NAME: Christy Helebert DATE OF BIRTH: 1/9/71 HEIGHT: 6ft 3" WEIGHT: 13st 9lbs CLUB: Ballindereen COUNTY: Galway HONOURS: 1 All-Ireland Under 21 INTER-COUNTY DEBUT: 26th July, 1992 PLACE OF EMPLOYMENT: O'Malley Construction TOUGHEST OPPONENT: Tomas Mulcahy FAVOURITE GROUNDS: Ennis FAVOURITE POSITION: Centre back DO YOU PLAY ANY OTHER SPORTS? Golf BEST GAME SEEN: Galway and Tipp League Final 1989 PLAYERS WITH A PROMISING FUTURE: Brian Corcoran (Cork) YOU SHOT TO NATIONAL PROMINENCE WITH YOUR DISPLAY AGAINST EAMONN MORRISSEY IN THE ALL-IRELAND SEMI-FINAL GAME. HOW DO YOU RATE THE KILKENNY ATTACKER? A very good player, but if you give a forward space he is going to look good which is what happened against Wexford. I was given a man to man job of marking him and was pleased with my display WERE YOU ON THE GALWAY UNDER 21 ALL-IRELAND WINNING TEAM LAST YEAR? Last year everything went right for us. We played Cork in a thriller in the semi final, conceded 4 goals but never panicked. In the final we played a highly rated Offaly team and this was a one-sided affair after 20 minutes. I rate this team to be the best underage bunch to come out of Galway for years YOUR BROTHER TOM PLAYED RIGHT HALF BACK AGAINST KILKENNY: He came on to the scene at 18 years of age, the reason being because he was around when you had the half back line of Kendy, Mac and Finnerty at their peak WAS THAT YOUR FIRST GAME IN CROKE PARK? I played there as a minor in 1989. A great experience to play in Croke Park on a team with such household names TELL US ABOUT YOUR CLUB: We are a senior club established since 1894. We have get to win a county senior cup, the closest we came was in 1978 when our neighbours Ardrahan beat us in a replay. We have one junior and one minor title to our name FORMER GALWAY GREAT NOEL LANE ALSO PLAYS FOR BALLINDEREEN: Noel was a great servant for Galway hurling. He has won every honour in the game. He is still playing club hurling, even if he has a bad back HOWEVER, NOEL TRAINED AN OPPOSING TEAM IN THIS YEAR'S GALWAY SHC: He trained Loughrea and was drawn in our group. He didn't play with us on the day, I don't know if it was the correct decision, because the club should always come first IS THERE ANY FOOTBALL PLAYED IN YOUR PART OF GALWAY? No MANAGER JARLATH CLOONAN CAME IN FOR A LOT OF CRITICISM FOLLOWING THE KILKENNY GAME FOR SOME STRANGE POSITIONAL DECISIONS. WAS THE CRITICISM JUSTIFIED? At the end of the day there was a lot of pressure on the management with the young team they put out. It was experience for both player and management and I think they will have learned a lot from this year YOUR VIEWS ON THE GALWAY MANAGER: I came through the 21 campaign last year with him and have no faults with him. He doesn't mind a player enjoying himself once it's in a disciplined fashion HAD YOU ANY EXPERIENCE UNDER PREVIOUS MANAGER CYRIL FARRELL: Never THIS IS A VERY YOUNG, TALENTED GALWAY TEAM, ONE TIPPED TO WIN AN ALL-IRELAND IN THE NEAR FUTURE. ARE THE GALWAY PLAYERS CONFIDENT OF FOLLOWING IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF THE MEN OF '87/'88? We feel that there are two or three more under 21s knocking on the door, and when these blend in with the experienced guys, there will be an All-Ireland there within a year or two THE KILKENNY ATTACK LOOKED VERY ORDINARY IN THE GALWAY GAME. ARE THEY AS GOOD AS THE CORK ATTACK? Their attack doesn't change their style of play whereas Cork are playing the ball back and forth, plus their forwards are always changing positions and it's hard enough to keep an eye on them WAS IT HARD ON THE GALWAY PLAYERS GOING STRAIGHT IN AGAINST TOP CLASS OPPOSITION LIKE KILKENNY WITHOUT ANY PREVIOUS WORTHWHILE COMPETITION? When you think that Kilkenny had gone through a Leinster Championship and for us to run them so close, I think of the advantage another game would have done WHO WILL WIN THE CORK-KILKENNY ALL-IRELAND? At the end of the day when the pressure is on, Cork will come out on top. For Cork the difference between victory and defeat is their tenacity and determination in harassing, blocking and chasing everything that moves Taken from Hogan Stand magazine 28th August 1992 Vol 2 No 70 Tweet

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