Fitzgibbon Cup time is magic, on and off the pitch

There’s a standing joke here on the sportsdesk when it comes to the Fitzgibbon Cup weekend: tell the photographers to turn their backs on the action out on the field and focus on the personalities in the crowd.

Invariably there’s a stellar line-up on the sideline, out beyond the bainisteoirs, who are usually highly recognisable themselves. A quick glance along the sideline last Friday in the Mardyke showed us Tomas Mulcahy, John Allen, John Considine, Seanie McGrath and Kieran Kingston. Davy Fitzgerald and Brian Lohan, long-time teammates with Clare, were in managerial mode with LIT and UL respectively.

Former Cork stars Paul O’Connor and Pat Mulcahy oversaw the finalists, UCC and CIT. It goes on and on. The tournament’s attractiveness to spectators isn’t based solely on proximity to the big names of the GAA. There’s something irresistibly alluring to hurling supporters in a Friday afternoon college game, for one thing: yours truly remembers, from a short stint many years ago in the public service, the complicated plans several colleagues put into effect to escape for a 2pm throw-in at the ‘Dyke.