give him a ball and a yard of grass...



The Wexford U21 hurlers eventually got over Offaly in the Leinster Semi-Final thanks to a much improved second half performance.

Some passages of play in the 2nd half were described in some quarters as "Samba Hurling", specifically
the goal that came about from Kevin Foley's knock down and Conor McDonald's deft little pass off the hurley to goal scorer, Cathal Dunbar. See video below.

A truly fantastic lead up to a goal - one of the best ever seen. 

I was listening to the radio in the car the next day when a Sultans of Ping song came on the radio - "Give him a Ball (And a Yard of Grass)". 

I originally thought the song was about Gerge Best but googled it and found that they were quotes attributed to Brian Clough.

Listening to the lyrics, it fit perfectly in my head with that goal. I got home and started doodling up a couple of ideas. I decided to focus on a comic strip, drawing it up roughly first.

It's then that I usually try to tidy drawings up, but I liked the rough sketch aspect to it and also had time constraints so I did something similar in the final version before adding colour in photoshop.

The fact that Wexford went on to claim the title then with a complete destruction of Kilkenny added to the Samba Hurling description even more.

Download free Hi-Res image below of the Hurler on the Ditch for you to print off at home -

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