Former dual star David Herity says playing football in Kilkenny like serving in the army

The retired dual star reckons he's a better footballer than he is a hurler

Ex-Kilkenny goalkeeper David Herity won four All-Ireland's under Brian Cody, but has also served his time in football.

The retired dual star reckons he's a better footballer than he is a hurler, but has opened up on what life is like playing the black and amber's forgotten sport.

Now the Kildare hurling manager, Herity likened representing the county's footballers to serving in the military.

“Playing minor football was just a joke. One year it was something like 9-28 to a point against Westmeath,: he told the Irish Sun.

“I remember being on the bench hoping it would get to 9-30 so people would mistake it for a time when they saw the result.

“We played in the 2006 Tommy Murphy Cup and before we played Antrim we only had 14 players.

"We lifted two young lads having pints in a pub in Casltecomer. I scored 1-4, but we lost 2-23 to 1-8. It was a low point.

“I always loved football because it gave me a chance to get out the field, and I would like to think I’m a better football player than a hurler! I just loved it, that freedom of being out the field.

“We were putting a team together for the 2008 National League for the first time in years and I was asked to be captain.

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"I think I scored 3-2 in the whole Division 4 campaign, and I was thrilled.

“We played Antrim one night and a few hours before the game we had a full three-course meal — a turkey and ham dinner that King Henry VIII wouldn’t have had — with pavlova and cream for desert.

“We scoffed the lot, and lost 2-26 to 0-6. Then Wicklow hammered the s***e out of us, 2-34 to 0-5.”

He added: “Kilkenny football was like the Irish Army, you went and served your time and you went off again.”

Kilkenny no longer compete at senior level, but Herity does recall one famous day with the county's footballers.

He added: “We played London the same day the hurlers were playing Tipperary in the NHL semi-final.

“We won 2-13 to 0-15 and Tipp won the hurling match 1-15 to 1-10. It was an incredible day, and Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh famously said afterwards when would we ever see Kilkenny footballers winning on the same day the hurlers lost.

"But when London came back over for the Tommy Murphy Cup that summer, they destroyed us 4-13 to 0-8."

In 2015, herity returned to the footballers and won a British Junior Championship with the big ball.

And although the sport is likely to always be in hurling's shadow, key figures such as DJ Carey, Tom Reilly and Christy Walsh have seen football make encouraging strides in recent years.