HAVING PLAYED BOTH codes at senior inter-county level, Wexford’s Lee Chin knows a thing or two about the demands placed on players who try to play both hurling and football which is why he believes Aidan Walsh and Damien Cahalane winning the Liam MacCarthy Cup this year would be a ‘remarkable achievement’.
Chin, whose performances for Wexford this summer saw him claim July’s Opel GAA/GPA Player of the Month hurling award, decided to quit football in 2014 to focus on the small ball game but is full of praise for players who do make it work, especially those who reach the latter stages of both competitions.
“It would be [a remarkable achievement] for them considering that half their time probably went to the football this year too.
“The likes of Aidan Walsh and Damien Cahalane are hurling well this year. Aidan’s probably looked upon as one of the finest athletes in the game and he’s really shown that.
“I suppose if he just hurled, and didn’t play football, you wouldn’t know what kind of hurler he could be but, then again, if he didn’t play hurling you never know what kind of footballer he could be.”
Asked if he can see the likes of Walsh in particular continuing to play both sports next year, the 21-year old said that has to be up to each individual player.
“It’s totally up to himself what he’s going to do, maybe he can continue to do both and it would be great for him to win an All-Ireland, for both of them to win an All-Ireland, playing both codes.”
However, Chin does believe it’s a difficult balance and sometimes, even subconsciously, players might be happy when one season ends earlier than the other.
“In some ways, the way I look at it, when you’re doing both and one is going well and the other is kind of lacking somewhere, it’s nearly a relief – and it’s probably wrong to say it – but it’s nearly a relief when one gets knocked out and you can just totally go and concentrate on the other.
“It’s unfortunate at the same time too for [Walsh and Cahalane], because they’ve put so much time into doing both when one is just gone like that.
“You have to look at it and see where their county is going next year in terms of hurling and football and if these lads can go on to on to win an All-Ireland which is very doable at the moment.”
