Crossword Genius

It's just, for instance, playing senior hurling in Government (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

sporting

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'it's just' is the definition.
('sporting' can be similar in meaning to 'just')

'instance playing senior hurling in government' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'playing' could be 'in' and 'in' is located in the answer.
'government' could be 'g' and 'g' is present in the answer.
The remaining letters 'sport' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

'for' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for sporting that I've seen before include "Diver's point of departure" , "Fair (chance)" , "Able to take defeats in good part" , "game" , "Fair and generous" .)

I've seen this clue in the Irish Times.
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