Big cup kick-off goes unnoticed

For more than a century, the Munster Cup was the only rugby tournament in town, far bigger than anything else in this country or throughout England, Scotland and Wales!

The Interprovincial Championship counted as unofficial trials for the Irish team but did little to enthuse the general public. The cup competitions in Ulster, Leinster and Connacht rarely generated even the slightest degree of excitement. The provincial leagues didn’t matter at all. The proverbial two men and a dog turned up for the spate of friendlies that dominated the first six months of the season.

However, when March dawned and it was cup time again, the atmosphere crackled, crowds turned up in their thousands, initially to the Mardyke and the Markets Field and later to Thomond and Musgrave parks, generating a never-to-be-forgotten atmosphere.