Michael Carton deals with life and death in his day job, so he appreciates that hurling is essentially just a game.

The O'Toole's clubman, who works as a firefighter, will give of his all against Laois in Portlaoise on Saturday night but accepts that it won't be the end of the world if Dublin make a premature exit from the hurling championship.

"The job I'm in puts hurling in perspective, absolutely," the Dubs full back tells The Irish Examiner. "Sure, if you're going from someone dying or needing CPR on them and then you're trying to compare it to a championship match, there's obviously no comparison. I just go out and enjoy myself when I'm playing.

"You're going to come across fatalities in the job I'm in. So I do find it's a bit of freedom when you go out across the white line and you get to forget about everything else.

"The lads in the station are brilliant for chatting and dealing with the stuff we encounter. You're never on your own which, in that sense, is a lot like being part of a hurling team."

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