Rebels with a cause to celebrate

THE rebel yell could be heard clear across Dublin yesterday as the Cork hordes came, conquered and watched in triumph as Ben O’Connor lifted the Liam McCarthy Cup.

They streamed into the city after watching their heroes subdue the feared Kilkenny forward line and then canter home in the second half.

Horns blaring and the rebel flags waving, it was a victory to savour.

So there was a reason behind the not-so-quiet pre-match confidence that this Cork team was ready to break Kilkenny’s dominance and block their route to a three in a row.

“We weren’t at the races,” said one Cats fan among the thousands who trudged away from Croke Park, even before the final whistle blew. The mood of the massed ranks of black and amber making their way down Jones Road matched the weather.

“Dreadful,” was the single word verdict.

There will be little sympathy from the 30,000 Cork fans who travelled to Dublin over the weekend.

They know all about defeat and they were going to enjoy the first victory in five years. The game was no classic but, if you’re a Cork fan, who cares.

This was the Rock’s day as Kilkenny failed to score in the last half hour and DJ, Eddie Brennan and John Hoyne did not manage a point between them during the 70 minutes.

More than 78,000 people packed into Croke Park but many more tickets could have been sold.

Hundreds of mostly Cork fans arrived ticketless and gathered at the Gresham Hotel in large numbers.