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The 25 Year Grudge That Landed One Ex-GAA Selector On His Arse

The 25 Year Grudge That Landed One Ex-GAA Selector On His Arse
Conor Neville
By Conor Neville
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I'm sure that on September 12th 2001, some newspaper received a letter asking rhetorically whether it was 'a slow news day' given the wall of coverage devoted to the one event.

But, every now and again, the 'slow news days, lads' charge is on the money. There's nothing shameful about it.

In honour of today's relatively slow news day, we have cast our minds back to a quicker news day some time in 2013.

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An Irish Examiner court report from late 2013 informed us that William Higgins was convicted of assaulting publican Tom Walsh and his wife Noreen in Pairc ui Rinn.

The reason for the attack: Higgins, a former Kildorrery hurler, had been sent off in a match back in 1988, meaning he would miss out on the North Cork Final.

The victim, Walsh, was a Kildorrery selector at the time and advised Higgins that is he apologised to the ref then he'd get out of the suspension.

I was told by Tom Walsh in his pub that if I went to apologise to the ref I would be able to play in the final. When I went down, the ref knew nothing about it. I more or less hung myself by going down. We [the team, without Higgins] won the North Cork and I didn’t even get a medal for it.

During the match, Noreen Walsh said she was walking down towards the tunnel when William Higgins shouldered into her, 'leaving her shoulder black and blue'.

Higgins allegedly punched Walsh in the stomach, jaw and neck, and delivered a message for him as he lay on the ground.

He started calling me a bollocks and a prick and all this kind of thing. He said: ‘You’ll pay for that.’ I said: ‘You had that coming to you for a long time.

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