Name

Joey Scullion

Teams played for

Loughgiel Shamrocks and Antrim

Current involvement

Assisting with coaching NurseryP1P2 Camogie – One of those jobs where the basic criteria is having a child involved and being able to hold a hurl the right way up. Needless to say I love it!

Which Club game, that you played in, will you never forget and why?

Easy one might be to say winning the All-Ireland final against Coolderry, or the semi final against Na Piarsaigh in 2012 but I think the most outstanding moment would be winning the 2010 County title. I had a poor game personally, but I have to say the emotion of finally getting over the line and winning a county title after losing six finals in-a-row and a 21-year absence since the last county title. Grown men crying everywhere and a complete outpouring of emotion. It was unbelievable. If I could relive one moment in my life I’d take those 20 minutes after the final whistle in the 2010 county final.

Which club game, that you watched, will you never forget and why?

2006 county hurling final. I was ‘playing’ but in all honesty I was a spectator. I will never forget it as we hadn’t won a county title in a generation. We had lost the previous three county finals. We had been playing with the wind at our backs in the first half and everything was going right. We went in seven or eight points up against Cushendall. The second half was one way traffic. I was playing on the half forward line. We couldn’t win a ball. Cushendall steamrolled us and won by seven points. Probably my worst day on a hurling field.

Which county game, that you played in, will you never forget and why?

I wouldn’t say I had the most illustrious of county careers. I played county for maybe six or seven years from when I was 18 to my mid-twenties. Probably the best of those years was 2006. We had a decent league campaign (Division One). We beat Galway in the first game in Casement Park (Johnny McIntosh was unplayable).

We lost to Kilkenny by 2 points in Nolan Park (I came on the last 5 minutes and scored 1-1 off JJ Delaney – which presumably inspired him to go on and win 400 All Ireland medals and 340 All-Stars) and Tipp beat us by three or four points in Cushendall (I think). We still progressed to the Christy Ring final in Croke Park that year. I scored the first goal of the game and we went on to win handy enough. I would never quite count that as an ‘All-Ireland’ even though it was branded as that. At the end of the day it was a second tier competition however it was nice to have a winning day in the Saffron colours at headquarters

Which county game, that you watched, will you never forget and why?

Has to be the 2003 Munster Final. Waterford V Cork. I was minor at the time. My Da was managing the county minors. He managed to get the whole panel into the game that day. What an atmosphere. John Mullane scored three goals, the last one he scored in front of us. I remember him giving the fingers to the Cork supporters. Legend.

What was the funniest thing you ever saw in a game?

I remember when we were training for an All-Ireland semi final or something we played a challenge game down in Dublin. Paul ‘Ding’ Gillan scored an ‘own point’. Tried to scoop the ball back to our ‘keeper – DD Quinn. Got too much on it and flicked it over the bar. Needless to say he wasn’t allowed to forget it.

What was the strangest thing you ever saw in a game?

I remember one time Barney McAuley hand passed a ball to me instead of shooting himself. It was like that moment when you heard JFK was shot, or when the planes hit the World Trade Centre. Everyone knows where they were when they heard Barney McAuley passed a ball – strange times.

What was the most memorable performance from a player in a game that you watched?

I am going to pick the same player but two different games. Lar Corbett. First of all for his excellence and scoring a ha-trick of goals in the 2010 All Ireland Final and putting an end to ‘Kilkenny’s drive for five’. He was outstanding. Imagine winning an All-Ireland medal with a man of the match performance – the thing dreams of made of.

However, equally as memorable was a few years later when he ‘chased’ Tommy Walsh around Croke park. Not sure what the tactic was exactly but Lar Corbett seemed to be tasked with the job of man marking Tommy Walsh – I remember the whole stadium watching on wondering what was happening. One of those tactics that if it worked it’s a master stroke – unfortunately for the Tipperary management they were hammered and their marque forward looked like an idiot.

What was the most memorable performance from a player in a game that you played?

Does my head in to recount this but we played St Thomas’ of Galway in Parnell Park in 2013. We were All-Ireland champions at the time and had a great team. We drew with St Thomas’ that day but it was one of those games of what might have been. But the stand out performer that day was Conor Cooney. He had one of those games that if the ball had hit off his ear it would have ended up going over the bar. Everything he hit turned to gold.

What did you love about the games you played in?

The greatest thing about playing hurling was the camaraderie. Training two or three times a week and a game at the weekend with your mates. The banter, the slagging. That’s the bit I miss the most. Even when we lost, we lost together and went back to the club , licked our wounds but stuck together and came back together.

What did you hate about the games you played in?

Obviously not playing well was frustrating at times but if I am honest I didn’t really enjoy the final few years of my career. I was working night and day, I was building a house and had too many distractions. When I was at the hurling field I was always thinking I needed to be somewhere else or doing something else. I resented hurling in the end which is not the way I wanted to leave it. I have regrets about that period as I should have given it up all together as I wasn’t able to give it my full commitment.