In a week when news of Kerry footballer Brendan O'Sullivan's failed drug test after last year's Allianz League final emerged, Jackie Tyrrell has been recalling his experience with the drug testers.
Writing in the Irish Times, the eight-time All-Ireland winning Kilkenny hurler tells the bizarre story of being accompanied to the pub by a tester after the 2013 Allianz League final against Tipperary in Nowlan Park because he was unable to give a urine sample immediately after the game.
"Once, after the 2013 league final in Nowlan Park, my name was picked out and I went with the tester to the little room and started lashing water into me. An hour later, I was getting nowhere. I asked the tester if he had any tips," Tyrrell remembered.
"Well," he said. "I've found that some guys go quicker if they have a beer. Is there a pub close by?"
"Are you serious?" I said. "Can't hurt," he said.
"So we headed around the corner to McGuinness's, a pub jammed with Kilkenny and Tipp supporters. I was still in my Kilkenny tracksuit. People were looking at me half-cut, wondering what the hell I was at. I went up and ordered a pint of Guinness, my tester beside me all the way. Three-quarters of the way down the pint, I turned to my man and said, "I'm good to go here."
"And we walked out of the pub and back to Nowlan Park."
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