construction in New York for several years, he commuted to Ireland to play hurling, helping Galway win consecutive All-Ireland championships, in 1987 and 1988. Then back to the States, back to anonymous manual labor. The glamorous life of an amateur sportsman, compensated only with expenses — though, he says, “You might get a couple of pints.”
Brilliant.
Despite being part of one of the greatest half-back lines ever, McInerney somehow went his whole career without winning an All-Star.
But then perhaps that had something to do with the fact that it'd be too much hassle coming back from America just to pick up an All-Star.
