Home are the heroes: Cork celebrates

LAST night they were welcomed by their own. The long and winding road from Dublin to the People’s Republic ended for Cork’s All-Ireland winning hurlers in the embrace of their fans.

Super-rapturous taken up to 11. Somewhere in that parish.

As always on these occasions, the timetable was a starting point for negotiation, and the team didn’t arrive at the allotted moment. No matter. The crowd were kept happy with by a ballad group that showed a keen understanding of the target audience: The Banks, The Boys of Fair Hill, that song which rhymes with banger and other tunes were part of a narrow but keenly appreciated repertoire that was echoed by the thousands thronging the South Mall and Parnell Place.