Paddy Purcell has voiced his disappointment at how the awards schemes for the Joe McDonagh Cup were handled this year.
The Joe McDonagh Cup Champion 15 was ditched, with the GAA saying that players from the second tier hurling competition were considered for PwC All Star awards instead.
Purcell was named Joe McDonagh Cup Player of the Year while his teammates Enda Rowland and Jack Kelly were nominated for All Stars.
However, despite it being intended to present Purcell with his award on stage at the recent All Stars banquet, it never came to pass and, instead, he was called up after the meal late that night, long after the live TV show had ended.
Laois boss Eddie Brennan felt it was demeaning for Purcell, pointing out last week that he was treated like “a young lad who doesn’t get a medal at a tournament”.
“Ah sure I was disappointed,” Purcell admitted. “My mother and father were probably disappointed as well. It is what it is. It was disappointing that I didn’t get recognition.
“I’d be more disappointed for the five or six other Laois lads that deserved to be up there as well on the night for the Joe McDonagh team of the year.
“I don’t know why that was ever done away with. It was a separate competition so I think they should definitely have had a team of the year.
“We have a lot of lads there that hurled out of their skin and they don’t get any recognition at the end of the year. It’s disappointing that way.”
As it happens, Purcell, along with Rowland, has been called up as a replacement for the All Stars tour to Abu Dhabi later this month, which may well have been something of an effort to compensate for the oversight at the banquet.
But if he helps steer his club Rathdowney-Errill past St Mullins in tomorrow’s Leinster club semi-final, the trip will clash with the final.
“I’d rather play in a Leinster club final so it’s fairly straightforward for me to be honest,” he added.
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