Tag: hurling
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Patrick Horgan and the Eternal Quest
In the end, Patrick Horgan’s greatness was defined not by medals, but by moments of magic. The Celtic Cross may have eluded him, but he leaves the stage owing us nothing.
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Failing and Flying
Cork hurling lends itself almost too easily to the lore of Greek mythology. And in the wake of Pat Ryan’s departure, it’s Icarus that springs most readily to mind.
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Rebels weep
The sleveen Rudyard Kipling wrote some shite about how you are a man “if you can meet triumph with disaster and treat those two imposters just the same”, but you’ve no meas in that stoic, stiff upper lip bollix of the British Empire. Rebels weep.
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Back to the Old House
It’s weeks like these when we find ourselves drawn to the games that came before. History, flawed and fickle as it is, becomes the lens through which we try to glimpse the future.
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The Hype Train
60,000 Cork supporters travelled up to the capital yesterdayl. If that’s what ‘hype’ looks like, then I’m all for. And I’ll say this much; there are plenty of counties out there that could use a bit of hype.
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Looking beyond The Pale
Over-confident? Complacent? Probably. But as supporters, that’s part of the deal. We dream ahead, talk big, and then blame the team for losing focus if it all unravels. Just the beautiful contradiction of fandom.
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That Ultimate Freedom
What we came for was a performance, to close that yawning sixteen-point gap and to prove that if we crossed paths for a third time, a win might no longer be out of reach. No matter which way the penalties fell, the what preceded them gave us that.
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Final, not final
Saturday’s sequel isn’t do or die by any means. But we need to see something.
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Red Mist
A game spoiled by a red card. Still, if a ruined spectacle has to be sacrificed, so be it.
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Easter Expectations
Clare have beaten us every which way over the past number of years. Nobody is getting ahead of themselves, despite what the bookies may think.
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Written in the scars
Is Cork’s victory really written in the stars? Or more aptly, written in the scars of over a decade of heartbreak.
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Feeding the Multitude
The ticket scramble is, and always will be, the game before the game.
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So close, but just how far?
A deserved exit. But at least we went out on our sword. And if Limerick are indeed on the wane, could Pat Ryan’s charges be the ones to fill the impending power vacuum?
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Setanta 3:7
It’s said that a flame that burns twice as bright burns for half as long. As it was with Setanta, who for one glorious summer, lit up the hurling world. Then he was gone.
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What’s another year?
Another year down. Another year no closer to where we want to be.
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Staying alive
We are making it up as we go along. But at least we’re still going along.
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How far we done fell
Just another pasting. Just another polemic.
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Nothing but the same old story
Kieran Kingston said that last Sunday’s defeat won’t define our season. But unless something drastically improves, it could well define not just this season but this entire, wretched era.
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Final Desperation
Seven weeks ago, in the Munster semi-final, Cork did a lot of things right and Limerick did a lot of things wrong. Yet when all was said and done, eight points still separated the sides. Last weekend, Cork did a lot of things wrong, and Limerick did almost everything right. Do the maths yourself.
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No treasure but hope
There is no logical argument you can make in favour of a Cork win next Sunday. But who needs logic anyhow?
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A different animal
Previous iterations would have wilted in the tropical Limerick sun. However, this Cork side is a different animal to that which went before.
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Stepping Stone: How Cork U21 teams have backboned senior success
While a u-21 All-Ireland title would be welcomed with open arms in Cork, the true success of this crop of hurlers won’t become apparent for years to come.
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Come at the King, you best not miss
Cork did a lot right. Limerick did a lot wrong. But just doing a lot right was never going to be enough.
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Championship Preview: The truth is we don’t know anything
In the wake of the leagueiest league that has ever leagued, predictions are an act of folly. The truth is we haven’t a clue.
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Limerick ’01
Twenty years ago, a Limerick side that hadn’t won a championship game in four years travelled to Cork to face the provincial champions. A culmination of off-field and on-field drama saw the underdogs prevail.
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Rebel Tea Party: Thirty years on from the Cork’s first jersey sponsorship
30 years ago, the GAA made the seismic decision to allow jersey sponsorship and Cork GAA, in tandem with Barry’s Tea, became the commercial trailblazers in a brave new world.
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Hurling and Science – incompatible foes?
This afternoon, Cork claimed their third BT Young Scientist award in five years. But at what cost?
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Green with Envy
Is it too early to talk about the next great hurling dynasty? Unfortunately, I don’t think it is.
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We’re back. For now at least.
Cork answered a lot of questions last Saturday. But they’ll have more to answer next Saturday.
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A Summer like no other
Deserted stadia and crowded streets. It’s been the strangest of summers.
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The most competitive club championship in Ireland?
While many different metrics can be used to gauge the competitiveness of the GAA’s club championships, the wealth, or lack of, competition can be ascertained, at least to a certain extent, by examining the spread of finalists in each county.
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Club v County: How this year’s championships might provide the catalyst for change
It may have taken a global health crisis and the complete cessation of sport for three months, but maybe the GAA might emerge from its hibernation with a feasible solution to its perennial fixtures problem. Or at the very least, something vaguely resembling a feasible solution.
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Just let us hurl
Should training sessions involving a limited number of personnel be permitted, it stands to reason that teams at the lowest rung of the GAA ladder, your Junior B’s and Junior C’s of this world, teams with which ‘training in small numbers’ is usually a given, should be the first to dip their toes into the…
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10 years on: When Aisake rocked Tipp
Ten years ago this month, an old and unfancied Cork team welcomed the All-Ireland runners-up, Tipperary to the Park. Aided by a man mountain at full-forward, it proved to be the last kick from a dying team.
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The summer’s out of reach
John Horan practically dismissed all hopes of an All-Ireland championship last weekend. What are we going to do with ourselves now?
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The 1905 All-Ireland Final: How a mole in the camp cost Cork a Championship
115 years ago, hostility abounded between two of Cork’s most prestigious hurling clubs. Did this bitterness give rise to the espionage which ultimately thwarted Cork’s All-Ireland ambitions?
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Finbarr Delaney holds a peculiar place in Cork’s record books.
A dual minor All-Ireland winner, at one time Finbarr Delaney was one of the most prolific forwards in Cork hurling.
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Niall Mac, 2004 and that point
Even in times so devoid of sporting commentary and parochial discord, comparing Niall McCarthy to D.J. Carey is probably as futile an exercise as can possibly be conceived. Yet here we are.
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When the wall came down: The devolution of Cork’s half-back line
John Gardiner, Ronan Curran and Sean Og O’hAilpin used once reign supreme. Since their departure, they’ve proved a tough act to follow.
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Hurling League Preview: The Cooper Expirement and The Lehane Dilemma
The Cork hurlers 2020 campaign begins in earnest on Sunday. Grounds for experimenation, integration and rejuvenation. But at the end of the day, it’s still only the league.
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The decade that’s been: Ten years of false dawns
We were back, we were miles off, we were back again, we were years away. Cork’s hokey-pokey decade.
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Four Kings: The Class of ’08
In June 2008, Patrick Horgan, Seamus Callanan, T.J Reid and Joe Canning all made their intercounty debuts. Since then, they have been at the forefront of hurling’s golden age of scoring.
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Dissecting the Decade: Feeding grounds for Cork hurling (2010-19)
Since 2010, 64 players have hurled for Cork in the heat of championship, representing a total of 32 clubs.
Bold Thady Quill 