Former Kilkenny hurler John Mulhall says there was never a conversation about his celebration at the Kilkenny homecoming in 2011.
The celebration took place in the Market Yard in Kilkenny City in front of thousands of fans and carried speeches by the city council and Kilkenny county board.
John Mulhall also was also put forward by his teammates to sing a song they had penned about the win over Tipperary.
It included lines about Martin Fogarty being from Comer, TJ Reid’s lack of employment (at the time), it also featured the verse ‘Now we’ve taken back our throne/Tipperary póg mo thóin/Liam McCarthy’s comin’ fuckin’ home”.
Brian Cody could be seen laughing on the stage as the song was sung and he was next to take the microphone where he said “You’ve probably just witnessed a performance by a fella who is probably going to have the shortest inter-county career of all-time”.
That was John’s first and only All-Ireland medal as he departed the Kilkenny panel the following year, many believing that it was the song that led to his downfall.
Speaking on “The Clash Act” which is our GAA podcast last week, Mulhall told Eddie Scally that the “song was in jest and Brian’s comments were in jest too”.
John said his inter-county career was fading during 2011 into 2012 and that he played the league in 2012 and got loads of chances to impress management.
Asked about whether a conversation had happened about the song with management, he said:
“No never never, sure it was 2012, Padraig Walsh was coming, Cillian Buckley was coming, I had got a few chances in the league, you still had Tommy Walsh, all them lads still going well, I was never on the team, I was never a mainstay, I was in the 20 to 24 bracket, or 26 (on the panel), and I got a few chances, didn’t play well enough, and you had five unbelievable lads not on the panel there to come in,” said Mulhall.
“Brian Cody must have been looking at it and he had these fellas on the wings and then he’s watching me foostering over a ball in Walsh Park” he added.
Regarding the song and how it was received by the public, he said “I hear it every day, I was teaching in Dublin post-primary for years after, it’s water off a duck’s back now, I just put on the song if someone asks and have a bit of craic for a minute and that’s it”.
Listen back to the podcast below.
