'He always had a smile' - Tributes to Pa Finn, All-Ireland winning manager with Cork and St Finbarr's
Cork selector Pa Finn ahead of a Munster championship meeting with Tipperary in Semple Stadium. Pic: Ray McManus / SPORTSFILE
The late Pa Finn stood on many sidelines around the county and country, but he made sure never to stand on a sideline against his beloved Barrs.
The former Cork hurling selector, All-Ireland winning Cork camogie manager, and All-Ireland winning club coach was laid to rest on Monday afternoon, with tributes led by his nephew Ger Cunningham.
Finn was a selector when Cunningham made his senior goalkeeping debut for St Finbarr’s during the 1979 Cork senior hurling championship, but it was the two previous years where the late coach enjoyed his greatest success with the Blues.
Along with Mick Kennefick and Denis Murphy, Finn was coach/selector in the three-man management team that oversaw the Barrs’ Cork, Munster, and All-Ireland club final victories in their all-conquering 1977/78 season.
After closing that particular Barrs chapter at the end of the 1979 campaign, a campaign where they came up short to Blackrock in the decider, Finn set off on what was an uncommon journey at the time, that of the outside coach.
His first port of call was Kilbrittain, although he didn't know that at the time. The job caught him very much by surprise.
“The chairman at the time in Kilbrittain contacted I think it was Charlie McCarthy about getting somebody down from the Barrs to do a bit of coaching with them. Charlie passed on Pa's number, and they contacted Pa. And so Pa went down there thinking it would be just to say a few words, give them a bit of advice, a general chit-chat,” Cunningham recalls.
“Nora (his wife), himself, and the dog went down one day. Nora went for a walk with the dog and when Pa went in he was announced to the players as their new coach for the season!
“It wasn't the done thing at the time and certainly he was one of the first in the Barrs to start the trend of outside coaches, people going outside and working with different clubs. But he never trained anyone else in senior against the Barrs.
“He stayed in the junior and intermediate grades specifically because he wouldn't train a team in the same competition as the Barrs. That happened twice.”
The first was in 1994 when he led St Catherine’s up into the senior ranks for the first time in the club’s history. The second was four years later when he managed Castlelyons to Cork intermediate hurling glory. On both occasions, he stepped aside once promotion to the top table had been achieved. A true Blue couldn't go up against his own.
“He came back into the Barrs senior set-up then in 1999 as coach,” Cunningham continued. “The Barrs were his family.”
But while he never went up senior with either Castlelyons or Catherine’s, the friendships formed from his time with the respective clubs carried through the decades.
When Denis Walsh of Catherine’s became Cork senior hurling manager in 2009, he brought his old club coach in as selector.
That stint as Cork selector wasn’t Finn’s first time working with an inter-county set-up. In 2002, he managed the Cork senior camogie team to All-Ireland glory over Tipperary.
“One of the first things he did when he went in as camogie coach was he said to change the jerseys from white to red. Cork wore white jerseys at the time, but he said Cork should always wear red.
“The camogie team has been a phenomenal support to him. Pa's traits and his personality were that he made friends wherever he went. The likes of Linda Mellerick, Denise Cronin, Vivienne Harris, Rose Desmond have remained friends with Pa since long after he left that job. He classed them as great friends and great people.
“He always had a smile on his face and never a bad word to say. Always so full of positivity.”
Former Cork camogie chairperson Marian McCarthy corroborated Cunningham’s story about the change in jersey colour.
“Up to 2001, Cork camogie teams wore white jerseys with red trim. When Pa came on board with the seniors, he asked the board to change to red jerseys. ‘Cork are red’, he said, ‘and the girls should be wearing the traditional Cork red jersey same as hurlers and footballers’.
“We changed to red and much to Pa’s delight when Cork were crowned All-Ireland senior camogie champions in 2002, they were wearing red jerseys and have been ever since.”
McCarthy said there was great sadness in Cork camogie circles upon learning of Pa’s passing last week.
“Cork Camogie were very fortunate Pa agreed to come in as manager of Cork in 2001. I know Pa was very proud of the 2002 All-Ireland final victory and always said it was one of the two biggest highlights in his coaching career – the other one of course was when he coached his beloved Barrs to All-Ireland senior club success in 1977/78.
“Rest easy Pa – you will be dearly missed.”
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