Seán Óg Ó hAilpín
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Sport | Hurling | ||
| Club(s) | |||
| Years | Club | ||
| Na Piarsaigh | |||
| Inter-county titles | |||
| All Stars | 3 | ||
Seán Óg Ó hAilpín (born 22 May, 1977) is a Irish sportsman. He plays hurling for Cork and was Captain of the team for 2005.
Background
Seán Óg Ó hAilpín was born on the island of Rotuma, 400 miles north of the main Fiji islands in May 1977. He was the first of six children born to Seán Ó hAilpín who is a native of County Fermanagh in Northern Ireland, and his wife, Emilie, a native of Rotuma.
He was the only child of the family to be born on his mother's native island, as the family later moved to Australia. From an early age he showed great accomplishment at various sports, particularly Rugby League in Sydney where the family lived. The Ó hAilpín family moved from Australia to Cork in Ireland in 1988. They rented a house in the city before moving permanently to Blarney.
Playing Career
It was in Ireland that Ó hAilpín discovered the Irish games of hurling and Gaelic football, and he quickly became a member of Na Piarsaigh GAA Club. It was at Na Piarsaigh that his skills at Gaelic Games became apparent. Ó hAilpín was soon a member of the Cork minor hurling team, and he won an under-21 All-Ireland medal with the county in 1995.
In 1999 he became a dual star, a player of both hurling and Gaelic football at senior level. He was a central part of the team that won the All-Ireland Hurling Championship in 1999. Two weeks after that Ó hAilpín played in the final of the All-Ireland Football Championship, however, Cork were defeated on that occasion.
In 2000 he decided to concentrate on hurling over football. A car crash in 2001 almost ended Ó hAilpín's career as his kneecap was severed, however, he overcame this difficulty and fought his way back to fitness. Since then he has gone on to play for Cork in three All-Ireland hurling finals in 2003, 2004 and 2005. After losing in 2003 the team were victorious in 2004 and 2005.
In 2004 Ó hAilpín was named "Player of the Year", and, in 2005, he was appointed captain of the team. In doing so he became the first Na Piarsaigh man to captain a Cork team to victory in an All-Ireland hurling final. Ó hAilpín has also won two county championship medals with the Na Piarsaigh club. His brother, Setanta Ó hAilpín, is a former hurler and is currently a player in the Australian Football League.
In 2005, Seán Óg joined his brother's team, Carlton, during off-season training.
Irish Language
Despite being born in Fiji, Seán is a fluent speaker of the Irish Language. He was lauded for his acceptance speech at the 2004 All-Ireland Hurling Final which he delivered exclusively in Irish.
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