Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

Hurling

Hurlers whose careers were cut short

Joe Connolly, Richie Power, Darach Honan, Seamus Hennessy and Andrew O’Shaughnessy are among a talented group that fans would love to have seen more of.

History is littered with the names of exceptional hurlers whose careers were cut short.

Joe Connolly led Galway to the promised land in 1980 after 57 years of hurt, but had to retire at the age of 27 after getting hurt in an exhibition game.

Who know if the Tribe would have won more All-Irelands in the 80s as they contested five out of six finals from 1985 to 1990 — winning two — without their leading light.

It a question as much whether the bigger loss was of Galway to Connolly, or the qualities the player would have offered to his side entering his prime years.

Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.

Richie Power won eight All-Ireland titles with his county but was dogged by knee injuries throughout his career and was forced to retire at the age of 29.

Many would describe him as Kilkenny’s most talented player of their most golden generation, and he travelled to Croatia in June 2017 to explore the possibility of stem-cell treatment to regenerate the cartilage, but didn’t get the answers he was hoping for.

Given the brilliance he displayed when hampered by persistent niggles, the question is how much more he would have done with a clean bill of health.

The same can be said of many great players, and please let us know in the comments below who else should be in the conversation.

Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.

Conor Ryan from Cratloe in Clare was a key man as the Banner won the All-Ireland in 2013, but that as to be his final game at Croke Park at the tender age of 22.

He went on to win county hurling and football titles but, by 2016, he was not feeling himself and went to have a routine blood test, where they found a serious issue with his pituitary gland.

“My energy levels were wiped, there was no adrenalin running through my body,” Ryan told Marie Crowe in 2018.

“I was always the fist-tight, teeth-clenched guy and that was gone. My body was failing; the adrenalin gland to an athlete is like petrol to a car.”

Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.

Shane Stapleton, Fintan O’Toole and Michael Verney discuss these excellent players and many more in the video above.

📮 Sign up to the OurGame newsletter — a daily email reminder of our latest videos, articles, quizzes and more.

Don’t forget to subscribe to the OurGame YouTube page for live streams and more.

Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.
1 Comment

1 Comment

  1. Brian OMeara

    June 2, 2020 at 8:19 pm

    Larry Kiely Tipperary.
    Joined the army Went to compete in the olympics for Ireland at show jumping. Not injury related but cut short none the less.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Subscribe to our newsletter

You May Also Like

Hurling

Limerick GAA have sent out on update on the fitness of the centre-back and inspirational captain Declan Hannon.

Sports

Visit https://ourstore.ie/ 🎓Coaching Clinic — see our latest events at the following link — https://bit.ly/OurGameEvents For more exclusive content, why not join us at...

Football

Mark Foley and Darach Honan join Shane Stapleton and Michael Verney to preview this weekend's action in both codes

Hurling

Waterford and Tipperary both have major injury headaches ahead of their championship openers in the coming weeks

Advertisement