hill16no1man, who is to say he didnt rather rugby to hurling?
Best of luck to him. Maybe he will play for ireland some day.

Also, best of luck to kilkenny, I think he has it in his locker to make it out there.

TheMaster (Mayo) - Posts: 16187 - 02/10/2012 10:21:05    1276206

Massive loss for cork hurling. A brilliant player...

DUB1 (Dublin) - Posts: 5583 - 02/10/2012 10:23:27    1276208

jerryp
County: Cork
Posts: 6

1276104 He showed more promise than anyone since the O'Connor brothers were minors. Very best of luck to him in his new path.

JerryP.

He is a good player. He has (or had might be more appropriate) lots of potential. He is undoubtedly multi-talented sportsman. He is a loss to Cork. However, let us not put the guy on a hurling pedastal or level that he doesn't belong. I don't think he has ever shown himself to have the class or potential that Ben or Gerry O'Connor had. In 1995, they played a Munster under 16 inter-divisional title with Avondhu and scored 11 points (out of 17 in total) from play from midfield between them as Avondhu beat Imokily that day. They played midfield together for the Cork vocational schools team and won the All-Ireland, they won three county under 21 titles for their club and Ben was playing a starring role for the Cork seniors when he was 19 -Sweetnam this year was in and out. The O'Connors, Ben in particular, will go down as one of our greatest ever players. With Sweetnam, alas, we may never know. But one thing is for certain, as underage players, both O'Connors were well ahead in terms of what they were winning and their performances (and I, like you imagine, say this not having seen every underage performance of either the O'Connors or Sweetnam). To make such comparisons, in my opinion, is disengenuous to both O'Connors and Sweetnam.

bennybunny (Cork) - Posts: 3917 - 02/10/2012 11:34:44    1276264

hill16no1man
County: Dublin
Posts: 2583

another sell out.
stop glorifying guys like him and kilkenny moving sports all this you cant blame them they get to play pro sports some people are acting in the manner of be littling gaa below any other sport just beacuse you dont get paid isnt that the reason the gaa is so popular that its not about the big money teams like the other sports.
we will continue to lose top young players as i have stated if people keep patting young guys on the back for choosing whichever sport pays

It's akin to Dylan going electric back in the mid 60's alright.

Is it not remotely possible that the lad just happens to prefer playing rugby to hurling? That'd go a long way to explaining such a decision.

No doubt you'll be going to your club's AGM and putting forward the suggestion that all young players be signed up to the GAA for life and banned from playing other sports...

if_in_doubt (Kildare) - Posts: 3692 - 02/10/2012 11:36:58    1276267

Very dissapointing.

Can anybody tell me that the loss of TOmas O'Leary, Setanta O Halpin, Aiden Walsh, Ciaran Sheehan, and now Sweetnam, hasn't had a huge affect on Cork hurling?

All of them looked like the most serious players of their age groups, and all of them walked away - two of the m to the other gaelic sport. I guess we'll never know if they'd all have cut it at Senior. But of all the underage players I'd seen over the last 20 years they have been five that I'd have bet good money on making it as seniors. Sheehan is the only one I'd have been shakey about, but I'd still have laid 20 euro with anybody, that he could have made a serious contribution to Cork senior hurling.

Culchie (Cork) - Posts: 799 - 02/10/2012 11:41:40    1276273

Culchie, if Walsh and Sheehan had chose to play hurling, they would have in essence "walked away" from football
Would you be complaining about that if that had been the case?
They prefer football, walsh especially, so they chose the game for them....

In the past in Cork the hurlers usually got the pick of the Dual players, Sean Og, Corcoran, Kenny, Rock
nowadays its the footballers getting the bvast majority of the footballers
Even when dual lads do hurl, even then they still play football eg Cadogan

Liamwalkinstown (Dublin) - Posts: 8167 - 02/10/2012 12:02:51    1276283

Must be tough on hurling fans watching this in Cork.

But what can you do? He is obviously talented and can earn money playing Rugby.

Until GAA can match soccer & rugby as well as International rules for money, this is going to happen all the time. A few of my mates have young fellas who are good hurlers & footballers but still have them playing soccer & rugby 'just in case'. If it was your child & they could play a sport they liked & get paid for it, how would you advise them?

slayer (Limerick) - Posts: 6488 - 02/10/2012 12:21:08    1276306

Cork have a long history of dual players, but it was a lot easier in the past, as if either County team lost a Championship game then they were gone for the year and the guy could concentrate on the one code. Now there is a strong likelihood that a player would be involved in both codes up to August at least. I still believe that Aidan Walsh will make himself available to both Hurlers & Footballers next year but we will have to wait & see on that one. Re Darren he is a multi-talented sportsman and excels at Hurling, Hockey, Badminton & Rugby, whether he prefers one above the other no one but himself knows. However in this day & age when jobs are scarce if a guy gets a lucrative contract to play a Professional sport, you cannot blame him for taking that option. He plays at either full-back or on the wing at Rugby, so if he doesn't make it at that code, he is not likely to end up so musclebound that he couldn't come back to hurling. However realistically we must accept that in all likelihood he is gone from Cork hurling on a permanent basis, its a real bad blow just as we are trying to build a team but there is nothing we can do about it. We will have to go with what is available to us and soldier on.

corkcelt (Cork) - Posts: 4388 - 02/10/2012 12:31:21    1276313

Must say, I think we knew this was coming. A big loss for us. This lad was a real raw talent alot of which was there to be finessed over the coming years. Oh well, I'll wish him all the best in his new code..

bloodandbandage (Cork) - Posts: 428 - 02/10/2012 12:39:25    1276319

Best of luck to him. Hope he makes it and does well with Munster. If he doesn't, Cork will get back a hurler in seriously good condition. Yes, they'll be sad to lose him, but it's only the same difference as a lad moving to Australia or giving up altogether. This way they might get him back an even better player.

icehonesty (Wexford) - Posts: 2581 - 02/10/2012 12:59:23    1276339

In fairness Liam, I should have been clearer. None of these guys owe anything to Cork. Cork hurling is one of my great loves. Therefore, in an era when it's on its knees, I find it devastatingly dissapointing that five of its best potential players, leaders all five, walked away from it. But, they all did the right thing by themselves and theri families. They don't owe me, or Cork, anything. They owe themselves happiness. I genuinely hope that their decisions have made, and will continue to make, them happy. The very best of luck to all five of them.

Culchie (Cork) - Posts: 799 - 02/10/2012 13:26:42    1276367

Culchie
Do u regard a fella picking football over hurling as.......a let down?

Liamwalkinstown (Dublin) - Posts: 8167 - 02/10/2012 13:50:44    1276400

A big loss but good luck to him

B4J (Meath) - Posts: 12 - 02/10/2012 14:08:00    1276422

In the current economic climate it is the right call! The days of GAA starts getting bank jobs are gone. Best of luck to him albeit a big big loss for cork

LohansRedHelmet (Clare) - Posts: 2697 - 02/10/2012 14:09:52    1276424

hill wants all pro sports banned in ireland it seems...if you play them your a sell out

ffgg (Longford) - Posts: 2571 - 02/10/2012 14:24:33    1276445

hill16no1man
County: Dublin
Posts: 2583

1276188 another sell out.
stop glorifying guys like him and kilkenny moving sports all this you cant blame them they get to play pro sports some people are acting in the manner of be littling gaa below any other sport just beacuse you dont get paid isnt that the reason the gaa is so popular that its not about the big money teams like the other sports.
we will continue to lose top young players as i have stated if people keep patting young guys on the back for choosing whichever sport pays

We had better get used to this. As GAA players improve their athleticsm, fitness & conditioning the pro sports will be able to see them fitting into their teams.
The GAA has got to make it attractive for players to stay in terms of work opportunities, medical backup, holidays, etc etc. In other words a full package except for the pay.

Both Michael Murphy & Patrick McBrearty had offers to go but said no, which I think was down to the vision McG put in front of them. Every county now has to up their game in this respect & abusing players by talking about a sell out is not in my mind the way to go.

A challenge has been set to the organisation, lets respond to it in a positive way

MuckrossHead (Donegal) - Posts: 5028 - 02/10/2012 14:41:16    1276462

It depends on what you mean by 'let down' Liam. It's something that dissapoints me. But, I fully acknowledge that these guys won't, or shouldn't have to, think about my feelings before they do what suits themselves.

Culchie (Cork) - Posts: 799 - 02/10/2012 14:45:57    1276469

i have zero problem with the players themselves leaving but i do think the gaa should not go out of their way to help the afl at all

ffgg (Longford) - Posts: 2571 - 02/10/2012 14:50:27    1276477

ffgg
County: Longford
Posts: 852

1276445 hill wants all pro sports banned in ireland it seems...if you play them your a sell out

or worse

dhorse (Laois) - Posts: 11374 - 02/10/2012 15:06:36    1276491

dhorse
County: Laois
Posts: 11230

ffgg
County: Longford
Posts: 852

1276445 hill wants all pro sports banned in ireland it seems...if you play them your a sell out

or worse

A prostitute... but would that necessarily be worse?

if_in_doubt (Kildare) - Posts: 3692 - 02/10/2012 15:27:50    1276511