What skill…
There are fewer things better when watching a hurling match than one of your team sending a sideline cut over the bar. It almost counts double as the crowd get behind the magic of the moment and players get a welcome boost on account of getting a score they were not necessarily expecting.
A few years ago in the National League, they trialled a system where two points were awarded for a sideline cut that went over the bar, in recognition for the enormous skill involved in executing the delightful cut.
Clubs in Tipperary will be delighted that the law was never pursued at the end of that league campaign, because they could be in serous bother if they ever faced a team containing former Tipperary minor Ruadhán Mulrooney.
Poor Ruadhán, from Portroe in North Tipp, has had his career interrupted by the scourge of the modern game that is the dreaded cruciate ligament injury.
He injured his knee in a club game last year and has spent a number of long months rehabbing his injury to get his feet back on the hurling pitch where they belong.
But one silver lining is that he has had ample time to practice his sideline cuts… and boy did he practice them.
