Hurling man who prioritises hurling chooses hurling event over League of Ireland game

Why is Lee Chin suddenly obliged to put his life on hold for Wexford Youths?

The 23-year-old signed for the club on a short-term deal one month ago. They played six league games in that time, picked up four points and he hung around for the first play-off clash with Drogheda on Monday and just so happened to have had a vital say in the future of the Wexford outfit. Chin won't be playing on Friday night. He's going to the All-Star awards with his team mates and peers and to celebrate the end of the season as he knows it. You might not like it, you might think it's strange, but this is Lee Chin's life and choosing not to be in Drogheda on Friday night is his prerogative. We're talking about a hurling man here who, when the season had ended, agreed to play for a month with the local soccer team who thought they could make some use of him for the run-in. He is not a Wexford Youths man suddenly turning his back on the game he lives for. He is not a soccer man.

"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."

That's what Lee Chin told SportsJOE in the height of the summer. That's the best insight you could give to show his mentality and his make-up. He's a Gael who just so happened to have come in handy on Monday. https://twitter.com/LeeChin8/status/793578865541148672 But now Chin is being sneered at, criticised and questioned for not going to Drogheda on Friday to hang on to the 2-0 advantage and help to keep Wexford Youths in the Airtricity Premier Division. This is not his gig. It's not his love. It's an honour to be asked along to the All-Star awards and, if anything, he has been nothing but honest with the club. The only thing Lee Chin is guilty of is scoring a goal in the first leg because now, suddenly, people care and they don't want to see him leave. Now, suddenly, he's letting fans down.

"As I've said to the boys, it was nice to get in and get to know other lads in a different sport," Chin told the Independent. "They are a great bunch of lads. It was nice to be a part of it, to join and fight for them. I wouldn't look at myself as a huge value to the club. "In my opinion, if I'm not there on Friday night there are three or four other lads who could step in off the bench and do a better job."

Lee Chin's away back to live his own life - a hurling life. He doesn't owe anybody else anything more - and certainly not for a commitment that he's been involved with for a grand total of seven games. Tyrone footballer Cathal McCarron chats to Colm Parkinson about the gambling addiction he battled to escape Subscribe here on iTunes