Those expecting another Shane Long had better think again.
Lee Chin’s decision to return to the League of Ireland with his local Wexford Youths has captured the public’s imagination.
Operating at centre-forward, he was undoubtedly the outstanding hurler on Liam Dunne’s Wexford side this year, but with Faythe Harriers (hurling) and Sarsfields (football) out of their respective club championships he was free to take up Shane Keegan’s offer of a short-term stint with the Premier Division side.
You can see why Keegan went seeking Chin.
Last year’s Division 1 champions are in danger of yo-yoing straight back down, so Keegan wants Chin to help in whatever way he can.
The scorer of some spectacular points this year for the Wexford hurlers, those unfamiliar with Chin’s previous incarnation as a Waterford United player may be shocked to hear his aim will not be to add to the 24 goals scored, but rather slow the rate of concession that has seen Youths leak 49 goals in 27 games.
Chin is a defender. By his own accounts a rather uncompromising defender.
“I played right full-back with Waterford United but I think Shane has a plan for me being in more of a central role. We’ll have to see how that pans out. I suspect he might be looking for a bit of a brute in that position and he thought of me,” Chin told Paul Keane in the Irish Examiner.
There you go, the man is a self-confessed brute on the football field. Those expecting another speedy attacker like former Tipperary minor Long may be disappointed, but anyone fearing a permanent change of codes needs to read SportsJOE’s interview with the 23-year-old during the summer.
The Carlow IT student lives for hurling.
“Every day when I wake up the hurl is right in the corner of the room. It’s the first thing I see when I wake up and it’s the last thing I see when I go to sleep,” he told Dion Fanning.
Wexford Youths fans might wish he could bring the hurl out on to the pitch with him, but something tell us the former Wexford intercounty footballer should be plenty brutish all on his own.
We review a crazy All-Ireland final and chat to Lee Keegan about his special relationship with Diarmuid Connolly. Listen below or subscribe here on iTunes.
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