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Irish Times
28-07-2025
- Sport
- Irish Times
Cork must rise above groans of fickle fans and take heed of Jimmy Barry-Murphy's words
The last time Cork lost two All-Ireland hurling finals in a row, in 1982 and 1983, Jimmy Barry-Murphy was the Cork captain in both years. Adding to his sense of personal torment, he failed to score in both games. 'I flopped on two big days,' he said in an interview for Voices from Croke Park, a book published by the GPA in 2010. 'I'm not ashamed to say it. I bombed out on the two days I wanted most to win.' By that stage of his career, Barry-Murphy was one of the most successful hurlers and footballers in the history of the GAA and one of the most adored sportspeople there had ever been in Cork. Stretching back to his first senior final with the footballers in 1973 as a suedehead teenager, Barry-Murphy was a player who delivered on the biggest day. In that All-Ireland final, he scored 2-1. With the hurlers in 1976, he blew the game apart with four points in the final quarter. Two years later he scored the goal that upended Kilkenny. READ MORE I'd be the first to admit that I would have scoffed at all this stuff years ago — Jimmy Barry-Murphy The point was that JBM knew what it took to perform in the biggest games and yet in 1982 and 1983, he couldn't access that knowledge, or he couldn't execute the stuff he knew. Why not? He didn't work that out in time for 1983. By his own account, he didn't confront the question. 'I'm convinced now that I wanted it so badly – captaining Cork to an All-Ireland – that I waited for other people to do it for me,' he said in 2010. 'Going into '83, I didn't analyse it deeply why I had played so badly in '82. The disappointment of losing in '82 and '83 was shattering. 'I suppose if I was playing now, there'd be a sports psychologist involved with the team to help out. I'd be the first to admit that I would have scoffed at all this stuff years ago. I wouldn't now. I needed to unscramble certain things in my head going into that game [in 1983] and I didn't do it.' When something extraordinary happens, there is a natural instinct to look for context, something that might add to our understanding and subtract from our bewilderment. Kilkenny captain Liam Fennelly (left), Cork captain Jimmy Barry-Murphy and referee Neil Duggan before the 1983 All-Ireland SHC final at Croke Park. Photograph: Billy Stickland/Inpho When people wondered if any team had ever scored only two points in the second half of an All-Ireland hurling final, as Cork did eight days ago, the answer emerged quickly: Kilkenny in 2004, against Cork. Had you forgotten too? That was a low-scoring game, but nine points was Kilkenny's lowest score in an All-Ireland final since 1936 and for them it must have felt like the sky had fallen in. There must have been Cork players last weekend whose experience carried echoes of JBM in 1982 and 1983: so desperate for something to happen that they wrapped themselves up in a knot. And just like JBM, maybe there was underlying stuff from the final the year before that had been unresolved. [ Joe Canning: Half-time decisions or lack of them looks like a mistake on Cork's part now Opens in new window ] The black box will be recovered, but the investigation will take months. In these situations, first responses are always fascinating. The urge to 'catastrophise' is common in sport and, like water, it follows the path of least resistance. As soon as the final whistle blew in Croke Park, blame exploded like a bomb. It was everywhere. In real life, when something terrible befalls someone in our affections, the first response is compassion and a desire to help. In sport, that is rarely the case, regardless of the feelings you professed while the team was winning. Every team has a hard core of unwavering loyalists, but, in general, support is conditional on performance. It is not the kind of unconditional love that you will receive from the family dog. It is far more shallow than that. So, the Tipperary supporters who had run away from their team in tens of thousands last year embraced their players in triumph. As they did, the tens of thousands of Cork supporters who had delighted in their team through a winning season were suddenly disaffected and angry and wallowing in self-pity and a sense of betrayal. How dare they fail. Part of the problem in Cork was that there had been two weeks of blinkered giddiness in the build-up. It was like that scene in Goodfellas where Joe Pesci's character thinks he's going to become a 'made man' and ends up with a bullet in the back of the head. He hit the deck wearing his best suit. Cork were whacked in a mafia hit. The GAA has no rules about that. There were mixed feelings when Cork cancelled their homecoming reception on Monday. The loyalists felt cheated of their opportunity to express their continuing affection for these players and offer some succour. Most people, though, believed it was the sensible thing to do. The players were mortified enough without having to face a rump of their public. Cork fans celebrate after last year's comprehensive victory against Tipperary in the Munster Senior Hurling Championship. Photograph: Laszlo Geczo/Inpho After the Cork footballers lost badly to Kerry in the 2007 All-Ireland final, Billy Morgan felt the players' efforts throughout the year should be dignified by a homecoming. In the event, a few hundred people turned up. Deserting the footballers never cost Cork people a second thought. It is easy to forget how much that group of Cork footballers suffered before they finally won an All-Ireland in 2010. Losing to Kerry in Munster had been an inherited experience for generations of Cork players, but that group lost four times to Kerry in Croke Park – two All-Ireland semi-finals and two finals – all of which magnified the pain. Stubbornly, heroically, they kept going. It is astonishing sometimes how the wheel turns. In 1965, Cork lost to Tipperary by 18 points in the Munster hurling final. It was the greatest annihilation that either team had visited upon the other in their long history up to that point. Tipp were the reigning All-Ireland champions, but according to newspaper reports, their supporters were outnumbered 'four to one' by Cork followers that day in Limerick. Cork mustered just five lonely points, and yet, by some voodoo, Cork were All-Ireland champions just 14 months later. Does that sound familiar? In May of last year Tipp lost to Cork by 18 points, equalling the greatest beating that either team had visited upon the other. Fourteen months later they were All-Ireland champions too. The people that mattered in Tipp rose above the din of condemnation and their voices ultimately prevailed. In Cork, that must happen too.
Irish Times
19-07-2025
- Sport
- Irish Times
Double take: The pitfalls of meeting recent opponents in an All-Ireland hurling final
There is surprise that the Cork - Tipperary rivalry has taken so long to arrive on hurling's biggest stage, especially as there have already been five all- Munster finals since such a fixture became a possibility in 1997. Hurling first took the plunge to allow beaten teams to re-enter the All-Ireland with the original amnesty for defeated provincial finalists – the back door, as was the slightly dismissive terminology. Football followed with a broad programme of second chances for everyone defeated in their province. So, 28 years ago marked a revolution. From then on, you could end up in an All-Ireland final against a team you had already played. This was a culture shift and it didn't sit easily with everyone. The games and their championships were meant to be about sudden death with all its pressures and finality. Instead, teams might end up having to defeat a rival twice, or worse, lose to opponents they had previously beaten. READ MORE Sunday is the 10th meeting of finalists who originated in the same province. So far, six of those fixtures have gone the way of the previous winners, leaving three that didn't. Two of those three went to replays. Daniel Kearney played for Cork in 2013. Under Jimmy Barry-Murphy, they lost the Munster final to Limerick, having defeated Clare, who they ended up playing in that year's All-Ireland final. Was there the dynamic of worrying about the losers having learned more from defeat than they had themselves in victory? Cork's Daniel Kearney and Conor McGrath of Clare during the drawn All-Ireland SHC final of 2013. Photograph: Ryan Byrne/Inpho 'In terms of the game plan, your mentality, there's so much value and richness in those hard moments,' said Kearney. 'That's really where, if you stop and understand what happened, understand the areas of improvement you can get, that's better than 20 training sessions.' Kearney believes too much time can be spent second guessing opponents that you already know quite well. [ Three Munster finals that created the mythos of Tipperary v Cork Opens in new window ] 'You can focus too much on the other team when you already know them and maybe are over-familiar with them – trying to be too cute and over-thinking what they're going to do again or what will they change. 'That's where I find managers can get it wrong, when you just really need to focus on the things you need to get right.' Margins were small. With time up, Domhnall O'Donovan equalised with the only point of his intercounty career. Cork had come within seconds of the title, which must have made it hard going into the replay. 'Definitely. The momentum was with Clare.' Galway's David Collins and Eoin Larkin of Kilkenny go hell for leather during the 2012 All-Ireland SHC final. Photograph: James Crombie/Inpho It's one thing when there isn't much between the teams on either day. David Collins's experience was different. He and his Galway teammates had hammered All-Ireland champions Kilkenny in the Leinster final to win the county's first O'Keeffe Cup in 2012 – by 10 points. Had the scale of that win made them apprehensive about facing the same opponents less than two months later? [ Joe Canning: Tipperary need a performance for the ages to have any chance of stopping Cork juggernaut Opens in new window ] 'When you beat a team like that, you know there's a sting in the tail coming. I'll always remember the Leinster final being epic and we played out of our skins but could we emulate that again? Could we reach those standards again? It was going to be very difficult obviously and we knew that Kilkenny now had a cause and a stick to beat us with. 'We were good enough to do it the first day, so why are we not good enough, now?' They did find a performance again and led by five at half-time, but it ended in a draw. Galway had a late injury before the replay when goalkeeper James Skehill was ruled out. The team's confidence was draining away. 'The biggest thing I found was your energy was so up and you were peaking and everything was built for the first game. And the next thing you're realising, 'oh, we should have won that game'.' Clare's Frank Lohan (right) and Liam Cahill of Tipperary battle for possession during the 1997 Munster SHC final. Photograph: Patrick Bolger/Inpho Over-thinking the second match or harbouring anxieties about emulating an exceptional performance are two separate pitfalls. The last word goes to Clare, who began the process in the first year of 1997 when they had to beat Tipperary in both the Munster and All-Ireland finals. Frank Lohan played in both matches and recalls that they simply treated it as match five on their All-Ireland schedule. 'Yeah, because it's going to be the pinnacle of what you're about and you'd be aware it doesn't happen too often. So, you are wondering about who are you marking that day and how did that go? Will they change things around? Will you be on different players? But ultimately, you're thinking, it's another opposition and how are you going to get over them.' In a nutshell, the essential truth of every All-Ireland final and one that will have preoccupied Cork and Tipperary for the past fortnight.
Yahoo
16-07-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
All-Ireland hurling final - all you need to know
All-Ireland hurling final weekend is approaching and this year's Croke Park decider will pit Cork against Munster neighbours Tipperary on Sunday 20 July. Cork were edged out by a single point, 3-29 to 1-34, by Clare in last year's final so will be keen to make up for that heartbreak this time round. Advertisement Tipp last lifted the Liam MacCarthy Cup in 2019 and will aim to bridge that six-year gap by taking victory in the Dublin showdown. As final day beckons, BBC Sport brings you the comprehensive lowdown on all you need to know ahead of the showpiece occasion of the inter-county hurling season. How to follow on the BBC The All-Ireland final will be shown live on BBC Two across the UK, and on BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport website. Coverage of the match will commence at 15:00 BST, with Sarah Mulkerrins presenting. Throw-in is at 15:30. She will be joined in studio by 2024 Hurler of the Year Shane O'Donnell, four-time All-Ireland winner Paul Murphy, Antrim great Neil McManus and at half-time by Cork legend Jimmy Barry Murphy. Advertisement Mark Sidebottom will have decorated multiple Cork All-Star Diarmuid O'Sullivan and celebrated former Tipp All-Ireland winner Seamus Callanan for company at pitchside. Thomas Niblock will provide commentary, with expert analysis from co-commentators Jamesie O'Connor and Limerick's Seamus Flanagan. The BBC Sport website will provide live text commentary, in-play clips, a match report, highlights and reaction. Roads to the final Cork advanced to the Munster SHC final by finishing second behind Limerick on points difference in the group stages. The Rebels went on to win their provincial decider against the Treaty County thanks to a dramatic penalty shootout success and Pat Ryan's side progressed to the All-Ireland final courtesy of a thumping 7-26 to 2-21 victory over Dublin at the semi-final stage. Advertisement Tipperary's route to the final involved them taking their place in the preliminary quarter-finals where they saw off Laois on a 3-32 to 0-18 scoreline. Liam Cahill's men then got the better of Galway 1-28 to 2-17 in their last-eight encounter, before defeating Kilkenny 4-20 to 0-30 in their semi-final meeting. The Munster rivals will be facing each other in an All-Ireland final for the first time but it will be a sixth all-Munster final. All-Ireland pedigree and recent meetings Cork are the second most successful county in the history of the All-Ireland Hurling Championship with 30 victories in the competition. Advertisement They will be looking for a first triumph since 2005 however, having lost four finals since they last collected the Liam MacCarthy - in 2006, 2013, 2021 and 2024. Tipp are close behind as the third most successful side, having won 28 finals, eight fewer than record 36-time champions Kilkenny. The two sides have met three times this year, with Cork winning twice and Tipp once. The Premier County came out on top 2-22 to 1-21 in their Football League encounter at Semple Stadium in February but Cork avenged that reverse by claiming the Hurling League Division 1A final in April by a margin of 3-24 to 0-23. Advertisement Also in April, the Leesiders claimed victory in the Munster round robin series by 4-27 to 0-24. Team news Team listings and news will appear here when announced. What they say Tipperary forward John McGrath: "The form is with them, I suppose. We've had a couple of tough outings against them already this year, but we've regrouped and found a little more along the way. "They are probably a couple more years down the road than us. It took us a little to get into our stride as the season has gone on. There's a huge rivalry there going years back, between the teams and supporters, and a great bit of banter in it as well. Advertisement "It's great to be looking forward to it." Cork manager Pat Ryan: "It's all about wining Liam MacCarthy and we're looking forward to it. "There were parts of that performance in the semi-final win over Dublin we wouldn't be happy with. We'll go after that because it needs to be perfect to win an All-Ireland and it wasn't perfect last year against Clare."
BBC News
17-06-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Who is new Cardiff boss Brian Barry-Murphy?
He is the seventh manager Cardiff City have turned to in the past five years, but just who is Brian Barry-Murphy?The 46-year-old will face the cameras later this week after signing a three-year deal to become the Bluebirds' head coach, leaving his coaching role at Leicester fans will be keen to get to know the person charged with leading the club in League One following their recent relegation from the BBC Sport Wales, picks out some of the more interesting trivia around the new man at Cardiff City is the son of Gaelic sport icon Jimmy Barry-Murphy, who won All-Ireland titles in football and hurling as well as titles as a coach. Roy Keane has previously described him as one of his sporting Cork, he broke through at Cork City as a teenager, with Football Association of Wales chief executive Noel Mooney a former won caps at Under-21 level for the Republic of Ireland, lining up alongside future Cardiff City midfielder Stephen Moyes brought the defensive midfielder over from Ireland when he signed the then 20-year-old for Preston North End in 1999, Barry-Murphy playing once as the Deepdale side won promotion to the second made his English football debut against Wrexham in the EFL Cup – and was sent off against Wrexham later than season in the EFL loan spells at Southend and Hartlepool United, Chris Turner signed him for Sheffield Wednesday as they were relegated from the played under future Wrexham boss Graham Barrow and Wales and Sheffield United assistant Alan Knill at Bury before joining final club Rochdale in 2010. He became a player-coach at Rochdale (above) under Keith Hill – winning promotion to League One in 2014 – before taking charge as manager in 2019. He won six of the final 11 games to keep the side in the third Rochdale side took Manchester United to penalties at Old Trafford in the 2019/20 EFL Cup, 16-year-old Luke Matheson grabbing Dale's equaliser 14 minutes from time.A young Rochdale side – including would-be Wrexham midfielder Ollie Rathbone – also took Newcastle United to an FA Cup replay that same quit Rochdale after they were unable to avoid relegation in his third season, promptly joining Manchester City to replace Enzo Maresca in charge of the side's Under-21/23 sides and winning back-to-back Premier League youth Palmer, Rico Lewis, Oscar Bobb, Romeo Lavia, Liam Delap, Nico O'Reilly and James McAtee are among those who played under Barry-Murphy at City, as did current Cardiff midfielder Alex has two children with TV and radio presenter partner Sarah-Jane Crawford.
RTÉ News
06-06-2025
- Climate
- RTÉ News
Provincial hurling finals - All You Need to Know
SATURDAY Munster SHC final Limerick v Cork, TUS Gaelic Grounds, 6pm SUNDAY Joe McDonagh Cup final Kildare v Laois, Croke Park, 1.45pm Leinster SHC final Kilkenny v Galway, Croke Park, 4pm ONLINE Live blog on and the RTÉ News app. TV Live coverage of the Munster hurling final on Saturday on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player from 5.15pm. Live coverage of the Joe McDonagh final and the Leinster hurling final on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player on Sunday, starting at 1.30pm. Highlights on The Saturday Game (9.40pm) and The Sunday Game (9.30pm) on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. RADIO Live commentaries and updates on Saturday Sport and Sunday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1 and Spórt an tSathairn and Spórt an Lae, RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta. WEATHER Saturday: In Munster, the showers earlier in the day will largely die out later in the afternoon to leave a fine evening. Highest temperatures of 12 to 15 degrees, with moderate northwesterly winds. Sunday: Sunday will bring a mix of sunshine and showers. Highest temperatures of 13 to 17 degrees in moderate westerly winds. Overview - an era of domination Limerick have already broken new ground in the Munster hurling championship with the first-ever six-in-a-row last year. Now, it's just a question of what record they're going to set for future dynasties. It's a particularly stunning feat given that Limerick, traditionally, are outside the 'big two' in Munster. Or, at best, they were the half in the 'big two-and-a-half', akin to Roscommon in the Connacht football championship. Who knows, the long-term legacy of the Kiely-Kinnerk era may be that future generations will refer to a 'big four' rather than a 'big three'? They've beaten every other Munster county in a provincial final in the current run, aside from Cork. They're coming off three successive Munster final wins over Clare, the last of which was the most clear-cut. Tipperary were dispatched in 2019 and 2021, the latter after that remarkable second half turnaround. In 2020, they saw off Waterford before beating them again in the All-Ireland final. Cork are both the last Munster team to win the province before the Limerick supremacy arrived - and they're also the last side to beat Limerick in a Munster final, winning the last championship game played at the old Páirc Uí Chaoimh back in 2014 during Jimmy Barry Murphy's second stint in charge. Kilkenny's present domination of the Leinster hurling championship has attracted far less notice. Indeed, their achievement of the provincial five-in-a-row last year crept up on people. Partly, this is because Kilkenny dominance of Leinster has typically been the historical norm and partly because the province is much less glamorous. Even more so, it's down to their failure to back it up with a Liam MacCarthy, which, as Richie Hogan noted this week, is the only currency worth considering in Kilkenny. The run started in 2020, when they ended a four-year stretch without a Leinster title in an empty Croke Park, after pick-pocketing a generally superior Galway side down the home straight. The westerners looked comfortably the better team for an hour, maintaining a four-to-five point lead for most of the second half. Then Hogan, introduced as a late substitute, rustled up a truly ingenious goal, with Reid whipping in a second within a matter of seconds to turn the game on its head. They've beaten Galway in two more Leinster finals since then. Cody's last provincial victory in 2022 came after an unimaginably dull, free-ridden game. 2023 was another dramatic smash-and-grab. Henry Shefflin's Galway side appeared to have done enough with a stirring final quarter to lead by two in injury-time - until Padraic Mannion's panicked clearance with his boot found Cillian Buckley's paw and we know the rest. Even by the poor standards of your average Kilkenny-Dublin Leinster final, last year's provincial decider was a non-event. Cork aim to recover from "set-up" The blithe and gleeful confidence that settled over Cork in the wake of the league final is a distant memory. The 16-point mauling in the Gaelic Grounds was a shock to the system and a sobering reminder that the great Limerick side of the 2020s aren't close to being done. The Rebels were even threatened with elimination on the final day and produced a somewhat jittery performance at home to Waterford, in which their far greater attacking quality would eventually tell in the end. The Cork management have been angrily rounding on the hype-mongers since the loss in Limerick. Pat Ryan accused those who were writing off Limerick of being "off their game" and "setting us up for a fall." Selector Wayne Sherlock branded the media hype as "cringey outside noise" and had a pop at the Paddy Power stunt of paying out on Cork winning the All-Ireland after the league final. "I think we were being set-up, to be honest," Sherlock told reporters this week. "It's kind of insulting. I think people want us to fail." Ryan even took aim at the concept of 'Corkness', branding it "the most stupid word I ever heard." We can fairly take it that they've concluded the pre-championship hype was not helpful and that a more workmanlike Cork team - and a more humble Cork crowd - will arrive in Shannonside this Saturday. Galway old stagers still plugging away Of Galway's 11 competitive matches in 2025, they've won seven and lost the other four by 12 points. It was assumed this was a transitional period. The returning All-Ireland winning manager Micheál Donoghue was given a four-year term, which was taken to imply this was partly a re-build job. The manager acknowledged they were "looking to the future" after 2017 veterans Joseph Cooney, Gearóid McInerney and Adrian Touhy departed before the season began. But there's a surprising degree of continuity around Galway, all the same. David Burke is still relied upon to bring a stability and game-management expertise to midfield. The Mannions remain prominent at both ends of the field. Daithí Burke and Fintan Burke form the bedrock of the defence. Conor Whelan, notwithstanding his patchy form early in the season, provides much of the gold-dust in attack. In some respects, the 'transition' hasn't even started yet. There has been some change. John Fleming has been a workhorse at wing-forward, while Gavin Lee has nailed down the problematic position of centre-back - though doubts about his defensive suitability were raised after the second half against Wexford. Loughrea's Anthony Burns has shown impressive flashes in the inside forward line, though Kevin Cooney is preferred to start this weekend. Team News There is still some uncertainty about who will be manning the goal for Galway. Their official submitted team is at odds with their 'X' account, with the supposedly suspended Darach Fahy named on the former, while Eanna Murphy is down to start on the latter. Fahy was suspended by the CHC for slapping out at AJ Murphy, though the Tribesmen are still intent on appealing. Otherwise, as noted above, Kevin Cooney - so impressive in the last Leinster decider against Kilkenny in 2023 - replaces Anthony Burns. Derek Lyng is still without the injured Eoin Cody, though Adrian Mullen returns to his centre-forward berth after his runout at centre-back for the Wexford dead rubber. Cork, meanwhile, have handed Diarmuid Healy his first start in place of Brian Roche, while Shane Barrett captains the team in the absence of the injured Rob Downey. For Limerick, Aidan O'Connor makes a first championship start, replacing Shane O'Brien at full-forward. Kildare seek to break new ground in Joe Mc The Kildare hurlers go in search of a landmark victory this weekend, which would take them into the Leinster SHC for the first time since 2004. They've flirted with the big-time in decades past. In 1976, Kildare beat Dublin and took the eventual champions Wexford to the brink in the semi-final. They won the old All-Ireland 'B' championship on four occasions, including in 1989 and 2004. Their rise in modern times has been charted here, with the strength of Naas being a core reason. A Croke Park appearance looked unlikely after an opening day loss to Kerry - who were subsequently relegated - but they've won four from four since, including a shock 11-point win over Laois in the penultimate round. The north of the county is now the hurling stronghold - a turnaround from previous eras - with Maynooth's David Qualter and Naas' Jack Sheridan to the fore on the scoring front. Last year's losing finalists Laois enter as slight favourites despite the loss in Portlaoise. They squeezed into the final after James Duggan's last-gasp goal snatched a draw in Carlow. Tommy Fitzgerald's side is without Cha Dwyer, who took umbrage at being substituted against Carlow, while goalkeeper Enda Rowland has opted out. Mossie Keyes, who hit 0-14 in Netwatch Cullen Park, has been to the fore in attack in this campaign.
