Scally interviews some of the most famous hurlers from Galway too and his few pages with Sylvie Linnane start brilliantly and hold you onto the last line of the interview.
Micheal O’ Muircheartaigh famously made the observation about Linnane: “The man who drives a JCB on a Monday and turns into one on a Sunday.” The Gort man also trots out a great line involving Pete Finnerty.
When discussing the referees’ performance in the 1989 final, someone said the ref was either biased against us or a sh*te referee. And Finnerty chipped in with “He was both.”
However the line that Linnane is most associated with is the one where before the end of the 1988 All-Ireland final when Nicky English asked the referee: “How much time is left, ref?”To which Linnane quickly interjected: “At least another year for Tipperary”.
Each player interviewed has to pick his dream team and Linnane’s top XV hurlers are:
1. Ger Cunningham (Cork ), 2. Brian Murphy (Cork ), 3. Conor Hayes (Galway ), 4. Joe Hennessy (Kilkenny ), 5. Pete Finnerty (Galway ), 6. Ger Henderson (Kilkenny ), 7. Anthony Daly (Clare ), 8. Frank Cummins (Kilkenny ), 9. John Connolly (Galway ), 10. Nicky English (Tipp ), 11. John Power (Kilkenny ), 12. Joe Connolly (Galway ), 13. Pat Fox (Tipp ), 14. Noel Lane (Galway ), 15. DJ Carey (Kilkenny ).
