Bourke has chance to fulfil Lar’s prediction

It was June 2006, the build-up to the Munster senior hurling final in Semple Stadium between Cork and Tipperary, Lar Corbett was talking about a young neighbour of his.

“Pa Bourke — he’s only living across the road from me. He’s out every morning pucking a ball off the wall. He’s even out there this week, seven o’clock some mornings, I’d hear the thud, thud, and he’s doing the Leaving! I’d say there isn’t a book opened. He gets a Stanley knife to those new O’Neills sliotars, cuts off the cover, there’s a rubber insert, and that’s what he uses, flies back off the wall it does. I think he’s going to be the next big thing, in hurling.”

That year Pa was the main man up front for Tipperary as they won their first All-Ireland minor title in 10 years. A season later he made his senior championship debut, introduced by then-manager Babs Keating against Limerick in what turned out to be a three-game marathon. It should have signalled the start of a sterling career for Pa; in hindsight it probably set him back years.

He started the first game but was taken off; brought on in the second game and taken off in extra-time; brought on in the second replay and scored a late point to start the Tipp comeback.

Hardly the most fortuitous of starts and it probably damaged an already fragile confidence. From that day to this it has been the story of Pa Bourke’s hurling career, on and off the team, unable to nail down a starting position.

Until this year. Lar is gone, premature retirement, Eoin Kelly missed most of the season so far through injury and Pa has stepped forward. In both general play and free-taking he is again Tipperary’s main man.

It’s been a long time coming, but could this be the year? Maybe, says Pa.

“It’s frustrating because every player wants to be playing. The players that were there were playing so well I didn’t make it,” he said.

“But I kept working hard. The players who are on the fringes of the team and trying to get a place, the league is a great opportunity to show the management what you can do. Next Sunday is another opportunity for me to put my name in the hat for championship time and I’m looking forward to it. When Cork come to Thurles it’s different and it’s always a titanic battle.

“Down through the years there have been some great matches and on Sunday I have no doubt that it’s going to be the same again. The league game a few weeks ago could have gone either way and it finished up in a draw. Next Sunday will be the very same way.”

Meanwhile, former team-mate Tomás Mulcahy believes Cork hurling boss Jimmy-Barry Murphy is just the man to keep expectations in check on Leeside.

Ahead of Sunday’s Allianz Hurling League semi-final in Thurles against Tipperary, Mulcahy feels while it’s great to see Cork competing for top honours in the league it’s also important to be realistic about the upcoming championship.

“The buzz at the moment is fantastic but expectations are, maybe, over the top a small bit because it’s still early days yet,” Mulcahy said.

“When you win a few games, the hype and the expectation rises, and a lot of people start saying that this young team will do very well. But Jimmy-Barry knows that at the end of the day that there is only one thing that will matter — the championship,

“It’s about Munster championship day, Munster final day, All-Ireland semi-final day, All-Ireland final day. They are the days that matter.

“It’s been a very positive league campaign for Cork. It was a great win against Kilkenny, a great performance and it was great to see this Cork team beat the All-Ireland champions. But the management and the team know that it’s all about the championship.”

And Mulcahy feels that manager Murphy is the best man to manage Cork’s expectations.

He said: “Jimmy Barry won’t get carried away at the moment. So many Cork teams in the past have had great league campaigns and have got to league finals but faltered in the championship.

“It’s about when the grass is nice and green, when the sod is fine and when the ball is moving very quick, that’s where Cork hurling needs to be involved. We have been missing that over the last couple of years but Jimmy-Barry knows himself that it’s late summer that Cork need to perform.”