by Enda McEvoy Christy Heffernan? A familiar figure. He could have retired after the 1982 All-Ireland final and people would still remember the big redhead whose two goals in a minute helped Kilkenny wipe out Cork. And DJ Carey - well, you'd have had to winter in Samarkand to avoid hearing all about the young man who's being touted as hurling's newest superstar. But there is another forward in Kilkenny who may yet catch up on these two in the publicity stakes, may even go on to greater glory in the 1990s. Eamon Morrissey has actually been more consistently valuable to the Black and Amber over the past 18 months than either Heffernan or Carey. On Sunday he gets another chance to show why. Martin Quigley will tell you, publicly, that there isn't any one Kilkennyman he fears over and above the other. If, in private, he admitted that Eamon Morrissey was a particular threat, that blotting him out would be a major plus for Wexford's gamepan, you'd probably forgive him - no county has been tormented by Morrissey more than the Slaneysiders. Most notable instance was the Royal Liver NHL Home final of last year. The St. Martin's clubman hit 2-3, was named man of the match, and went on to take the All Star award for right corner forward. Then there was his first half goal against Wexford in this year's league semi final; Kilkenny attacked down the left, Christy roamed outfield to first time a ground ball inside, and Morrissey picked up, rounded his man and snapped the rebound to the Canal End net after Ted Morrissey (definitely no relation) blocked his first effort. Wexford dominated the Thurles replay, and should have won by a lot more than five points. Probably would have were it not for Eamon Morrissey, the only Kilkenny forward to raise any sort of gallop. He hit three points from play, smacked home that low long-range free when moved out to the half forward line, and with decent support might have energised the losers into an admittedly undeserving matchsaving rally. All in all, it's not hard to see why the Dublin-based quantity surveyor has achieved arguably more than any other Kilkenny player in recent months. And why, when Morrissey injured his shoulder in a club game against Clara earlier this month, the general reaction from the local faithful was "oh no ... will he be okay for the Wexford game?" He should be. The week's postponement has seen to that. Dr. Pat O'Neill of Dublin football fame (his father came from Kilkenny, incidentally) diagnosed the cartilage on the bone had sheared off, though the shoulder clicked back into place on its own. Rest was the only cure. Assuming he's there all right on Sunday, the match will be only his second senior championship outing - unusual for a 25 year old All Star. Unusually also, in comparison with the likes of Carey and Adrian Ronan, he doesn't come jingling a pocketful of underage medals. The man from Radestown was not a brilliant minor. Unlike so many brilliant minors, however, he didn't sink without trace in later years, or pack in the demands of hurling for the delights of horses, women or drink! A sub on the county minor team that lost a thrilling All-Ireland replay to Limerick in Thurles in centenary year, he was a loser again the following year in the under 21 final when Tipperary beat Kilkenny by a point in Waterford. Two further years on the under 21 team failed to bring even a provincial medal. After 1987, he might have disappeared from the scene; with a less successful club he could well have. But St. Martin's have long been hardy annuals on the Kilkenny senior hurling circuit, and if they never quite recaptured the momentum that brought them the county titles in 1984 and the national club crown against Castlegar and the Connollys the spring afterwards (Eamon came on as a sub as Martin's won in a replay), the men from Coon, Muckalee and Ballyfoyle remained regular contenders. Diarmuid Healy, scratching around for new talent after Kilkenny's defeat by Offaly in the 1989 Leinster decider, liked what he saw. "Eamonn had skill and could score," he puts it simply. "When he got the ball he knew where the posts were. We saw him as an opportunist corner-forward - which he's proved to be in no uncertain terms. "He mightn't have shone at underage level, but lads don't have to ... it's whether they're still playing at 21 or 22 that's important. Eamon had the strength, he had everything. We first tried him in a challenge against Laois in Camross two summers ago, then brought him on as a sub in the league up in Casement Park that autumn. And he hasn't looked back since." That verdict tells a good deal about Eamon Morrissey. The incidental details reveal a bit more (trivia fans ahoy!): six feet tall and 13 stone in weight. Family live a couple of miles outside Kilkenny city. Third of six children (five boys, one girl). Childhood hero was Eddie Keher. Learned his hurling in St. John's NS and St. Kierans. Appeared, despite injury, in the All-Ireland colleges final of 1984 only to be defeated by Mark Foley's St. Finbarr's, Farranferris. And there you have it ... The most revealing statistic in all of that is the height/weight. Eamon Morrissey is no shrinking violet; he's big enough, strong enough and fast enough to take care of himself - strikes one more as a wing forward than the archetypal corner forward, in fact. Throw in a hard shot and that awareness of "where the posts are", and you've got an attacker of considerable substance. They call him "Yummy". A win for Kilkenny on Sunday, and maybe a first Leinster senior hurling medal next month, would certainly be a delicious prospect, wouldn't it? Taken from Hogan Stand magazine 20th June 1991 Tweet

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