Happy to be back to his first true love

AISAKE Ó HAILPÍN INTERVIEW:Having tried his hand at Aussie Rules, Cork's big forward is relishing the prospect of terrorising some hurling defences, writes GAVIN CUMMISKEY

AISAKE Ó HAILPÍN is finally getting some attention of his own having returned to his first true love – hurling. A sustained period in the shade was unavoidable having chosen to follow the path forged by elder brothers of such stature as Seán Óg and Setanta.

Seeing Setanta go to the Carlton Blues before him, he grabbed the opportunity to try his hand at Aussie Rules despite having little exposure to football growing up in Cork.

Aisake’s sporting education was based on hurling and was only interrupted by selection for the minor footballers in 2003, the same year Setanta made his all-too-brief cameo in the pages of hurling folklore with that majestic goal in the All-Ireland final defeat to Kilkenny. Then he was gone to Australia. Aisake followed, taking up a rookie contract in the land of his birth in 2005.

Now 24, having spent three years with Carlton, crucially hindered by an injury-cursed 2007, he returned to Cork and attempted to balance football and hurling.

“I came into the panel late for minor football. I concentrated on hurling, I’d a bit more love for the hurling growing up, especially with our club, Na Piarsaigh down in Cork, where hurling is a bit stronger.

“I didn’t play much football. It was only minor. And after coming back from Australia I played a small bit last year with Cork in the league.

“Because I’d been away for so long they said you have to keep going, you’ve been away, you haven’t played both, even with your club, so I picked the hurling because obviously my brother plays it and I love hurling.”

Seán Óg is as close to the professional model hurling has seen physique-wise and commitment-wise. But Aisake is a beast of an amateur sportsman, towering over his opponents at 6ft 7in, allied by three years of professionally supervised gym work to give any fullback a nightmare.

The professional career in the AFL never ignited, but there are serious benefits coming home now he has his hurling touch back.

“Definitely. I left, 19, I would have been 87kgs, now I am 98-99kgs. And I’ve done a bit of work in the gym the last three or four years. It’s good for the fitness, playing a game over in Australia for over two hours long helps your body to get used to physical contact. It does work for you, but it’s just the touch, it has to get a bit better, especially with the hurling.”

Well-placed to understand both sides of the fence, Aisake is asked about pay for play.

“I suppose the GAA does generate a bit of money. I think the players are the biggest reason for that. I see no reason why not.

“I don’t think any of the players would refuse money especially in this day and age, with work outside of sport and the amount of effort that goes into training and playing, games away from home and stuff. I’d be all for it.”

At this juncture he is given an out. The counter argument is that professionalism is only sustainable at the most elite level of Gaelic games.

“Yeah that’s the thing. There’s only five or six games a year that would generate that kind of money so it’s something they’d have to look at.”

What about the semi-pro as an option? “It could be, yeah, semi-pro. It’s kind of going that way anyway. Players do the drug testing and stuff and we’re training three or four times a week at least.”

Although football has been shelved, Aisake must be a serious consideration for the International Rules series against Australia in October.

“I’d definitely be interested. Especially if my brother, Setanta, was playing. It’d be nice to give it a crack. I played Aussie Rules and I played football here. I played against some of the guys who would be playing for Australia. It’d be a good challenge. It’s always good to play for your country as well. If I was asked I’d definitely think about it anyway and give it a crack.”

Before that though he has the Galway and Tipperary fullback lines to terrorise.

Upgrade of home to GAA treasures

THE GAA museum and its cherished treasures, as Christy Cooney called them yesterday, has always been worth a visit, ideally on a non-match day so it can be fully appreciated, writes Gavin Cummiskey.

The famous Boca Juniors soccer club in Buenos Aries provides something similar as the GAA visitors discovered during last years All-Star adventure but even the beloved second home of Diego Maradona pales in comparison to the renovated museum situated under Croke Park’s Cusack stand that reopened yesterday after an upgrade of €1 million from GAA coffers and grant aid from Fáilte Ireland.

The modern players were represented by Aisake Ó hAilpín, Seán Cavanagh and Kieran Donaghy, on hand to sate the daily media’s needs, but the GAA president was more impressed by the improvements boost for Dublin tourism.

“We are justifiably proud of this excellent facility, home as it to so many of our cherished treasures and I am confident that the work recently undertaken will further enhance a leading destination on Dublin’s tourist trail. I acknowledge the contribution of the museum team in this work to date and wish them every best wish in the future success of what is a most important historical focal point for the association as a whole in the months and years ahead.”

The sight of every club logo, even those based on foreign soil, is evident at the entrance with a specially commissioned central display unit for the original Sam Maguire and Liam MacCarthy trophies forming the centre piece of the museum.