St Finbarr’s visit brings Paul Downey back to days in blue

T’was in the middle of last month when it dawned on Dr Crokes secretary Paul Downey that his first adopted club, St Finbarr’s, could, potentially, be paying a visit to Lewis Road for a Munster semi-final.

The Barr’s were after securing passage back into the Cork final, with Crokes preparing to do likewise across the border. A quick scan of the Munster GAA website told him the Cork and Kerry champions, should the latter overcome Tipperary’s representatives in a provincial quarter-final, would meet on November 11.

And so, as Downey hoped it might, a St Finbarr’s-Dr Crokes Munster semi-final has come to pass; the club which Downey has been a member of for the past 10 years hosting the club with whom he won a Cork intermediate football medal in 1970.

Indeed, the three chapters of Paul Downey’s GAA life come into close proximity this weekend as the town where he was reared, Kilmacthomas, play 10 minutes out the road from Killarney in a Munster intermediate football semi-final against Kilcummin.

“I am so looking forward to this weekend. It will be lovely to catch up with old friends,” says Downey of renewing acquaintances with the men he soldiered alongside throughout the 1970s.

This story starts a little earlier than that, back in 1965 to be precise, a young Garda Downey deployed to the old Barrack Street station in Cork city. Home may no longer have been Kilmacthomas, but that wasn’t going to stop him lining out for his native club during the summer months.

It was a journey not easily made, mind you.

“The commute back home was 60 miles, but a lot of the time I was thumbing lifts,” Downey recalls. “Some evenings, it could take me three hours to get from Cork to Kilmacthomas, depending on the kindness of others.

“I would get a bus down to where the dual carriageway is now, down Tivoli way, and start thumbing. I might be lucky enough to get a lift all the way or get a lift so far, then hop out and start thumbing again.”

This was a routine he followed for the first five years of his time in Cork. Eventually, the glamour of standing on the side of the road chasing a lift east began to subside. The sky blue of Kilmacthomas swapped for the darker St Finbarr’s shade.

“The Barr’s was the club in the area where I was stationed so it made sense to throw my lot in with them. At the time, I knew Charlie McCarthy, the late Charlie Cullinane, and Tony Maher. I was made to feel so welcome by the club.”

His first year proved to be his most successful, Downey between the sticks as the Barr’s’ second team captured the 1970 Cork intermediate football title. Drawing 1-8 with Youghal in the old Athletic Grounds, the Barr’s took the replay, played at Cobh, on a scoreline of 3-6 to 1-7.

“That was the height of my playing career. It went downhill after that, I’m afraid,” he quips.

“In terms of the GAA, it was a great time to be in Cork city. The hurling matches between the three city clubs — Blackrock, the Glen and the Barr’s — were huge crowd-pullers. The Barr’s versus the Glen was like a small All-Ireland. The club had great success in that decade and you could see there were more young players coming along which would ensure the 80s was another strong period for them.

“I really enjoyed my time with the Barr’s. Great people, great friends.”

Promotion to detective sergeant saw him move to Killarney in 1980 and while his GAA involvement lapsed for a period, when it came to getting back involved, Dr Crokes became his new home.

The now-retired garda was part of the Crokes intermediate hurling management team before taking up his current role of secretary which he has held for the past four years.

“This week has been crazy,” he says of preparations for the Munster semi-final.

“Assembling material for the match programme takes a bit of work. We have TG4 showing the game live so I’ve been dealing with them.

“You wouldn’t be short of help, though. There is an excellent structure in the club. A lot of people do the menial background work that nobody sees, especially the events committee who do the cooking and dish up meals to the players after training. They never seek any praise, but have to be praised.”

He’s also had plenty of contact with the opposition.

“Donal Murray is their club secretary and we’d go right the way back to when I was with the club in the 70s. Donal runs the Barr’s golf classic, which I go up and play in every year. He’d be a good friend, as would the Barr’s football chairman Liam Hodnett. The three of us were actually part of an intermediate football management team at one point in the 70s.

“Mick [Comyns], a selector with their footballers, I’d know very well. A very good guy, another good friend. I am going to meet a lot of friends on Sunday. All the catching up will have to be done before throw-in, though.”

Three key battles for Dr Crokes v St Finbarr’s

The bench

There is certainly greater depth to the Barrs’ panel this year. With Colm Scully and Eoghan McGreevey stepping up to become first-team regulars it means that starters from last year are now available to be sprung when required. Ray Keane was able to bring in the experienced Glen O’Connor at half-time in the county final; Eoghan Finn kicked 1-1 when introduced in the second half, while another replacement Colm Barrett was also among the scorers. For all that, however, they do not have the luxury of being able to leave a player as talented and as decorated as Colm Cooper on the bench and then introduce him in the crucial period after half-time.

Midfield

A key factor in St Finbarr’s Cork final victory was the second-half display of Ian Maguire. Tomorrow, the Barrs’ midfield general has Johnny Buckley for company, not to mind Daithí Casey and deep-sitting half-forward Brian Looney orbiting his space. If Maguire is held then Barr’s will struggle.

Restarts

In the wake of Declan Murphy’s leg break, John Kerins has been very much thrown in at the deep end; this Munster semi-final represents only his third start as goalkeeper for the club’s senior team. Such is the strength of the Crokes’ middle third, Kerins’ kick-outs, and ability to find a blue shirt with each restart, will come under scrutiny. In last year’s Munster semi-final at Lewis Road, Crokes’ 15-point winning margin was heavily tied to the dominance of Ambrose O’Donovan and Johnny Buckley under the Kilmurry/Ibrickane kick-outs.

Crokes’ goalkeeper Shane Murphy will be hoping for a somewhat better outing than last week where he struggled, at times, to find a black and amber shirt in the first-half against Moyle Rovers.