John Fenton hopes Cork feel the helping hand of history

Fenton's Cork were foiled by Limerick with a historic six Munsters in a row on the line. Limerick have now gone one better but the weight of history remains heavy.

Tue, 02 Jul, 2024 - 07:09

John Fogarty

Limerick wouldn’t be considered the measure of John Fenton’s storied inter-county career but they feature prominently.

It was 49 years ago that he made his championship debut in the first of three Munster finals he won against them. It was Limerick too who shattered his and Cork’s dreams of the provincial six-in-a-row in 1980.

And it is Limerick who provided the opposition in the game for which he is most remembered: the sweetest of blows on the sliotar for his iconic goal in the 1987 Munster semi-final replay.

Fenton has spoken often of the score Damien Irwin said he was destined to make seeing as he hit so many ground balls. However, only once and briefly and humorously was it brought up in conversation with the late Tommy Quaid who was manning the Limerick goal that day.

“I was good friends with Tommy. I remember being at the 1993 league final between Cork and Wexford in Thurles. There were three games and I was going into the stand with my son and for some reason there was a football game on before it, and Tommy was standing at the entrance gate into the Thurles pitch.

“I just said to him, ‘Jesus, Tommy, don’t tell me you’re taking up that game!’ He turned around and said, ‘At least I might see that ball.’ That’s the only conversation I had with Tommy Quaid about it. Look, he just happened to be the goalkeeper that was there, he was a great goalkeeper, his son (Nickie) is doing fantastically well. A fierce nice guy.”

Limerick this year went one better than Fenton’s Cork in 1980. History hasn’t yet been a burden for John Kiely’s men but its hand can weigh heavy, Fenton warns.

He recalls a conversation with his team-mate John Fitzgibbon going on an All-Stars trip before the 1980 championship. “John Fitzgibbon was fierce friendly with Christy Ring and Christy Ring Junior. He grew up in a house where they talked nothing but hurling, hurling, hurling and John Fitzgibbon was way wiser than his years.

“I mentioned we were going for six-in-a-row on the bus and he said to me, ‘John, it is fierce hard to make history.’ Limerick have made history this year with six Munsters in a row, they’re quite capable of doing it (the five-in-a-row) but they are quite capable of something (else) happening in between as well.

“Kilkenny tried to do it, they failed to do it. They had a team as good as Limerick now are. They failed to do it. I hope Cork might have a surprise in store for them.”

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It's 40 years since Fenton scored 1-7 against Limerick in a Munster semi-final on the way to winning the GAA’s centenary provincial and All-Ireland titles. Meeting his fellow All-Ireland winning captain Ambrose O’Donovan in Killarney for last week’s Circet All-Ireland GAA Golf Challenge brought back a lot of memories of that unique year and the All-Ireland final against Offaly in Thurles.

They’re well-known at this stage but match-day preparations were bizarre to say the least. “We got off the train, into the bus, had two Garda outriders with us and the next thing we turned up at the gates of the Ursuline convent. We opened the doors, the gates were locked behind us and we went inside and the nuns were there and our first task was to take them out to the tennis courts and show them a bit of hurling.

“Then we had mass, we had our tea and sandwiches and everything was laid out in red and white. And while we were having our teams meeting, the nuns were getting a spin on the back of the Gardas’ bikes out to the gate of the convent and back so it was a most unusual preparation for the game.

“We were very determined to win that game, we had lost the two previous finals. For Cork, it was the 25th victory in 100 years so an average of one in four. We would settle for that now again.”

The average since 1984 is one every eight. Nineteen years since the Liam MacCarthy Cup last crossed the border at Charleville, the yearning is very real, admits Fenton. Nobody would have imagined it being this long when Cork retained the silverware in 2005.

“We went from ’54 to ’66 without winning one. That was a long time. This 20-year hiatus has been hard to take in Cork, to be quite honest with you. Cork, while we would be a dual county, we would see in the attendances that hurling is the first preference and you could actually feel the lift around the county the day we beat Limerick.

“Everybody, there was a spring in their step. It was fantastic. Hurling lifts Cork people and Cork people love hurling and love winning at hurling and with style as well. That was a typical Cork victory and it lifted the whole county.”

In SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh in May, Cork demonstrated that Limerick are beatable. Fenton doesn’t think Sunday’s change of scene makes a difference. “I think mentally if you’re prepared, you can play anywhere. Cork are used to Croke Park, we’ve been in Croke Park, it’s not something where we haven’t been. The venue will not be and cannot be used as an excuse.

“When we played Limerick there in 2018, we had them on the ropes and it went to extra-time. The venue won’t be an issue.”