‘I would do it all over again’

One of the real signs that a sportsperson has made it at local, national or international level is that the mere mention of a Christian name immediately identifies him or her.

Accordingly, there is only one ‘Eoiny’ in Westmeath, and when Eoin Price announced his retirement on November 28 last after captaining Westmeath to a Joe McDonagh Cup win against Carlow, it was an undoubted blow to the Lake County management and fans, especially as the game also marked the last appearance in maroon and white of his fellow-Clonkill man, Brendan Murtagh (“one of my closest friends and a man fit to hurl with the best in Ireland”).

Eoin (32), a primary school teacher in the impressive new Holy Family NS in Curraghmore, is a full six years younger than Brendan, but the demands of the modern game, allied to family commitments to his wife Caroline and their three sons, Tadhg (four), Peadar (two) and Eoin Óg (eight months), has led him to the decision to hang up the hurley he used so majestically for his county since breaking on to the inter-county scene as a teenager.

“I won’t be 33 until August, but it seems like I have been hurling with Westmeath for an awful long time,” Eoin states, before adding, “in 2006, I was an unused sub goalie under Seamus Qualter and I’ve played in every line of the pitch since, but most of the time at midfield.

“The biggest reason that I am retiring is the demands. Ironically, with Covid restrictions you can train in your own time and it’s an awful lot easier. The body definitely would be able to keep going, but I knew I had lost some of the motivation that other lads seemed to have,” he explains.

“I’d rather just be with the club where the demands on my time are manageable. Caroline said, ‘if you want to keep going, keep going’, and she and my mother (Dympna) have been very supportive. I can’t thank them enough for their support over the years. But the children are only young once and I don’t like being away for weekends.”

He continues: “I’ve had a few injuries, and they weren’t nice, but they are not the main factor in my retirement. The changes over the years, even in the last decade, have been huge.

“When I started, phones were only getting big and you would get a text message to say when training was on. And you just went training. There was no WhatsApp, no Zoom calls, no video analysis, no GPS trackers, and the manager was the person you listened to.

“Nowadays, you are answering to nutritionists, psychologists, strength and conditioning people, coaches - you are constantly on call, 24/7. It’s almost an invasion of privacy.

“I don’t know what way it is going to go in the future. A big part of the early days would have been socialising with a few harmless drinks after games or when we were overnighting in the likes of Kerry. That side of it seems to have nearly fizzled out, as you are straight into a recovery session after a game. When you’d get to the club scene after the inter-county championship finished in June and July, you’d feel a weight off your shoulders.

“The ‘off switch’ is nearly gone now, but I still hope that the GAA never goes down the professional route. I agree with John Connellan’s recent open letter and I’ve met very few who disagree with him about the areas of money and sponsorship.

“It’s worrying enough what is happening. You will see a drop-off. Gaelic games at inter-county level are losing a lot of the fun. Players will finish younger and younger,” he reflects.

The life of a modern hurler is a far cry from his innocent days growing up in Clonkill. Eoin takes over: “I fell in love with the whole simplicity of it in the early days. Pat O’Toole would collect a whole load of Prices, Dowdalls and others. We went to training and games wearing no seat belts, with lads hanging out the window, and Pat would bring you to the shop afterwards. That’s where your grassroots are. I fell in love with that whole environment.” He later played on the same Clonkill and Westmeath teams as his brothers, Adam and Anthony (“the most talented hurler of the three of us”).

Eoin went on to win eight Westmeath Examiner Cup medals, the most recent after an extra-time victory in the titanic final against Castletown-Geoghegan last October, and one Flanagan Cup medal in 2013 with St Loman’s, Mullingar. In the latter regard, Eoin opines: “With football, I could take it or leave it. Clonkill had lost a county semi-final to St Oliver Plunkett’s that year and I am very grateful to have that county football medal.”

However, it is an inter-county player that he made his name, not just in Westmeath but much further afield, as evidenced by the honour accorded to him of captaining the Irish international shinty team.

“I stayed with Michael Rice from Kilkenny on one of the shinty trips, and we are still in touch,” Eoin states. “Also, the likes of Tipp’s Seamus Callanan and a player I hugely admire, another Kilkenny man, Tommy Walsh. It was great to get to rub shoulders with them. The shinty is a huge memory. I was very, very fortunate, and the jerseys are great souvenirs to have.”

Also, despite being quite a late entrant to third-level education at the age of 23, Eoin enjoyed his time in St Patrick’s and playing Fitzgibbon Cup with the Drumcondra college.

When asked whether he would prefer being in Division 1 with the target of ‘occasionally rattling a top team’, or in a lesser division ‘actually winning games’, Eoin responded: “I think you would get a 50/50 answer from lads in the Westmeath panel to that question. I loved the Leinster championship and the big Qualifiers in TEG Cusack Park, against Galway in particular. When you’d have the chip van outside and people selling stuff, you would hear the buzz of the crowd. And we tended to hurl very well against the big teams.

“Winning isn’t the be-all and end-all. It’s every young lad’s dream to play in Croke Park. I remember playing at half-time in a kids’ match and, even then, I loved the whole experience.

“Realistically, there is quite a big gap between ourselves and teams like Wexford, and then another gap to the likes of Limerick. Even though we haven’t managed to win it yet, the Joe McDonagh Cup is great with the carrot of a final in Croke Park and then playing a big team in the Qualifiers. You have the best of both worlds.

“It’s very hard to see a county making that breakthrough like Offaly did in 1980. It would take an awful lot of things to happen at the same time for Westmeath to get to the elite level,” he adds.

Indeed, Eoin can easily list the games he has played in Croke Park – including, of course, as goalkeeper in Clonkill’s never-to-be-forgotten All-Ireland intermediate final win in February 2008 – and his gratitude was compounded when one of Laois’ most prominent players, Ross King, told him that his first match at GAA headquarters was the 2019 Joe McDonagh Cup decider in which the O’Moore County defeated Joe Quaid’s Westmeath.

The previous year saw Eoin and co lose out to Carlow in the first final of the new tier two competition. Michael Ryan was bainisteoir then and Eoin is full of praise for the Waterford man: “Michael was a fierce character and he had a way of keeping players calm before big games. He had a huge impact on that group and was there the longest in my time, while a good few managers came and went.

“Michael Walsh came with him. It was hurling all the way, and nothing was done without a ball in your hand. I missed out a bit when the two Michaels were around because I was being pulled everywhere due to study and family commitments. I would love to have played against Tipperary in Semple Stadium in 2017.”

Eoin, who had a lot of respect for Kevin Martin when he managed Westmeath to his second Christy Ring Cup medal in 2010, also lauds the current Lake County manager Shane O’Brien.

“He is brilliant and had me as captain in my last year. I got a lovely letter from him when I quit. It was a lovely touch. He has great man management skills. He was very unlucky late last year as the group was all over the place with Covid. I am expecting big things down the line with Shane,” he stated.

Players from the first two Joe McDonagh Cup champions spring to mind when asked to name his most difficult opponents: “Richie Coady, both with Carlow and Mount Leinster Rangers, was always tough. I dreaded the drive to Carlow, we were there so often. They got to an All-Ireland club final ‘proper’ and my biggest regret with Clonkill is that we didn’t beat Tullamore in 2009 to get to a Leinster final. Also, Cahir Healy from Laois was as tough as they come. He had a vice-like grip on my jersey all through, every time we played them.”

Not only have the preparations and post-match routines changed during Eoin’s time as an inter-county hurler, but he feels that many aspects of the game itself have altered.

“I feel hurling is not as exciting as it used to be with systems coming more into play. There are a lot of rucks in the game now,” he explained. “Frank Flannery spent a huge amount of his time with us honing in on winning ruck ball.

“It is not good for spectators – there is very little space anymore and lads are so physically conditioned at a young age. You could make changes to the game like increasing the value of a goal, or awarding two points for a sideline cut, but this would not help at club level.

“The game is constantly evolving with sweepers and the like, but the current Limerick team have a near-perfect mix for any type of a contest.”

In conclusion, Eoin states: “Memories are very important. As a Westmeath hurler, I wasn’t gathering a huge amount of medals. But I’d do it all over again. The structure it gave to my life was huge.

“Some people would have said to me, ‘you have no life’, but come the winter when you’d be over-indulging in food, you’d be mad to get back to it! I was happier when I was hurling.”

And all Westmeath Gaels were happier when Eoiny Price’s name was on the team sheet. Undoubtedly, they will wish him prosperity, health, and happiness in his retirement from the inter-county scene.

– Gerry Buckley