![Pat Buckley in action against Tipperary's John Kennedy. Picture: Ray McManus/SPORTSFILE. Pat Buckley in action against Tipperary's John Kennedy. Picture: Ray McManus/SPORTSFILE.](https://www.echolive.ie/portalsuite/image//b15afe1c-0297-4af3-b8cc-54422d40b1be/mainMediaSize=MEDIUM_type=image_x0=0_y0=0_x1=100_y1=100__image.jpg)
![Cork's Mark Foley scores on the stroke of half time against Tipperary in the 1990 Munster final at Semple Stadium. Cork's Mark Foley scores on the stroke of half time against Tipperary in the 1990 Munster final at Semple Stadium.](https://www.echolive.ie/portalsuite/image//a4a0ac33-de2b-406a-a947-ccb09fb556ea/mainMediaSize=MEDIUM_type=image_x0=0_y0=0_x1=100_y1=100__image.jpg)
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The Munster hurling final day is one of the great occasions in Irish sport.Be it Semple Stadium, the Gaelic Grounds or in Páirc Uí Chaoimh, it is a huge date on the provincial and national stage.It is a well-documented fact that on Munster final day, carloads of supporters would travel from the Glens of Antrim to Thurles to view the protagonists in action.
It’s 30 years ago now but it was a similar situation in 1990 when the two old foes collided on a scalding July day in Thurles .Tipperary had the MacCarthy Cup in their possession back then too having beaten Antrim in the All-Ireland final the previous September.Cork, on the other hand, were down in the dumps having lost to what proved to be a very poor Waterford team in 1989, a Waterford team that were subsequently hammered by Tipp in the Munster final.Cork went into the Munster final in 1990 as raging underdogs, almost no-hopers against the reigning All-Ireland champions.But it was a different Cork team that they were facing this time. In attitude as much as anything, as Teddy McCarthy and Tomás Mulcahy were both out for the provincial decider through injury.
The Canon and Gerald brought a fresh and renewed impetus to the Cork set up, brought back a few players who had been discarded and going up to Thurles there was a calm and cautiously optimistic approach.
For Cork to be in the hunt they needed a positive start to have any chance of outright victory, they needed to unsettle Tipp early on and that is exactly what transpired.
Cork started brilliantly, inspired by Jim Cashman who was a dominant figure at centre-back, while Tony O’Sullivan, later Hurler of the Year, was hugely influential at wing-forward, as the below clip from the @corkhurlers1 twitter shows.A Tipperary laden with great players like Nicky English, Pat Fox, the Bonner brothers, Declan Ryan, John Leahy and Bobby Ryan quickly realised that this was a different Cork team than the one who had went down so meekly to Waterford a year earlier.
The Cork crowd really got behind the team and as the game progressed an unlikely hero was to emerge from a small club in West Cork.
Argedeen Rangers’ Mark Foley had one of those magical days that you could only ever dream about. Everything ‘The Dentist’ touched turned to gold, there was no holding him.
Tipp couldn’t cope and the rest is history as Cork swept to one of their greatest Munster Final triumphs.
One can recall sitting in the Ryan Stand that day with Cork Examiner sports editor Tom Aherne and both of us losing the run of ourselves surrounded by Tipp supporters who were in a state of shock. Foley’s performance that day has stood the test of time as one of the greatest individual displays ever given in a Munster Final or otherwise.
But there were heroes everywhere, from Ger Cunningham out. Teddy McCarthy, John Fitzgibbon, Tomás Mulcahy, Kevin Hennessy, Denis Walsh, Ger Fitzgerald, Tony O’Sullivan to mention just a handful.
Jim Cashman had the game of his life at number six completely stifling Declan Ryan. But it was Foley’s day.
That performance would be nearly impossible to repeat but in the All Ireland final against Galway he scored 1-1 which was a major contribution as Cork regained the McCarthy Cup.
Tipp exacted revenge a year later in a Munster final replay when Jim Cashman was controversially taken out of the game.
The Cork Tipp rivalry was as intense as it ever was back then and Cork won back the Munster final in 1992.
The Cork team that day in 1990 was: G Cunningham; J Considine, D Walsh, S O’Gorman; S McCarthy, J Cashman, K McGuckin; P Buckley, B O’Sullivan; D Quirke, M Foley, T O’Sullivan; G Fitzgerald, K Hennessy, J Fitzgibbon
Scorers: Mark Foley 2-7, John Fitzgibbon 2-0, Tony O’Sullivan 0-5, Cathal Casey, Ger Fitzgerald, Kevin Hennessy, David Quirke 0-1 each.
In the All-Ireland final a short few months later Cork defeated Galway in a seven-goal thriller in Croke Park, winning in a scoreline of 5-15 to 2-21.
The Cork scorers that day were: John Fitzgibbon 2-1, Kevin Hennessy 1-4, Tomás Mulcahy 1-2, Mark Foley 1-1, Teddy McCarthy 0-3, Tony O’Sullivan 0-2, Ger Fitzgerald, Kieran McGuckin 0-1 each.
"It’s worth stating at the outset that my favourite sports moment of all time is not when Tipperary’s Nicky English kicked that soccer-style goal past Ger Cunningham of Cork in the Munster final. Not exactly. Not quite. But we’ll come back to that.First, some context. In the summer of 1987 I was nine years old. It was the first year that my parents had deemed me old enough to bring to matches. And the match-going experience was decidedly different to what it is these days.
For one thing, the roads were all shite, as the EU had yet to wave their magic motorway wand. Travelling to pretty much anywhere was likely at some point to take you down a boreen with grass up the middle of it. But apparently the GAA hadn’t noticed this particular problem. Believe it or not, Tipperary played five matches in the Munster hurling championship that year, and four of them were in the hurling mecca that is Killarney.
And yes, before you ask, we brought sandwiches and flasks of tea to every game. Given how long it took to get from south Tipp to Killarney in those days we should have brought sleeping bags as well.
The night before a game my parents would pore over a map, picking a route and, depending on the opposition, identifying the arteries that were ripe for congestion. “The Clare crowd will surely come through Ballydesmond, so if we go through Millstreet we’ll avoid them until Barraduff.” Ah, the glamour.
My Dad drove, while my Mam took navigation duties, the toughest task being the effort of folding the gargantuan map in a manner that allowed her to read it without obscuring the entire windshield.
Two family friends came to most of the games with us. Tommy Sweeney wore a baseball cap and puffed on a pipe, while delivering droll witticisms from the free side of his mouth. Patrick “Butt” O’Dwyer had a loud laugh and an easy manner. Long retired from the pitch, he had once been renowned for his on-field temper but by that stage the only thing that seemed to raise his ire was bad referees. My sister Michelle and I would sit wedged in between these two bears of men. There were no seat belts but I’d wager we could have survived the car flipping over with those two on either side .
I suspect that everyone in the car other than me was travelling more in hope than expectation. Sixteen years of losing will do that to you. What’s the opposite of a magician pulling a rabbit from a hat? That was Tipperary – finding new and painful ways to lose every year.
In a unique way, it has created a sense of community among Irish people both at home and abroad.The GAA provided enormous pleasure to millions of people of all generations. The Taoiseach reflects on the important role the GAA has played in Irish culture reflected in the way people live, work and play. The sports of hurling and football are a major strand in the culture of Ireland. The impact that the GAA has on Irish life is far stronger than politics.
No political event nowadays can assemble eighty thousand people filled with passion and excitement in one place.Garret FitzGerald describes hurling as the game of the heroic age and it is appropriate that the GAA Congress in the centenary year should be held in Cú Chulainn’s Ulster. A hundred years ago, Gaelic sports were under threat of dying out and the GAA turned this threat around by making the games an integral part of Irish life again. Nine years after the establishment of the GAA, Eoin MacNeill and Douglas Hyde followed in the footsteps of Michael Cusack and founded the Gaelic League in 1893. The establishment of both organisations ensured that both the Irish language and games survived. The Taoiseach applauds the thousands of volunteers who have made the work of the GAA possible.
May your work prosper and may this dimension of Irish culture that you cherish be as full of vitality a century hence as it is in this centenary year.The GAA Centenary Taoiseach Special Message was broadcast on 22 April 1984.
I saluted every one of them, and not one of them was capable of saluting me back. They were in a frenzy, a pure frenzy.They thought Clare were going to win the Munster Championship for the first time since 1932. They were in a zone apart, going in to get their seat to see it all. So there was a tension-filled trip on the bus, followed by more tension at the ground. There was nothing that could have been done about it. I think the officials were overwhelmed by the amount of people that simply turned up, hoping they might get in.
Limerick | 1-21 – 1-14 | Kilkenny |
---|---|---|
R. Bennis (0-10), M. Dowling (1-1), É. Grimes (0-4), F. Nolan (0-2), N. Rea (0-2), B. Hartigan (0-1), J. McKenna (0-1). | C. Dunne (0-7), P. Delaney (1-1), M. Crotty (0-3), L. O'Brien (0-2), M. Brennan(0-1). |
Pos. | Player | Team | Appearances | Rationale |
---|---|---|---|---|
GK | ![]() |
Kilkenny | 2 | "For his courageous defiance, his agility and trustworthiness making him the kind of goalkeeper that any player would be happy to have behind him." |
RCB | ![]() |
Kilkenny | 1 | "For his dependability in defence, which combines with his natural hurling skill to establish him as one of the great corner backs of today." |
FB | ![]() |
Limerick | 3 | "For his undiminished skill and dependability in a very demanding position where quite often brawn is substituted for hurling artistry." |
LCB | ![]() |
Limerick | 1 | "For his rare bravery and mobility: for the all-round splender of his contribution to Limerick's much-delayed return to championship honours." |
RWB | ![]() |
Wexford | 1 | "For his alertness and sense of judgement, for the crispness of his stroke which played such a sizeable part in regaining the National League title for his county." |
CB | ![]() |
Kilkenny | 1 | "For his sheer skill and obstinacy in defence, his tenacious approach and the devotion he continues to give to the game." |
LWB | ![]() |
Limerick | 1 | "For the fervour he brings to all facets of hurling, and particularly for his dedicated half-back play which contributed so much to Limerick's 1973 successes." |
MD | ![]() |
Kilkenny | 1 | "For his artistic stick-work which he has demonstrated with increasing regularity, and for establishing himself as one of the most elegant and energetic midfielders of recent times." |
MD | ![]() |
Limerick | 1 | "For the level-headedness he has so frequently shown in the tightest of situations and for his exceptionally high rate of scoring." |
RWF | ![]() |
Tipperary | 3 | "For his incisive intelligent running which so often splits opposing defences: for the remarkable consistency and accuracy of his marksmanship." |
CF | ![]() |
Kilkenny | 2 | "For highlighting just how vigorous play can be totally fair, particularly during his famous attacks towards the opposing goal." |
LWF | ![]() |
Limerick | 1 | "For his seemingly limitless energy and his desire to work all over the field: qualities which have made him a natural leader and a high scorer." |
RCF | ![]() |
Wexford | 1 | "For the wide range of his playing skills, his constancy of purpose and his obvious versatility." |
FF | ![]() |
Kilkenny | 1 | "For the out-and-out hard work he puts into the game. For his power of striking and his adaptability in attack." |
LCF | ![]() |
Kilkenny | 3 | "For his enormously successful scoring record, his fluency of stroke and his accurate passing which create so many chances for his team mates." |
Pos. | Player | Team | Appearances |
---|---|---|---|
GK | ![]() |
Cork | 1 |
RCB | ![]() |
Cork | 1 |
FB | ![]() |
Offaly | 2 |
LCB | ![]() |
Cork | 1 |
RWB | ![]() |
Galway | 1 |
CB | ![]() |
Galway | 2 |
LWB | ![]() |
Cork | 2 |
MD | ![]() |
Kerry | 1 |
MD | ![]() |
Cork | 1 |
RWF | ![]() |
Offaly | 2 |
CF | ![]() |
Offaly | 2 |
LWF | ![]() |
Galway | 2 |
RCF | ![]() |
Cork | 1 |
FF | ![]() |
Cork | 2 |
LCF | ![]() |
Derry | 1 |
The 1962 All-Ireland hurling final wasn't the first time that the nation had been treated to live coverage of a game from Croke Park. That honour had been claimed by the Railway Cup hurling and football finals six months before when Clonmel's Mick Kennedy, playing for Leinster, had the honour of claiming the first ever score shown on live television. Dublin's Des Foley made his own entry into the annals by winning medals in both codes. Tipperary had seven players on the Munster hurling selection that particular St Patrick's Day. All of them would play again 24 hours later when the county side faced a Rest of Ireland selection in an exhibition in Thurles. Others to double up that same weekend were Christy Ring and Lar Foley. This was an era blessed with players whose talents would transcend time but Moloughney has no doubt that Jimmy Doyle's was the star that shone brightest. And still does.Roughly 500 people had arrived at Shannon Airport from the States and Canada on the morning of the match. A Swissair jet carrying 67 members of Toronto GAA Club was another visitor to Irish shores and these international waves were replicated on the ground. CIE laid on 25 special trains and road works on O'Connell Street made traffic jams inevitable.