Michael Verney
Thu 11 Jul 2024 at 02:30

When your second name is Bond, you are usually the one coming to other people’s rescue, but former Offaly hurling messiah Michael Bond is looking for your help while he is “still kicking”.
Bond, who famously led Offaly to All-Ireland glory in 1998, has been battling Cardiac AL Amyloidosis for the past three years and the Galway native is keen to raise awareness about the rare and incurable disease which can attack various organs, and is often undetected before it is too late.

Loughrea Golf Club is the place to be this week with a Champagne Classic taking place for seven days – it concludes this Sunday – where all funds raised will go to Amyloidosis Research and Awareness.

Bond has already been through two six-month bouts of chemotherapy and will continue treatment for the rest of his life but it is his mission to help others with the condition and sizeable donations and contributions have been flying in from all around the country.

Offaly chairman Michael Duignan has even guaranteed him four All-Ireland SHC final tickets as a prize and that has certainly drawn more interest from Cork and Clare supporters after a thrilling weekend of semi-final action.

Limerick’s ‘drive for five’ went up in smoke but Bond believes that their extraordinary efforts since first climbing the mountain in 2018 took their toll.

“I was surprised that Limerick didn’t seem to have the legs for Cork but they’re on the go the last six years non-stop. Limerick have been going at a helter-skelter pace and their first touch has always been brilliant, but it was off the other day,” Bond says.

“I don’t know if that was the pressure from Cork but that doesn’t normally happen to them. The body of the amateur player does get weaker after a few years, though. They’re all human and they all have jobs, despite the so-called sponsorship that teams get, they still have to go to work in the morning and all of that takes its toll too.”

As for the final, Bond reckons that much depends on Clare captain Tony Kelly and he feels that a dazzling display is brewing in the Ballyea wizard ahead of the biggest game of the year.

“Tony Kelly really came on the scene at the end against Kilkenny. People were saying, ‘Oh he’s off form’ but when you’re injured, it takes such a long time to come back, physically and psychologically. If Tony Kelly comes up to the Tony Kelly that we had a few years ago, then it will be an absolute cracker.”

As an adopted son of the Faithful, Bond took immense satisfaction in Offaly’s recent All-Ireland U-20 success and he feels that their throwback style, and the influence of iconic midfielder Johnny Pilkington as selector was to the fore for Leo O’Connor’s side.

“Anyone that wants to know how the game of hurling should be played, they should watch that game again and I’ve watched it back twice since,” Bond says of their victory against Tipperary.

“They’re young so they should be minded to a certain degree and then filtered into the senior team. I could see Johnny P’s stamp on them, I know he wasn’t the manager but that was the way he played. He could be clearing a ball at wing-back one minute and scoring a goal in the full-forward line the next. If I wanted rucks, mauls and scrums, I’d watch rugby and that’s what made Cork and Limerick so enjoyable as well, it was how hurling should be played.”

​As for Offaly, Bond is delighted to see them back in the big time for 2025 but he fears for the promotion of the game and he feels that more must be done to get as many counties as possible up to elite level.

“The number of teams that can win the All-Ireland is so few so we need to promote, promote, promote. There was a disservice done to the Offaly 1998 team at the All-Ireland last year being brought out when there wasn’t a tenth of the house full,” he says.

“Everything should be done to promote the game because it is an extraordinary game and I wish other counties would do what Offaly are doing, and it doesn’t take huge amounts of money.

“What it takes is a 20-year plan where every youngster in all of Ireland would get a hurley and a helmet at the age of four and a half or five. Get them to go out and enjoy the game, get the hurley to become an extension of the hand.

“I guarantee you in 20 years’ time we’ll have other counties challenging for titles because we still have the same counties the whole time now. That’s what made the ’90s so special.”

To donate to Amyloidosis Research and Awareness or get involved in any way in the Champagne Golf Classic at Loughrea Golf Club this week, contact Michael Bond on 086-2320113