Lar The Internet Sensation, and Clarke on GAA cowards

In the latest Hospital Pass, we look at two lads at the opposite end of the spectrum: the good times continue to roll for Lar Corbett but it’s Down and out for John Clarke.

By Shane Breslin

Most of the attention in Down has been focused on Marty, the younger and much better of the Clarke brothers from An Riocht, since he came back from Australia 18 months or so ago and spearheaded James McCartan's men to last year's All-Ireland final.

But it’s not attention that his older brother John wanted. Fairness would do, and he reckoned he got the short end of the wedge from faceless internet critics. Come and spit your bile in my face, he sort-of-said.

“The Armagh defeat made me think a lot. You get a lot of criticism," said Clarke. "You don't mind people criticising you to your face, but you do have your critics who sit behind computer screens and are on discussion boards, which is cowardly.

“Players and managers alike take a lot of abuse on those things. That's not the reason why I'm retiring - but there's criticism and there's criticism. I just thought the time was right [to retire], for the time being anyway. Never say never in football, but as of now I've played my last game for Down."

Faceless or not, we welcome your comments at the bottom of this and every story, and you can now have your say by logging in with your Facebook or Twitter details. We’d be inclined to agree with poor ol’ John’s concerns, although walking away from it all at the age of 28 is perhaps a bit of an over-reaction. Whatever happened to turning the other cheek?

Lar hits YouTube

Meanwhile, the stock of Tipperary superstar Lar Corbett continues to rise.

Not content with winning an All-Ireland medal, his three goals almost single-handedly (a) ending Kilkenny’s famous Drive for Five; (b) netting him an All-Star, All-Ireland final Man of the Match and Hurler of the Year honours, and (c) giving him the lofty status with which he could go to war with his new business venture, he’s also now become a bit of an internet hero.

In YouTube parlance, it’ll be a while before he hits the Rebecca Black league, but in Tipperary hurling parlance, it’ll be a long, long time before Rebecca Black is fit to lace Lar’s boots.

Anyway, here’s the latest incarnation of the Rubberbandits’ Horse Outside, which has been doing the rounds over the last couple of weeks.

‘Lar Outside’, from the excellent Johnny B and the Boogie Men, contains such timeless lyrics as “He’s got hands like Da Vinci, he strikes like a samurai.”