The Kingdom, the power and the story

Weary and running out of gas, the Kerry footballers and Cork hurlers met their Waterloo in the summer of ’87

Twenty-five years ago, two empires came to an end. Kerry had dominated football in Munster from 1975 with a brief interregnum in 1983, while Cork had won every Munster hurling championship from 1975 with the exception of 1980 and 1981. Two drawn provincial finals a quarter-century ago saw power shift, however.

In the Kerry dressing room, Pat Spillane had been 13 years without experiencing a defeat to Cork.