A FORMER LOUTH U21 footballer will be on the Croatian bench as part of their backroom team for tonight’s World Cup opener against Brazil in Sáo Paulo.
Barry Hamilton, who played at corner forward on the Louth side that lost to Dublin in the 2012 Leinster final, has become involved with Nike Kovac’s side.
Hamilton works for a local company called STATSports and they are providing the Croatian side with a GPS tracking system, called STATSports Viper, for the tournament in Brazil.
Hamilton gave the Croatian squad a demonstration of the system at a training camp in Zagreb in late May and was subsequently asked to accompany them to Brazil.
““The players and the manager, Niko Kovac, really liked the system and I got on well with everybody but I was due to come home on June 1,” Hamilton told The Dundalk Democrat newspaper.
“The players held a meeting and the captain, Darijo Srna, stood up and told me to give him my passport as I was going to Brazil with the squad. The next morning I was on a plane to Lisbon with the team, heading for the tournament.
“There are not too many people in my position, working a dream job that has taken them to the World Cup. I’m really looking forward to it and I really appreciate where I am.”
Hamilton featured for Louth in that 2012 provincial decider when Dublin proved too strong and emerged victorious by 1-16 to 0-8. Dublin’s team that day featured 2013 All-Ireland senior winners Jack McCaffrey, Ciaran Kilkenny and Kevin O’Brien.
Hamilton also won an AIB Leinster intermediate football club medal last December when he was on the Geraldines club team that won the final against Dublin’s Naomh Olaf. They lost out to Monaghan’s Truagh, who went on to lift the title, at the All-Ireland semi-final stage in January.