Rebels hope to be white-hot
Due to the colour clash with Down, Cork will wear a white version of their regular kit, featuring red trim. This differs slightly from a white jersey — with navy accents — put on sale by manufacturers O’Neills earlier this year, which was worn by the Cork minor side in this year’s All-Ireland quarter-final.
County chairman Jerry O’Sullivan revealed that the reason for the slight alteration was due to a desire for the county’s traditional colours to be used.
He said: “There were some slight changes made from the jersey worn by the minors in their quarter-final. There was a lot of navy on that shirt and it was felt that, as the traditional colours are red and white, red should be the secondary colour for the final.”
The county board cannot be accused of using this as a money-making exercise as the new jerseys will not be going on sale, and it is unlikely that such a problem would have been foreseen, as the previous two white shirts produced never saw the light of day in a championship match.
“I suppose maybe people jumped to conclusions that the jersey the minors wore against Armagh would be the jersey (in the senior final),” O’Sullivan said.
“There was nothing sinister in the decision. To be honest, the photographs (of the white and navy top) appeared too soon, before the decision was made.”
O’Sullivan is hopeful that history will repeat itself, as the Rebels beat Galway in 1973 wearing a white strip.
“The last time Cork wore a white jersey in an All-Irelad final, we were successful,” he said. “Down have won all five of their All-Irelands wearing red and they’ll have gold on Sunday. We’d be hoping change might be a good omen.”
