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.

Then, all of a sudden they were there on the platform, blinking in the lights, the three dozen or so men who make up the Big Red Machine. The inevitable introductions and thank-yous by the dignitaries only lasted five or six minutes, but to the crowd it was an eternity. Finally Cork County Board PRO John Motherway introduced manager John Allen, and that took the noise level up to the parish out beyond super-rapturous.

Professional to the last, Allen introduced his backroom team and thanked them each for their contribution, though Dr Con Murphy has hardly been in place since just after the Second World War, as Allen suggested. With a final call of “Rebels abú,” the Cork boss handed over to his captain, Seán Óg Ó hAilpín.

Then the crowd really got excited.

On his native heath Ó hAilpín has the status of a minor god; think of Thor, but with a better technique on sideline cuts. As soon as he approached the microphone children were lifted on shoulders and cameras whipped out of jackets, because, as the man himself would be far too modest to say, ní bheidh a leithéid ann arís.

He introduced the men he led affectionately, each of them coming out in turn to shake the Liam McCarthy cup at the crowd. Deano. The Hero. Fraggie. The Rock. He gave them their full names as well, but that wasn’t strictly necessary.

They were among their own, after all.