Offaly's Simon Whelehan NAME: Simon Whelehan DATE OF BIRTH: 27/7/76 HEIGHT: 5' 7" WEIGHT: 10st CLUB: Birr COUNTY: Offaly HONOURS: Under 12, Under 14 Bord na Scoil; Under 21 Championship; 1 Senior Hurling Championship medal; 1 Leinster Club medal; 1 All-Ireland Club medal INTER COUNTY DEBUT: Offaly Under 16, Offaly Minor 1994 v Wexford TOUGHEST OPPONENT: Thomas Dunne, Wexford FAVOURITE GROUNDS: Croke Park, Nowlan Park OTHER SPORTING INTERESTS: Soccer - we won Sheeran Cup medal with Birr Town FC, football, basketball FAVOURITE POSITION: Left half back BOYHOOD HEROES: Ger Coughlan (Offaly), Eanna Ryan (Galway), Johnny Flaherty (Offaly) FAVOURITE PLAYERS: Johnny Pilkington (Offaly), Brian Whelehan (Offaly), DJ Carey (Kilkenny), Brian Corcoran (Cork) BIGGEST INFLUENCE ON CAREER: Bro. Vincent, Tony Sampson, PJ Whelehan THE HIGH POINT OF YOUR CAREER TO DATE: All-Ireland Club Final (replay) OTHER PLAYERS WITH A PROMISING FUTURE: Paudie Mulhare (Banagher), Barry Whelan (Birr), Gary Hanniffy (Birr) WAYS OF IMPROVING THE GAME: A drier sod. To improve the game hurling should be played between March and October DISLIKES ABOUT THE GAA: Winter hurling HOPES FOR 1995: To make the Offaly team or panel HAVE YOU FELT ANY PRESSURE FOLLOWING IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF A FAMOUS FATHER AND EVEN MORE FAMOUS BROTHER? Yes. People say that I will never be as good as them WAS BRIAN DISAPPOINTED TO HAVE BEEN IGNORED FOR THE ALL STARS? Yes, he was disappointed because he won every other award that year and it just goes to show you the mistakes that were made by leaving out Offaly's two best hurlers, Brian and Johnny Pilkington WHAT WAS IT LIKE TO WIN AN ALL-IRELAND WITH YOUR CLUB? It was a great honour for me because I was the youngest player on the team. And it was great for the town of Birr Taken from Hogan Stand magazine 5th May 1995 Vol 5 No 18 Tweet

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