The day Hill 17 took Páirc Uí Chaoimh by storm
“We went back into the dressing-room and wondered when the replay would be on, and where... by the time we were on the train it had been decided: we’d be playing them down in Páirc Uí Chaoimh.
“We were happy with that on the way home to Cork – that we’d have the Dubs in the Páirc. We’d gone up for the first game and it was a first All-Ireland semi-final for most of us, a great adventure. We’d played pretty well on the day so we’d have been confident about the replay.”
Cork had outclassed Dublin for most of the first game, only stumbling when Ray Hazeley made ground late on to cross the ball for Rock’s equaliser. It wasn’t a given that Dublin would improve.
“It was a unique situation,” recalls their captain Tommy Drumm. “We’d never played away before as a team, the only times we’d have been away as Dublin players would have been on All-Star trips and so on.
“We didn’t quite know how we’d react, because any time we’d played outside Dublin before that it was a case of down in the morning and back in the evening, not staying overnight. “But it worked incredibly well. It’s easy to say that now, given we won the game, but we didn’t know that beforehand.”
Drumm noticed the difference in attitude among the team before the replay. And among the supporters.
“The week leading up to the trip to Cork was very different – principally because we should have been beaten in the first game, we shouldn’t have survived that day. Knowing we had a second bite made it more enjoyable, and we felt we had nothing to lose.
“But the craic for the supporters was great, because it was so different to be going away for a big game, and people were telling you they were heading down to Cork, or their families were making a weekend of it and so on.
“And on the Saturday night a lot of people called to the hotel as well. It was great, and you couldn’t but be affected by it in a good way.”
Even if some of the players availed of the novelty of their surroundings, a hotel in Blarney rather than the homepatch on Liffeyside? Drumm laughs.
“Stories circulated about a couple of the lads going for a late pint the night before, but as captain I only found out years later. Overall, though, going away worked out very well.”
THE day of the game – “baking hot” is John Cleary’s memory – had some good omens for Drumm and his teammates. Familiar faces.
“We arrived into Páirc Uí Chaoimh and we dropped the gearbags into the dressing-rooms. I said to the lads, ‘come on, we’ll have a look at the pitch’.
“My uncle was head steward in Croke Park for years, he’d have been there at all the big games, and when we came out of the tunnel in Páirc Uí Chaoimh before the game, there he was, standing out in the middle of the field.
“He was officiating in Cork for the day, but the effect of seeing him there made me feel at home. In many ways it was like a home game.”
The Dublin supporters certainly played their part, turning the Blackrock End of the ground sky- and navy-blue, earning it the temporary nickname of Hill 17.
“I remember that distinctly,” says Cleary. “The noise coming off the Blackrock End, where the Dublin supporters were grouped together, was incredible. In all the matches I played in, the atmosphere that day was definitely the best. There was a sea of blue at that end of the Páirc, and elsewhere, and in fairness there was no shortage of Cork support at the other side. It was outstanding. When Páirc Uí Chaoimh is packed there’s no better atmosphere.”
Before the game even began Dublin pulled a masterstroke. Cork wing-back Jimmy Kerrigan had rampaged forward at every opportunity to set up Rebel attacks. Barney Rock, his marker, simply strolled past him into corner-forward and Kerrigan followed, moving Cork’s attacking springboard to the remoteness of corner-back.
“It was a good move, Jimmy was brilliant in the drawn game,” says Drumm. “My own job was to watch Dave Barry – what a footballer – and he ran me ragged around Páirc Uí Chaoimh. What I remember is the goals that day, the sheer number of them and Tommy Conroy’s performance for us at centre-forward. He came into his own that day, and it’s funny that teams which do well usually have different players who take the responsibility on different days to do what’s required. And Tommy did it for us that day.”
Cleary recalls Cork trying to stem the tide, but pays Dublin due tribute.
“It was even enough but they got a penalty, and another goal, and we were well down at half-time. We rallied in the second half but in the end Joe McNally got another goal and that was the end of it.
“Brian Mullins was particularly good that day in the middle of the field. They beat us fair and square. They were tough and they hit us hard, but it wasn’t over the top. They played better than us – they moved the ball well, they had class forwards in the like of Barney Rock, Anton O’Toole, Ciaran Duff and they were better than us on the day. They had a good team, in fairness.”
The scoreline was emphatic, 4-15 to 2-10, and it didn’t get any better for Cork after the final whistle.
The players adjourned to the Leaping Salmon bar for a drink afterwards when news came through that Tom Creedon had passed away. The Macroom centre-back would have been on the team but had been seriously injured in a road accident some time beforehand.
“Obviously we were down after losing the game,” says Cleary. “When the news came through that Tom had died, that put the whole thing into perspective.”
For Dublin that day in Cork was a “pinnacle”, says Tommy Drumm. The final against Galway was studded with incident, little of it memorable – three Dubs sent off, incidents in the tunnel at half-time, and a controversial Barney Rock goal.
“There’s too much controversy attached to the final to remember it with the fondness we should,” says Drumm, “The semi-final was a pinnacle, in hindsight. We had a tough campaign and had no right to expect an All-Ireland because we were rebuilding the team from 1979, really, so it was a great one to win.”
Would Cork have been better off going back to Dublin for the replay?
“I suppose we can’t answer that,” says Cleary. “Maybe unconsciously we felt we’d the hard work done – we’d led for most of the first game, after all. At the time we felt it’d be an advantage if Dublin had to come outside the capital, but they upped their game. Maybe we felt we could do the same as the first day, but we needed to up our game as well, and we didn’t.”
Drumm is based in Perth now, and won’t make it back for Sunday’s game (“though I’m meeting up with Brian Mullins’ brother to watch it, he’s out here since 1982”). He’s looking forward to an old rivalry being renewed.
“Playing Cork is great because there’s no bad blood between the counties, the atmosphere’s always good in league games – and colleges games in the Mardyke as well.
“I hope it’s the same on Sunday.”
Scorers for Dublin: B Rock 1-4 (3f, 1’45); C Duff and J McNally 1-3 each; B Mullins 1-0 penalty; T Conroy 0-2; J Ronayne, A O’Toole and J Caffrey 0-1 each.
Scorers for Cork: J Cleary 0-7 (5f, 1’45); D Barry 2-1 (1-0 pen); T Murphy and J Kerrigan 0-1 each.
DUBLIN: J O’Leary; M Holden, G Hargan, R Hazley; P Canavan, T Drumm (capt), P.J Buckley; J Ronayne, B Mullins; J Caffrey, T Conroy, C Duff; B Rock, A O’Toole, J McNally
Sub: J Kerins for Caffrey (58).
CORK: M Creedon; M Healy, K Kehily, J Evans; M Hannon, C Ryan (capt), J Kerrigan; D Creedon, C Corrigan; T Murphy, E O’Mahony, D Barry; D Allen, J Allen, J Cleary.
Subs: M Burns for Hannon (ht); T O’Reilly for O’Mahony (46); E Fitzgerald for Murphy (62nd).
Referee: PJ McGrath (Mayo).
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