SEAN ÓG Ó hAILPÍN – who was ruthlessly cut from Denis Walsh’s Cork hurling panel four weeks ago – has broken his silence in an interview with The Irish Daily Star’s Kieran Cunningham.

A month after he was told his time in the blood and bandages was over, in a Saturday morning meeting with Walsh, the Na Piarsaigh man says he didn’t see it coming.

In a wide-ranging talk, the former Hurler of the Year says:

• his brother Aisake returned to Australia and will not play for the Leesiders again. “He couldn’t face going back to play for Cork,” says his eldest brother.
• his biggest regret is not having won an All-Ireland with AFL-playing brother Setanta.
• he will never manage at inter-county level.
• and that the Rebels face a bleak future if they think ‘that 30 All-Irelands and Cork’s tradition will get us by, they’re folling themselves’.

Read the full interview in this morning’s Irish Daily Star.