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VIDEO: The day Kilkenny legend Eddie Keher taught Muhammad Ali to hurl

“He was using the hurley like a tennis racket,” Keher recalls.

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Keher, far right, with Ali (Credit: When Ali Came to Ireland)

HE’S ONE OF hurling’s all-time greats but Kilkenny legend Eddie Keher says he was “starstruck and spellbound” when he Muhammad Ali walked into the room.

The two met when Ali was in Ireland ahead of his Croke Park fight against Al ‘Blue’ Lewis in 1972.

Keher, who won six All-Ireland titles with Kilkenny including one as captain, was the man chosen to teach ‘The Greatest’ how to hurl.

“He was using the hurley like a tennis racket,” Keher recalls in When Ali Came to Ireland, the IFTA-winning documentary.

“He spent ages trying to rise the ball and that. We had good fun.”

Here’s the clip of Ali, who has passed away at the age of 74:

TrueFilmsTV / YouTube

The clip above is taken from the IFTA-winning When Ali Came to Ireland. More info here

A version of this piece was originally published on 10 October, 2013.

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