Clubman with a fighting spirit to die for

All-Ireland Club SH semi-final, Portumna v James Stephens:  Ian O'Riordan talks to Eugene McEntee, whose painful odyssey through crippling injury makes those TV ads seem understated.

When they talk about the AIB club championship and one life and one parish and all that they don't usually mean risking serious injury and sacrificing your livelihood. And it's just a little too romantic to think players would lie down and die for each other all for the honour and glory of winning in Croke Park come St Patrick's Day.

So here's the story of Eugene McEntee, the man doctors said would never hurl again and the best he should hope for instead was a round of crazy golf. The man with six screws and two metal plates in his lower back, who for six months had to wash his face under the shower because he couldn't bend over the sink, and eventually had to learn to walk all over again. And don't mention airport security.

Here's the man who defied medical opinion just to hurl again, and now says he would die trying to help Portumna win the All-Ireland title. Here's their full back and captain, and quite clearly a man to watch in tomorrow's semi-final against reigning champions James Stephens.

Here's the story that begins when McEntee was aged 18, and already established as one the most promising hurlers in Galway. He'd been playing senior with Portumna since he was 15, and minor and under-21 for Galway. On an ordinary afternoon in an ordinary minor semi-final against Castlegar he flipped over an opponent's shoulder, and felt both legs go dead. Medical personnel got him to his feet, figured nothing much was wrong, and after one injection and a few weeks rest he reckoned he was fine to play on.

"I think I was young and so fit that the rest of my body was able to compensate," recalls McEntee. "But once I took a break at the end of that season I was in trouble. When I started back I just couldn't train. Still, I got away with it for a while, getting the odd injection here and there.

"Towards the end of 2000 I knew I couldn't go on. I couldn't walk upstairs at all and couldn't even lift my leg high enough to step into the bath."

Worse still, he had to give up work at the family-butcher business in Portumna, and seek specialist medical attention.

That took him to Dr Frank Dowling at the Blackrock Clinic in Dublin, where the eventual diagnosis confirmed his worst fear. Two pelvic bones at the base of the spine had slipped, pinching a nerve on one of the lower discs. That nerve had then worn away, and the next one had started to tear away as well. If he hadn't stopped when he did the problem would have worked all the way up his back. Ouch!

The surgeon removed two discs from his lower back and inserted the metal plates, which left him with considerable pain for six months and the task of learning to put one foot in front of the other again. At that stage no one gave him a chance of ever wielding a camán again.

"I just took a grudge against that," he says, "and told myself I'm better than this. As far as I know I'm the first case of someone going back to play contact sport after such an operation. It was hard work getting back, but about a year later I was hurling again in the All-Ireland intermediate final.

"But there were scary times involved, and I can only look back and think I must have been mad to actually go through that. I was also very lucky at the time that we had insurance through the family.

"At the time the insurance wasn't cheap, but my father always says it was the best investment ever. But getting back playing with the club was the most important thing, and that's enough for now. I know if I'm hurling good enough and the county are looking for you then they'll get you.

"I just know anything from me here on in is a bonus. And my only goal now is to win an All-Ireland with the club.

"That's every club man's dream, at least to bring your club to Croke Park on St Patrick's Day."

When McEntee eventually got back playing with his club his team-mates had only one name for him - Bionic Man. He's lost five per cent of movement in part of his back, but to compensate has built up an extra five per cent of strength in his upper body. Most of that was achieved through the physical effort entailed when he eventually got back working.

He also got back playing rugby and soccer just for the thrill, and now winning an All-Ireland title with Portumna remains his only goal.

Having recently turned 27 he knows time keeps running away, but he's never let defeat get in the way of his ambitions. He's already lost six All-Ireland finals - one under-16, two minors (1996 and 1997), two under-21s (1997 and 2000) and also that intermediate final in 2000 - and then two years ago, having won the county title, Portumna were sensationally beaten in the All-Ireland semi-final by Antrim champions Dunloy.

Tomorrow's task is as daunting as it gets for any club, but McEntee knows he's been given another chance and you get the sense he's not about to let it slip.

"Sure, I see this as my second chance. This is what I've lived and dreamed for. It's great for the town that we're back in the semi-final, and great for the team as well. My heart goes out to everyone on this team, and they know I'd die for them out there.

"And the captaincy is something I'm very proud of. I don't really know why they chose me, but I think they thought if I was mad enough to play on after the injury then I must be right for the captain.

"But everyone gets on so well on this team. All I need to tell them now is that they're one hour away from reaching their dream. But it means so much to me to lead them out there."

Portumna epitomise the club championship; the team is made up of players that grew up together, and often in the same house. As well as the famous Cannings (Ollie, Joe, Ivan, David and Francis), there are the Hayeses (Damien, Niall, and Derek), the Smiths (Andrew, Peter and Leo) and also the Treacys (Pearse, Stephen and Vincent).

They've been the emerging force in Galway for several years now, and as with Athenry before them, McEntee believes their time as has come.

"In recent years Athenry had been steamrolling the county finals, like no one could challenge them. But we were plugging away for the last four or five years, and have got to the last three county finals now, and won two. People would talk about us resenting all the success of Athenry, but of course it was only envy.

"So, if anything, Athenry winning the All-Ireland was the wake-up call for other clubs in Galway. Once I reach that goal I'll be happy to play golf for the rest of my life."