Retired Cork hurling star Timmy McCarthy has revealed the reasons why he rarely gave interviews to the media. The three-time All-Ireland winner, who announced his retirement from inter-county hurling last week, explained to the Irish Examiner: "I just was never that interested in doing interviews. "I gave an interview before St. Colman's, Fermoy played a colleges All-Ireland and we lost, so . . "And then I gave an interview before the 1999 All-Ireland final and the reporter asked me about the (family) farm and I pointed for the photographer and said 'this is our land here', but I was pointing out over most of Castlelyons in the photo. The lads at home gave me a desperate slagging over it, me saying I owned all that land." McCarthy, who will continue to line out for his club Castlelyons, has backed his former county colleagues to make a big impact in this year's championship. "We missed out on preparation with Cork due to the strikes the last couple of years, and it was too late last year when the whole thing was resolved. The year before the same. If they get a good run into the championship this year, they'll be better." He continued: "And they're not that old. Donal Og (Cusack) and Sean Og (O hAilpin) are 33, Ben and Jerry (O'Connor) are over 30, but they're some of the fittest lads on the team. The rest are all under 30." Tweet

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