The Mon versus Críost Rí — ‘It was the biggest game a lot of us ever played in’

Four decades ago, the Harty Cup final was a Cork city affair: North Monastery vs Coláiste Chríost Rí. When one of those Críost Rí players says now it was the talk of the city, he’s not exaggerating

BY THE BOOK: Paddy Connery, team captain John Drinan, and Frank Higgins, catch up on North Monastery Cork’s win in the 1981 Harty Cup when they defeated Coláiste Chríost Rí. Picture: Larry Cummins

‘Friday Night Lights’ showed the world the comet that is schoolboy sporting fame but we learned about full hearts 40 years ago.

We lived that life in the North Mon, in duffel coats and Doc Martens, Bucks Fizz and Kim Wilde providing the soundtrack even for the music snobs: we saw the Harty stars every day, shouldering their way through the press of bodies, unconscious of the eyes on them. Heroes.