Eyebrows were raised at yesterday's Chris de Burgh Golf Classic at the K Club at the sight of Kilkenny hurler DJ Carey about his business on the greens and fairways.

Last week had featured speculation about whether the all-round sportsman's hamstring injury would preclude his appearing at the golf event just as it was to keep him out of Kilkenny's narrow defeat by Galway in Sunday's NHL semi-final in Limerick.

County manager Brian Cody was happy to strangle the controversy at birth. "Ah no, I knew about it alright. DJ took part in training last week on Thursday and Saturday. If we were playing a championship match, we might even have considered risking him but for Sunday that would have been crazy.

"He actually tore his hamstring and although he was happy enough at first, the leg became very sore and it looked pretty serious.

It responded very well to treatment and the team physio was amazed at how quickly he was recovering. Last week he togged out and did a bit of hurling."