Honours even: supremacy at stake as Rebels and Cats fight for top spot
PREVIOUS meetings of Cork and Kilkenny in All-Ireland hurling finals have knitted into a montage of golden memories.
And with Kilkenny seeking a three-in-a-row and Cork desperately keen to atone for last season’s final slip-up, Sunday’s latest installment in the age-old rivalry promises another seismic confrontation, particularly as both sides are also bidding to top the roll of honour.
The magic and mystique of a Cork- Kilkenny final began to take seed during the course of the 1931 head-to-head, which took three classic games to decide. Cork won eventually by 5-8 to 3-4 but Kilkenny were without the legendary Lory Meagher, who was unable to play in the concluding game because of a back injury.
It would be the last visit of the Liam McCarthy Cup for a decade, as the former GAA President Con Murphy remembered all too well on the eve of the 1939 final.
“People knew the talent was there to win an All-Ireland again and that a long overdue breakthrough appeared inevitable.”
The trauma of the last minute defeat by Kilkenny in the thunder and lightning final of ’39 was quickly followed 12 months later by another traumatic defeat, inflicted on this occasion by Limerick in the provincial showpiece.
But the dawning of Cork’s most successful era was just around the corner. It was a time of petrol and food rationing. Travel restrictions were severe and because of the bleak economic climate, induced by the effects of a devastating war, unemployment soared, emigration was rampant and money was scarce.
Murphy recalls: “The Cork supporters cycled great distances to see their team play. They followed them everywhere, by hook or by crook, and made certain that they would reach their journey’s end.”
The train carrying the Cork team to Dublin constantly ran out of steam and tedious journeys of nine hours became the norm.
The Cork supporters were lavishly rewarded for their loyalty and perseverance however, when Cork became the first and only county to accomplish the holy grail of four consecutive All-Ireland senior titles in a row from 1941 to 1944.
“It was some honour to be selected for the Cork team at that time,” said Con Murphy.
“I hate to say it, but unquestionably the standard of club hurling was higher than it is now.”
The most successful run in hurling history was abruptly ended in 1945 by Tipperary. The Cork selectors that year discarded the services of a number of the four-in-a-row team with disastrous consequences.
The old faces were back the following year and Cork qualified for another All-Ireland final meeting with Kilkenny.
Murphy revealed: “The team that had won four-in-a-row were of the opinion that their existence as champions would not be truly justified until a win over Kilkenny was achieved.
“This was a do-or-die situation. Cork and Kilkenny are jealous of each others’ prowess. That is what has made their great sporting rivalry so special,” he said.
Weather-wise the first Sunday of September, 1946, was a “messy-kind of day,” said Con Murphy. “But it was the day Christy Ring became Ring.”
“This was the day he became a superstar. He took on and beat every Kilkenny man in sight. Shem Downey and Dan Kennedy, two outstanding hurlers, tried to mark him. But there was no holding the Cloyne man. He electrified the crowd with a marvellous display of skill.”
Twelve months later the counties met again in the final and this time it was the turn of Kilkenny to garner the coveted laurels after a classic hurling spectacle.
“The hurling in that final was out of this world,” Murphy recalls.
“The game flowed from end to end. There were very few frees and it was non-stop action all the way. The big difference on this occasion was that Ring was unable to cut loose.
“To this day I can still see the two late Kilkenny points from Terry Leahy sailing between the posts and thinking it’s all over. It was a desperate feeling.”
The two counties were not to meet in the final again until 1966.
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