Blackrock's Éamonn O'Donoghue reels in the years as he looks ahead to meeting of Cork giants

STALWART: Eamonn O'Donoghue of Cork in action during the early 80s. Picture credit; Ray McManus/SPORTSFILE

We’ll deal with the 1974, 79, and 82 county finals further down. Let’s start instead with a lesser-known Barrs-Rockies championship clash.

Éamonn O’Donoghue joined the Blackrock senior panel in the early swings of the 1971 season, but, as the campaign began to pick up some speed, the then teenager “drifted off”, content to hurl away at junior level.

There’d be plenty more years to exist, and survive, and thrive at the top table. 18 years, in fact, where O’Donoghue was concerned.

His senior championship debut came at the throw-in of the 72 race. A first-round fixture against who else but their southside rivals.

Of course, it wasn’t just a first-round clash. It was a repeat of the previous year’s seven-goal county final which Blackrock had won 2-19 to 5-4.

The Rockies came wanting to retain their grip on this rivalry. The Barrs came bloodthirsty for revenge. Young O’Donoghue came wanting to survive, and maybe even thrive if he could.

His on-field introduction to Barrs-Rockies life mixed the good with the not so good. It was and wasn’t a baptism of fire.

According to the archives, the young forward finished as Blackrock’s top-scorer with 1-4. That was the good. The not so good was the 6-11 to 1-14 hammering the then All-Ireland club champions were on the receiving end of at the old Athletic Grounds.

Their defence of the county title lasted 60 minutes.

“I played all right, but we were well beaten. They destroyed us. God be good to Brendan Mooney of the Examiner he was covering the match,” O’Donoghue recalled this week.

It was the first of countless Barrs-Rockies clashes he would line out in. No one was more or less important than the other. Ground could never be ceded. Dominance asserted could never run long enough.

Final meetings happened in 74, 79, and 82, with semi-final get-togethers in 76, 77, 84, and 88.

“In the city at the time, hurling was the number one game. You had the factories, Ford and Dunlop. If you looked through the Blackrock, Barrs, and Glen teams, there was an amount of players that worked in those factories. There was tremendous banter and slagging below in these places.

“Honestly, we were good friends off the pitch. Ger Cunningham and I worked together for a while with Dwan's drinks, and we’d be still friendly.

“There was plenty of Barrs and Blackrock lads on the Cork panel at the time and when we went training with Cork, there was always good banter and a bit of craic.

“I never saw anyone carry issues from the club scene into the Cork camp, even though we had many arguments and often fought on the pitch. But when we went in with Cork, all was forgotten and everyone pulled together.” 

Their games live in legend. Unquantifiable acts of skill. Unquantifiable attendances too.

How does O'Donoghue remember them now, from a remove of 40 and 50 years?

“They were physical, a lot more physical than the games today. There was a lot more let go by the referees. Inside in the parallelograms, it was tough.

“There were some tremendously skillful players on both sides. For the Rockies, you had the likes of Tom Cashman, Ray Cummins, Dermot MacCurtain. There was John O’Halloran too, a physically very strong player. We had a nice mixture.

“There used to be a brilliant atmosphere in the old stadium before it was redeveloped. When you ran out onto the pitch, the crowd were right there on top of you.

“I marked Denis Burns in the 74 decider at the Mardyke, another good friend. We had a good battle that day.” There was regret for 74 and the lead they failed to protect. Revenge tasted particularly sweet in 79, though, as the Rockies successfully defended the Sean Óg Murphy Cup for the first time since 1931.

“That we had retained the county was very important. Especially too when it was the Barrs. We hadn’t beaten them for a number of years.” The pendulum swung again in 82, the Barrs triumphing in the last county final between the pair.

Stepping away in 1989, his gearbag contained five county and two All-Ireland club medals. They shared similar riches across in the Barrs and above in the Glen.

But empires rise and empires fall. The three city institutions each suffered their own unimaginable droughts in the ensuing four decades. In Togher, they’re still waiting for rain.

“Things changed. We had an old area. There’s a lot of development now, but there was very little back then around Blackrock. All the factories went then, as well, which took the atmosphere out of it.” 

O’Donoghue did his bit to revive Rockies fortunes. As juvenile chairman in the mid-noughties, he and others got Fergal Ryan and Wayne Sherlock involved with the underage teams.

He was still juvenile chair when they won the minor county in 2009. A deluge of underage success followed. Three more minor and three U21 county titles landed into Church Road in the following six seasons.

“I got good satisfaction at seeing a lot of these players coming through and being involved in the senior win two years ago.” 

They’ve yet to back up the 2020 campaign. To do so at the Barrs expense; unquantifiable sweetness, you’d think.

“There won’t be much in it. We’d be hoping to be on the right side of it.”