Seán Óg Ó hAilpín

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Seán Óg Ó hAilpín

Personal information
Sport	Hurling
Date of Birth	22 May 1977
Place of birth	Rotuma, Fiji
Height	6'2"
Nickname(s)	Ogie
Club information
Club	Na Piarsaigh
Position	Wing-back
Club(s)*
Club	Years	Apps (scores)
Inter County
County	Cork
Position	Left wing-back
Inter County(ies)**
County	Years	Apps (scores)
Cork	1996-	36 (0-2)
Inter County Titles
Munster Titles	5 Hurling 1 Football
All-Ireland	3
All-Stars	3
* club appearances and scores correct as of . **Inter County team apps and scores correct as of August 2006.

Seán Óg Ó hAilpín (born 22 May 1977) is an Irish sportsman. He plays hurling for Cork and was Captain of the team for 2005.

Contents 1 Background 2 Playing career 3 Irish Language 4 External links

[edit] 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. Seán is a graduate of Dublin City University.

[edit] 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 four consecutive All-Ireland hurling finals in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006. 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. The 2006 Championship, ended with defeat for Cork and Ó hAilpín in the final against Kilkenny. Earlier in the season Cork won the Munster Championship, with Ó hAilpín claiming a fifth winners medal.

[edit] 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 2005 All-Ireland Hurling Final which he delivered exclusively in Irish.

Preceded by J.J. Delaney (Kilkenny)	Vodafone Hurler of the Year 2004	Succeeded by Jerry O'Connor (Cork)
	Gaelic Players' Association Hurler of the Year 2004	Succeeded by John Gardiner (Cork)
	Texaco Hurler of the Year 2004	Succeeded by Jerry O'Connor (Cork)
Preceded by Ben O'Connor	Cork Senior Hurling Captain 2005	Succeeded by Pat Mulcahy
Preceded by Ben O'Connor (Cork)	All-Ireland Hurling Final winning captain 2005	Succeeded by Jackie Tyrell (Kilkenny)

[edit] External links

• Official GAA Website
• Cork GAA

	Cork - All-Ireland Hurling Champions 1999
1 D. Óg Cusack | 2 F. Ryan | 3 D. O'Sullivan | 4 J. Browne | 5 W. Sherlock | 6 B. Corcoran | 7 S. Óg Ó hAilpín | 8 M. O'Connell | 9 M. Landers | 10 T. McCarthy | 11 F. McCormack | 12 N. Ronan | 13 B. O'Connor | 14 J. Deane | 15 S. McGrath | Subs: A. Browne | K. Murray | Manager: J. Barry-Murphy

	Cork - All-Ireland Hurling Champions 2004
1 D. Óg Cusack | 2 W. Sherlock | 3 D. O'Sullivan | 4 B. Murphy | 5 J. Gardiner | 6 R. Curran | 7 S. Óg Ó hAilpín | 8 J. O'Connor | 9 T. Kenny | 10 B. O'Connor | 11 N. McCarthy | 12 T. McCarthy | 13 K. Murphy | 14 B. Corcoran | 15 J. Deane | Subs: J. Browne | Manager: Donal O'Grady

	Cork - All-Ireland Hurling Champions 2005
1 D. Óg Cusack | 2 P. Mulcahy | 3 D. O'Sullivan | 4 B. Murphy | 5 J. Gardiner | 6 R. Curran | 7 S. Óg Ó hAilpín (Capt.) | 8 T. Kenny | 9 J. O'Connor | 10 B. O'Connor | 11 N. McCarthy | 12 T. McCarthy | 13 K. Murphy | 14 B. Corcoran | 15 J. Deane | Subs: N. Ronan | K. Murphy | Manager: J. Allen

	Cork Senior Hurling Team 2006
1 D. Óg Cusack | 2 B. Murphy | 3 D. O'Sullivan | 4 P. Mulcahy (Capt.) | 5 J. Gardiner | 6 R. Curran | 7 S. Óg Ó hAilpín | 8 T. Kenny | 9 J. O'Connor | 10 T. McCarthy | 11 N. McCarthy | 12 N. Ronan | 13 B. O'Connor | 14 B. Corcoran | 15 J. Deane | 16 M. Coleman | 17 W. Sherlock | 18 C. O'Connor | 19 P. Kelly | 20 K. Hartnett | 21 K. Murphy | 22 C. Naughton | 23 C. Cusack | 24 P. Cronin | 25 A. Nash | 26 K. Murphy | 27 S. O'Neill | 28 C. McGann | 29 K. Cronin | Manager: J. Allen