Gaelic Games

Cork hurlers had to battle illness before win over Dublin

Darragh Fitzgibbon says there were players getting sick in the dressingroom before

Cork's Darragh Fitzgibbon and Brian Hayes of Dublin. Photograph: Laszlo Geczo/Inpho
Cork's Darragh Fitzgibbon and Brian Hayes of Dublin. Photograph: Laszlo Geczo/Inpho
Seán Moran
Fri Jun 28 2024 - 06:00

Cork hurlers had to battle illness in last weekend’s All-Ireland quarter-final win over Dublin. According to Cork centrefielder Darragh Fitzgibbon, winner of May’s PwC GAA-GPA Hurler of the Month award, there were players getting sick in the dressingroom before the match.

Centre back Rob Downey was a late withdrawal on the day.

“He’s fine. He’s back in training,” said Fitzgibbon on Thursday. “That was a thing that kind of went under the radar last Saturday. There was a bug in our camp and obviously Rob couldn’t play but there were a couple of other guys in the dressingroom who were actually getting sick before the match.

“A couple of guys had been up all night as well. It was testament to the players who were able to play and who stepped in and did a job to the best of their abilities.”

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He added that prolific Munster goal scorer, Alan Connolly – who has not scored in the past two matchers – had been another affected.

“Yeah, Alan was probably feeling unwell even before the Offaly game. He’s had a bit of a rough run of it ... We know he’ll be fit and firing come Sunday week.”

Fitzgibbon said that the problem appears to have receded.

“Yeah, it looks like it has. Everyone was back in training. We took an extra night off, just to give everyone a bit of time away from each other, trying to not let it spread through the camp.

“It’s just one of those things that could happen to anybody. They’re all kind of things that might go under the radar and it’s stuff that every camp tries to deal with, so it was just pleasing the way we dealt with it.”

Seán Moran

Seán Moran

Seán Moran is GAA Correspondent of The Irish Times