Christy Jacob

Christy Jacob (born 1944 in Oulart, County Wexford) is a retired Irish sportsperson. He played hurling with his local club Oulart-the Ballagh and with the Wexford senior inter-county team from 1966 until 1973.

Playing career

Club

Jacob played his club hurling with his local Oulart-the Ballagh club.^[1] In spite of competing in a number of county finals throughout the 1970s and early he never won a senior county title with the club.

Inter-county

Jacob first came to prominence on the inter-county scene on the Wexford under-21 hurling team in the 1960s. He won a Leinster title in this grade in 1964 before later lining out in his first All-Ireland final. Tipperary provided the opposition on that occasion and went on to claim an impressive 8-9 to 3-1 victory. Jacob won a second Leinster under-21 medal in 1965 before lining out in a second All-Ireland final. Tipp were the opponents once again, however, on this occasion the result was reversed as Jacob won an All-Ireland medal following a 3-7 to 1-4 win.

Jacob later made his debut with the Wexford senior team in 1966, however, his side were outclassed in Leinster for the next dew years. In 1967 Jacob tasted his first major success when he won a National Hurling League medal. Unfortunately, this success was not converted into success in the championship.

1968 began well with Jacob winning his first Leinster medal. Kilkenny, the reigning All-Ireland champions, were defeated in the provincial decider on a score line of 3-13 to 4-9. For the fourth time of the decade Wexford subsequently faced Tipperary in the All-Ireland final with the Munster men leading by two victories to one. At half-time it looked as if Tipp were cruising to another victory as they took an eight point lead. Just after the restart Jacob scored a goal but it was disallowed before Tony Doran scored a goal after just six minutes. Tipp fought back; however, it was too late as Wexford won by 5-8 to 3-12.^[2] It was Jacob’s first All-Ireland medal.

The next few years saw Jacob finding it difficult to maintain his position on the starting fifteen. He played in the Leinster finals of 1971 and 1973; however, Kilkenny won five provincial titles in-a-row between 1971 and 1975. Jacob retired from inter-county hurling shortly after the 1973 defeat.

References