Carey Kept Scoreless Again

13th Sep 2004

Carey Scoreless Again
All Ireland Senior Hurling Final 2004

Yerra you'd have to wonder about the likes of DJ Carey coming out of retirement. At thirty four years of age he is still a young man with much of his life still ahead of him but in the cauldron of Croke Park you can become an old man very quickly and yesterday young men like The Rock, Wayne and Murphy made Carey look like he had the hurling equivalent of senile dementia.

As honest Corkmen and women we must acknowledge all he has done for hurling and for McCoys crisps. He was a great player, he was a clean player and he seemed like a nice feen behind it all.

He seems like somebody who, if you met on holidays in West Cork you could have a quick bit of banter with in the mens when you're both slashing away against the urinal.

As you look down on his slight frame (and possibly another part of the body he might try to score with) you could try your best to say you feel sorry for him and that he was a great player in his day. Maybe buy him a pint of Murphys and take his autograph. You'd probably still make a few bob for it on E-bay.

If Carey announces his retirement this year he'll be remembered as one of "The Greats" but if he continues on who knows how he'll be remembered. As far as we know O'Neill's don't make colostomy bags and you can't have players going down with exhaustion and cramp during Amhr·n na bhFiann.

When Cork won by a single point in 1999 everyone commented on how Carey was kept scoreless. It was an even greater achievement to keep him scoreless last year but the losing the game meant we couldn't pay it too much attention as thinking about all those Cork wides was like pouring salt into a septic wound (with yellow puss and stuff coming out of it that stings).

Carey might look good in a club match in Callan on a Sunday morning in February but Croke Park is where great players like Jack Lynch, Christy Ring and Jimmy Barry-Murphy made their names.

A few hours after the game yesterday Cork fans began to realise this staggering achievement by Cork's notorious backline: in the last three All Ireland finals DJ Carey has failed to score against Cork. One must wonder if he'd score with a wad of fifties at the back of Connolly Hall on a Monday night! Wahhooow biy!