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'It was brought in 1986, basically to stop me playing soccer'

It's a little known fact, but back in his youth, former Cork All Ireland winning footballer Billy...



'It was brought in 1986, b...
Soccer

'It was brought in 1986, basically to stop me playing soccer'

It's a little known fact, but back in his youth, former Cork All Ireland winning footballer Billy Morgan was a handy soccer player.

The former Nemo Rangers goalkeeper who represented Cork at intercounty level from the mid-60s to early '80s, briefly lined out for Tramore Athletic and also had trials at Celtic FC where he met the Hoops's iconic manager Jock Stein.

Of course, all this took place with the backdrop of The Ban until 1971.

Tonight, he and Dave Barry, another man who combined soccer and Gaelic football to a high level (as both a player and manager) joined Off The Ball at the Kingsley Hotel in Cork for our Roadshow to talk about their careers in multiple codes and sports.

While the ban was lifted in '71, Cork County Board had other ideas in the mid-80s when they brought in a code of conduct of sorts.

"This was brought in 1986, basically to stop me playing soccer," said Barry very candidly.

"I was in the papers scoring goals with Cork City. There was nobody else playing any other sport. The hurlers weren't playing soccer. I went to training one day and they came up to me and said 'you have to pack up soccer.'" 

He also revealed how he dealt with the ultimatum, while Morgan spoke about how Barry was brought back into the intercounty setup.

Barry also had a few anecdotes about Cork City's famous match against Bayern Munich in 1991, which also saw him clash with fiery Bayern legend Stefan Effenberg.

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