Darragh McCarthy Cheekily Blames Tipp Boss Cahill For Early Sub In Hurling For Cancer Game

The stars were out on Monday night, as greats from the GAA and beyond came together to raise vitally needed funds in the Hurling for Cancer game in Carlow.

A hugely popular staple on the Gaelic games calendar drew a big crowd to Netwatch Cullen Park, with players past and present lining out in the fundraising game in aid of cancer research.

TJ Reid, Patrick Horgan, Joe Canning and dozens more were in action, while the likes of Brian Cody, Cyril Farrell, Niall Quinn, and John Kiely took up off-pitch roles.

There was also heavy representation from All-Ireland champions Tipperary.

Noel McGrath, Jake Morris, Andrew Ormond, Alan Tynan, and Brendan Maher all took to the field for Davy Russell's Best, while Liam Cahill was joint-manager alongside Brian Cody.

Tipp fans may have been somewhat surprised to see Darragh McCarthy taken off just after the ten-minute mark, having started at corner-forward.

McCarthy was replaced early on, despite having scored 0-02 in the opening stages of the game.

The 19-year-old superstar spoke to Balls.ie pitchside and revealed the hilarious reason Liam Cahill had given for subbing him off.

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Darragh McCarthy was one of the stars of Tipperary's All-Ireland-winning campaign, but his game time was limited at Monday's Hurling for Cancer game.

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The youngster joked to Balls.ie that his inter-county boss, Liam Cahill, had cited a "fitness" issue as the reason for taking him off.

Liam said fitness levels had to be worked on!

So, I'm disappointed with that but I just have to take it on the chin now and work on it!

As he spoke to Balls, McCarthy was in high demand for autographs from fans.

It was a brilliant evening in Carlow, with thousands of fans packed into the stands at Netwatch Cullen Park.

"It's such a good occasion," McCarthy said.

"It's nice to go out and play a hurling game and it's laid back, you actually enjoy it," McCarthy said.

"You enjoy your hurling rather than being so tense. It's such a great occasion, this is what it's all about."

It was a hectic season for the Toomevara man.

The year began with a first-minute red card against Cork in the Munster championship and ended with a flawless corner-forward display against the same opposition in the All-Ireland final.

In between, there was another (far more contentious) dismissal against Kilkenny. McCarthy admitted he had needed serious "resilience" to push on from those setbacks but, ultimately, the year ended exactly as he and Tipperary had hoped.

I've gotten over it all now.

That's the joys of sport, the ups and downs. You have to just take all the positives and take it on the chin.

The big thing was learning from it all - well, I didn't learn from the first one, but I learned eventually! That's what it's all about.

That resilience kicked in towards the end. Thank God we got over the line.

[Liam MacCarthy] was the plan at the start of the year. Thank God it's back!

Hurling for Cancer was a tremendous success on Monday evening, once again uniting the GAA family in the name of raising funds for a vitally important cause.