HE’S THE ONLY player from Na Piarsaigh to have won an Allstar and that was achieved back in 1994 for his exploits with the Limerick hurlers.
Yet two decades on, Damien Quigley’s playing career has yet to grind to a halt and this week he’s getting set for an All-Ireland semi-final.
Na Piarsaigh’s senior hurlers take on Portumna in Thurles next Saturday in pursuit of a place in Croke Park on St Patrick’s day. They possess a team packed with brilliant youngsters – five members of their side won medals with Limerick in the epic Munster U21 final in 2011 – yet there is still room for a veteran like Quigley.
Kevin Downes made way for Quigley towards the end of Na Piarsaigh’s comfortable Munster final win over Sixmilebridge last November. The current Limerick senior regards the long-serving player as an inspiration.
“He’s a massive character around the place. Obviously he’s Na Piarsaigh’s only All Star and he’s 42 years of age now. You’d always pick things up off him, even watching him. He’s so smart on the ball, all those tricks he’s developed.
“His skill is unbelievable. Even in training matches he’s still lighting it up. He’s an inspiration to everyone. It’s incredible really the way he’s going and what shape he’s in for the age he is. He’s a massive influence in the club.”
Downes was only a toddler when Quigley was lining out in Croke Park in the 90′s with the Limerick senior hurlers and marvels at his ability to still feature at the top level.
“I don’t know how he stays going to be honest. He’s always there stretching, he obviously always really minds himself. He’s just a thoroughbred athlete. You see him doing runs at training and he’s up the top. Not a bother to him.”
Let the black card witch-hunt begin. Lead by the masters of cynical play Tyrone, big surprise!
Donegal not happy with it neither that’s their game plan out the window
Dublin won an All Ireland with it, Mayo did it to them the year before. Nobody is innocent here, Harte’s Tyrone got 3 All Irelands by playing in the rules of the game it’s up to the rest to put it up to them as all teams play with the same rules.
are you saying dublin won a championship with cynical play?
No, I’m saying Dublin played by the rules of the sport to win, Mayo did the same to get to two All Irelands and Tyrone did it to tie for Team of the Decade. You play to win or you don’t want it badly enough Paul.
I think the black card will effect Donegal and Tyrone more beacuse they play on the edge I dont agree with the blackcard anyway as if a incident is bad enough to send a player off its a redcard
Still think, given time, it will be positive. There’ll always be mistakes made, but you can see that body checking the third man runner has already been stamped out.
It was a poor decision from Goldrick, no getting away from it.
Coldrick made a mistake – get over it! The black card is a great idea for the first 65 minutes of a match – teams will still do what it takes to get a win so I can still see lads getting dragged down, etc. Being able to replace only the first 3 black cards helps in this regard.
You shouldn’t be able to replace a black carded player in the last 5 mins.
Yeah 2 people who argued against it before it was introduced saying the same thing after it has led to confusion.. can’t wait until further controversies effect your own teams and we then have you all backing the black card and not being critical of officials or rules at all as its only a tyrone and donegal thing obviously. ..
First Mickey heart, now Peter Canavan.
they see the writing on the wall daragh the two blackcards should have been redcards