Fanning the flames
EACH OF them is part of hurling history: Phil “Fan” Larkin is the middleman in three generations of Larkins to have won All-Ireland medals (his father Paddy won four, Fan won five — one of those as a sub — and his son, Philly, won three).
Martin Coleman was goalkeeper on the Cork team to do the last three-in-a-row, 1976-8 (his son, also Martin, is looking to complete his own three-in-a-row tomorrow as sub-keeper for Cork).
Fan Larkin, 5’5” tall, played at full-back, probably the most physically demanding position of all; how did he manage the likes of Ray Cummins especially, Cork’s 6’3” full-forward from that three-in-a-row team?
Fan Larkin: You had to be able to stand your ground; I was a plasterer, you’d have fierce power in the shoulders from the trowelling. But me father was a stone lighter and half an inch smaller, and he did alright!
Never let them catch the ball, get out in front, that was all, get the hurl in front, or with Cummins, I’d push his helmet over his eyes!
Diarmuid O’Flynn: How did you get on with him?
FL: A gentleman, never had a wrong word with him, never.
DO’F: Would ye meet often now?
FL: Ah sure we’d be in different
circles; I might meet him at a funeral, or maybe Croke Park, say hello, that’s all. But I’d know Gerald McCarthy much better, Charlie, Eamonn O’Donoghue, I’d know the Glen lads best of all.
DO’F: What about yerselves, would ye have come across much each other when ye were playing?
Martin Coleman: No, we’d have been at opposite sides of the field. The only fellas I’d have been concerned about in those days would have been Keher, Brennan, Purcell. Kieran Purcell was the best forward I ever played against, very dangerous inside the 21, a pure goalscorer, lethal off left or right.
FL: He wouldn’t be left play today, because he wouldn’t train. Purcell never trained, never. He’d come in, kneel down on the ground, one knee, look out at us, go out then on the Sunday and he’d be the best hurler on the field.
MC: Himself and Brian Murphy had some great auld tussles.
FL: He played on McDonnell as well.
MC: Yeah, Pat was a good full-back, the first of the new breed, a bit quiet.
FL: Sure Cork always had fierce quiet full-backs — John Lyons was a quiet man, a bit before your time.
MC: A bit; Denis Riordan was a hard man though, so was Tom O’Donoghue. Donoghue had a policy, you couldn’t step inside the small square. Sure he hit Delaney (Kilkenny centre-forward/full-forward) above one year, I think it was the ‘69 final — mother of Jaysus!
FL: Well I can tell you, he didn’t hit Delaney for nothing! Delaney was a bit of a hard man himself.
MC: Actually ‘twas Willie Walsh got Tom into trouble that day. He said to Tom, I can’t hold this fella — leave him in here for five minutes, says Tom, I’ll fix the bastard. BANG! But Walshy was a hard hurler himself, a grand hurler, best centre-forward in the game.
FL: He gave it up, whatever happened.
MC: He had no interest, that’s all. But he was like Purcell, yer man — you’d have to pick up Walsh, bring him to the match. The day of an All-Ireland final Willie would travel on his own with a few of the boys from Youghal, he wouldn’t come to Cork at all; he’d take the boys around the corner then, a steak, feck off with them, turn up again in the morning.
FL: He was a good hurler though.
MC: He was, great speed, hard as iron.
DO’F: Better than Seanie (O’Leary, his Cork and Youghal team-mate)?
FL: Jaysus you wouldn’t put them in the one room! I don’t think I ever had any trouble hurling on Seanie, never. I hurled on him in ‘72, he was only a chap, 19 (laughs).
MC: Some fellas you can mark easier than others, you can have an Indian sign over them.
FL: Ah but Seanie wouldn’t be the same stuff as Walsh, Walsh was a great player.
MC: Walshy would kill you. I’d see him inside in training, he’d run into a fella — you’d sidestep him the next time, I can tell you! Leary was lazy, that was his problem, he was an auld poacher.
FL: That’s exactly what he was, a poacher, the breaking ball around the goal, he had a good burst of speed, 10 yards. But then you had the main man in the middle, he made them all.
MC: Made them all is right.
DO’F: Ray Cummins?
MC: Of course. I remember one year in the league, we had to beat Offaly in Birr by 12 points to qualify for the league final, and you couldn’t beat those fellas up there, they were desperate.
FL: No, you couldn’t beat them in Birr.
MC: You’d throw the spare hurleys into the back of the net, turn around, and they were gone, everything. Oh, they’d kill you. Anyway, we were above in the hotel, Seanie was drafted into the team, told: “You’re in.” Ray took him aside, had a word with him: “When I go, I’ll bring the full-back with me, you slip in behind, I’ll flick the ball to you.” Leary got 4-1, Cummins got a point, we bate them by 17 points, qualified. About ‘73 or ‘74. It was Cummins made Seanie; he made Charlie (McCarthy) too. Charlie was gone, being taken off a good few times. All of a sudden Cummins comes along, changes the whole scene, brought the two boys into it. He’d be down at training, never do the same thing twice, he was always in around the square, buzzing around.
FL: Of course he was a big man.
MC: Big, but very mobile, and he was all bone, the bastard. You used to be belting the shit out of him, sure!
FL: I never hit him!
MC: Will you stop, you used to start at the ankles and work your way up, the only problem was the match would be over before you got to the top of the head!
FL: Never in me life! The only time I ever hit him was the league semi-final, ‘76, he got away from me the first day, I tapped him with the hurley, knocked his two legs together — I wouldn’t let him in (laughs).
DO’F: You used to handle him very well.
FL: I played on him a lot, we used to meet them at club level as well, the Village used to play Blackrock in challenge games, I’d be on him.
MC: Blackrock had a great team that time.
FL: So had we, we had Cody, the McCormacks, Hennessey, Chunky (O’Brien), Crotty.
MC: All inter-county players.
FL: We won the club All-Ireland in ‘76 and ‘82 — I was 41 that year; we should have won it in ‘77 as well, the Glen won it. Camross beat us in
Leinster, I was in hospital for an operation, missed it. They should have just shoved in a lad instead of me, direct replacement, and they had a lad to play full-back as well. He would have been the right lad for Camross, a good tough hard man, ideal, probably even better than myself.
But they didn’t, they shoved a lad from corner to full, changed almost the whole team around, a big mistake.
MC: Cork did the same in the ‘69 All-Ireland final — did you play in that?
FL: I didn’t, no. I came on in ‘62, played in the league, was a sub in the ‘63 final, but was dropped until 1970.
MC: 1969 was the year Justin had the motorbike accident the week before the All-Ireland final. Cork had been struggling to beat Tipp in the Munster final, but Walshy scored three goals — John Donoghue (Tipp keeper) was taken off the same day. Next thing Justin broke his leg on the bike, and they put Willie Walsh back to centre-back for the All-Ireland final, brought in Charlie Cullinane to centre-forward. Cost us the All-Ireland.
FL: He was never the same after, Justin; I remember him when he was playing centre-back, he was like a shot out of a gun, but he lost that yard at the start, he lost the step. He could never catch up with Chunky (O’Brien). But in that final, ‘69, Pa (Dillon) fixed (Ray) Cummins.
MC: He did, poor old Cummins — Pa was an awful bastard, but he got a fair belting himself in ‘66, he was full-forward that day. Tom Donoghue was full-back for Cork, but Tom was a good hurler as well. A hard hoor, but he could hurl as well. You had to be hard in those days, but you had to be able to hurl as well, you’d soon be found out at that level.
DO’F: Who’s going to win this one?
FL: Kilkenny! I’m not going up to see them getting bet, am I?
MC: I think Cork have it over them. If they’d won the semi-final by five or six points I’d be afraid of my life going into it, but they got a fright.
FL: The way I look I look at it, if Cork hurl as they did against Limerick and Waterford, and if we’re as near to them as they were with a few minutes to go, we’ll bate them. If we get the same chances Limerick and Waterford got, our boys will score.
MC: Shefflin is one of the finest forwards in the game, but I like Comerford, I think he’s the biggest danger.
FL: A lot of people are saying this is a team in transition, and I’ve read where Cody says the same thing, but 13 of this team have All-Ireland medals, how much of a transition is that?
MC: Kilkenny were only beaten last year in the All-Ireland semi-final, one of the best games of the year, and Cork were lucky to beat them two years ago; this is Cody’s sixth All-Ireland final, I don’t know where they’re getting this team in transition stuff. This is a very good Kilkenny team.
FL: Look, they’re the two best teams in Ireland; Kilkenny have won the National League, Cork are All-Ireland champions, that’s form.
MC: And there’s a bit of history there as well. Cork beat Kilkenny to win the last three-in-a-row, denied
Kilkenny to start this run, now Kilkenny have the chance to stop them, with nearly the same 30 players involved. You couldn’t write that script, but it’s in front of us now, will be played out next Sunday, hell for leather, and may the best team win.
FL: Yes, may the best horse jump the ditch.
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