Pat Shortt only recently found out about dad's major achievement
Parents like to keep secrets for whatever reason; perhaps because they don't want to worry their kids, or perhaps because they need to wait until they're older to tell more sordid tales from their youth.
But sometimes, if you won something as big as an All-Ireland, you'd want to scream it from the rooftops — unless if you're Pat Shortt's dad Christy, where end up keeping it under wraps for decades, with your sons only finding out that you won an All-Ireland minor hurling medal in the 1940s after a fella in the pub reveals his granddad played with your dad. Pat Shortt has revealed that his dad won an All-Ireland medal with Tipperary, with his son only finding out a few years before he died. Pic: RTÉ
'We only found out a few years before he died,' Pat told Off the Ball ahead of this Sunday's final between his beloved Tipp and Cork. 'He died last year and we found out about two years before he died!
'One of my brothers was on holiday in Wexford, and he met a fella at a bar, and he says 'where are you from yourself?' He said Thurles [and that his name was] Shortt,' with the lad in the pub saying ''oh yes, my grandfather's from Thurles, and he won an All Ireland with your father.''
Pat was relayed the information by his brother, with one of his other brothers — whom he referred to as 'the son who's usually closest with the dad' to ask if the story was true; and their father Christy confirmed that he had in fact won a medal in the 1947 minor championship, albeit in typical Irish dad fashion. @otbgaa
🗣️ 'He died last year, and we only found out about two years before he died!' 🗣️ 'I rang him… did you win an All Ireland medal?' 🗣️ 'I did, yeah! What about it?' 😂 Tipperary icon Pat Shortt never knew his father was an All Ireland winner! | 🤯 ♬ original sound – OTB GAA
'[My brother] rang and said 'daddy, did you win an All-Ireland?' He said 'I did yeah. What about it?'' Pat laughed. 'That's the way they are in Tipperary ya see. Everyone wins so many.'
Pat revealed that his father had played every game in the minor championship as a left forward before having what he described as 'a crap day' in the semi final when he was moved to the centre midfield, and despite him winning the medal Pat reckons he felt he didn't deserve it as he didn't play in the final.
'So he never told anyone he had it. And before he died we brought it back to him. That's what killed him, he died of a broken heart,' he joked. Pat's father Christy passed away in 2023, aged 92. Pic: RIP.ie
As for why he never went senior, Pat learned of his dad's hurling ability during a charity gig that he hosted when the All-Ireland senior winning captain Pat Stankelum, who played with Christy two years prior in the minors.
'He came up to me and said 'yeah I played with your dad, and he should've been on the 49 senior team but he had a cruciate ligament operation' — back in those days that was it, your career was over — and that's what finished him off.'
'But [Pat said] 'he was a great hurler.' It was 47 he won the All-Ireland with the minor team and your man who played with the minor team and went on to captain the senior team in 49.'
Pat's father Christy passed away in 2023 at the age of 92, with his daughter Faye, who's also a comedian, paying tribute to her granddad on social media.
Sharing a photo of her as a child alongside her granddad, she simply wrote 'You can rest in peace now Grandad, we will always love you.'
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