Tuohy’s wit and wisdom a legend with Trinity boys

FORMER Senator Dr Sean Barrett of Trinity College was president of the university’s soccer club when Liam Tuohy took over as manager in 1975.

The hallowed halls of Trinity were ripe for the acerbic wit of Tuohy, as Sean recalled at Liam’s funeral.

“Liam’s half-time talks were a legend. A first-half of misguided passing was reprimanded with: ‘Hey, lads, they’re dangerous when we have the ball.’

Another time it was: “Keep it simple, lads. Two and two make four – even in a university.”

When once asked why rugby and Gaelic football were more popular than soccer in Irish universities, he replied that “soccer is too simple a game to be understood by students”.

When Hugo MacNeill passed a fitness test prior to the 1979 Collingwood Cup final in which he scored two goals, Liam said after the test: “A rugby player who can head the ball – I don’t believe it.”