Gahan pays tribute to ‘Sully’
AVONDALE captain Paul Gahan might have believed that his struggles were over after the final whistle on Sunday afternoon in Joule Park Aughrim but he had yet to take on that enemy of the microphone in the county grounds: feedback.
A weaker man might have folded under the pressure of delivering a captain’s speech while being besieged by a wailing scream of feedback through the microphone, but Gahan has a touch of class about him and after battling with the equipment for a few minutes he rid himself of the mic and let his manly voice soar across the Aughrim breeze.
‘To Arklow Rocks, you are great rivals of Avondale, and there’s very little you need to hear from an Avondale man. You’ve great youth coming through and if you keep putting in the hard work that ye are doing you’ll be back here next year. You have wonderful youth coming through and I wish you the very best in the future,’ he said.
‘To Avondale, firstly the three wise men, Sully (Emmet O’Sullivan), Seamus and Lenny, lads I won’t be able to thank yous enough for the hard work ye have done this year. Sully, you came to us when we were in trouble and that’s no secret.
‘We had struggled in recent years where we didn’t have the boost of youth teams coming through to support the adult teams up until now and you stuck by us every step of the way. It’s because of your hard work, dedication and commitment that we are here today, and I want to thank you very much for that,’ he said.
Paul Gahan then addressed his comrades out on the field.
‘To you boys, lads, each and every one of you have worked so hard all year to get here today, and each of ye have played a part in winning this championship. At the end of the day we play hurling for the love of the game and we do it for ourselves, for each other, for our friends, family, wives, girlfriends, but most of all we do it for Avondale,’ he said.