Larry Ryan: Playing the long game for a love of hurling

Jackie Connolly had a deep love and affection for Cork hurling

DEDICATION: Jackie Connolly marks the starting line with sawdust at the 2006 All-Ireland Poc Fada final on Annaverna mountain in Ravensdale, Co Louth. Pic: Brian Lawless/Sportsfile

On Sunday in Páirc Uí Rinn, Cork will play Tipp and we won’t learn too much, whatever the managers get out of it. We won’t be any closer to knowing if Tipp are back. Or if Cork are getting there. But it is still Cork and Tipp. With its own lure and lore. Ger Cunningham will go in. To see how they are moving. And there’s a time Jackie Connolly might have made it down.

On Tuesday, Ger and family made the long journey to Dundalk to pay a last visit to Jackie, a man who made many pilgrimages to see Cork v Tipp. Various tailbacks made the journey a lot longer back when they were both plotting the route regularly. Ger up to the Cooley Mountains. Jackie negotiating the old Mercedes to the Páirc to indulge a great obsession with Cork hurling.