Old friends: Paul Flynn paid tribute to Gerald McCarthy

Exclusive

Kieran Shannon

Waterford legend Paul Flynn has announced his retirement from inter-county hurling – and in doing so has offered his empathy to former manager Gerald McCarthy. In an exclusive interview with the Sunday Tribune, Flynn revealed he will not hurl with Waterford again and also stated his continued admiration for McCarthy.

"It's just time," he says of his own decision to retire. "I've given what I can and it's time now to move on."

Along with DJ Carey, Flynn is the only player of the last 25 years to feature in the leading 20 goalscorers in championship hurling history. A senior All Ireland title eluded him but he did manage to win three Munster titles, a league and an All Star, while at underage he won an All Ireland under-21 medal and a Munster minor medal.

And in looking back on his 16-year inter-county career Flynn paid particularly tribute to McCarthy, who is currently in the midst of the Cork GAA crisis. "[Gerald] was the start of proper training [for Waterford]. Whether that's not good enough 12 years on, I don't know. It surprises me to hear that it isn't but then it doesn't surprise me who is rebelling against him. People in hurling would know the Cork lads want to manage themselves; he obviously wasn't allowing them to do what they were used to doing. Whether he's right or wrong about that I don't know but he was right for us."

The Cork hurlers though have again restated that he is wrong for them. Shane O'Neill, one of the young players McCarthy would have been hoping to convince to play for him next year, yesterday reiterated his support for the senior players and their stance.

"People have talked about us escalating things or being inclined towards conflict," said O'Neill, "but things like the release of the Cathal O'Reilly report will tell people a lot about how hard it would be to go back now."

Meanwhile, Gus Kelleher, a teacher at St Colman's College in Fermoy, said too much time and effort had been put into the Cork-St Colman's Legends match for it to be cancelled. New jerseys have been commissioned for the Colman's side while a souvenir programme is also being printed for the game in a fortnight's time.

GAA president Nickey Brennan has expressed his sorrow at the destruction of the St Malachy's GAA club in Edendork, Tyrone, following a fire in the early hours of yesterday morning. The fire is currently being investigated by the police. No one was injured in the blaze.

Paul Flynn interview,
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