Jason Sherlock was possibly the first superstar of GAA.
Bursting onto the scene for Dublin in 1995, it ended up being an eventful year.
At 19-years-old, Sherlock lined out for the Boys in Blue and won the All-Ireland title in his debut year.
It was a “Landmark year” as he calls it in his book, there were a lot of good reasons for it being so but his father also died this year.
Denis Leung was murdered in South Africa, where he was working at the time, and at the age of 19 Sherlock had to deal with the death of his father.
Appearing on The Late Late Show with Ryan Tubridy, Sherlock was on to promote his new book Jayo and spoke about the ordeal:
“It was throughout the 90’s I wouldn’t have kept touch because, I suppose, there were other things happening in my life,” Sherlock said.
“I got a call on a Friday afternoon from his brother, my uncle Martin, and he said ‘It’s your dad, he’s been murdered’ and that was it.
“He was in South Africa and he was very upset, he said he was leaving his place of work and he was robbed and he was murdered so Martin was very upset and put down the phone and there was kind of a void, I wasn’t exactly sure how to feel.
“I rang Louise, who is now my wife, and I would have rung Mick Galvin who was a teammate of mine and just said the news and put down the phone and I remember Mick rang me back five minutes later and said ‘Are you okay? Do you want me to call around’ and I was like no, I was actually playing for UCD that night and didn’t think anything more of it.
“It was more a mixed reaction to it that I felt when maybe I should feel a bit more but I suppose the reality was I didn’t have that connection which most people would have with their parents.
“Listen, I know talking about this there’s going to be a lot of upset for people in the book but certainly Denis’ family, I know they lost a son and it’s something that I really want to do and make sure I get that connection back with them.
“I didn’t (attend the funeral). They had asked me to go out…I think it’s a bit of a tradition that the eldest son would go but I think where I was it was early 20’s at this stage it just wasn’t something that I felt was really appropriate.
“At this stage of my life I would kind of like to be a bit more inquisative about that side.”
Paul Kimmage was also recently speaking to Sherlock and the two recounted an interview that took place between the two in 1995 where Sherlock did not talk about his father as he admitted to the Sunday Independent journalist:
“No, I didn’t have enough . . . I don’t know if it’s emotional intelligence or perspective. I just denied that side of the family.”
Jason Sherlock @boomjayo on his reaction to hearing his father had been murdered in a robbery; and reconnecting with his heritage #latelate pic.twitter.com/dCSM2qXWtb
— The Late Late Show (@RTELateLateShow) October 27, 2017
