Gaelic Games

From Cork to Zambia: A tale of two Cork hurling priests

Fr Seanie Barry and Fr Pat Barry won All-Irelands in hurling before heading on vocations to Africa

Former Cork hurler Fr Pat Barry relaxing while at the SMA House in Wilton in Cork
Barry Roche
Sat Jul 20 2024 - 14:19

It is a tale of two priests but also two hurlers who won All-Ireland medals with Cork only to give up the chance of further hurling glory to answer a vocation which led them to Africa where for the best part of half a century, they have followed the fortune of the Rebels from afar.

Fr Seanie Barry from Rathcormac in east Cork was one of the stars in 1966 when a young Cork team came from nowhere to shock a much more experienced Kilkenny side while Fr Pat Barry (no relation) from Glen Rovers was a stout defender on the 1976 Cork team that beat Wexford.

Fr Seanie, now 79, was already answering his calling when he lined out a right half forward for the Rebels in 1966 and when he was ordained five years later and became a priest with St Patrick’s Missionary Society, the Kiltegans and headed for Africa, that ended his Cork career.

Fr Pat (72) to Cork hurling fans but Fr Paddy to his fellow SMA priests, followed a similar route some five years later, lining out a wing back on the first of the Cork All Ireland-winning three in a row team of 1976-78 only to relinquish his Cork career upon his ordination in October 1976.

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Although from different religious orders, the two men followed similar trajectories – both heading first heading to Nigeria in west Africa and then in Fr Seanie’s case to Nairobi in Kenya where he is now based and Fr Pat to Zambia where he now ministers in a parish in Lusaka.

Among thousands of Irish men and women who answered a religious calling to help spread the Gospel in Africa and Asia and elsewhere in the 20th century, they are among a handful of hurlers who left a life of local if not national acclaim on the sports field to instead follow their vocation.

Although they have each given the best part or more of half a century to their missionary work in Africa, they have both retained their passion and their love for Cork hurling and will be keenly following the fortunes of the current Cork team in Sunday’s decider against Clare.

But first a recap. From Rathcormac in east Cork, Fr Seanie won a Harty Cup medal with St Finbarr’s Farranferris and on the club front, he played first with Sars before transferring back to his own club Bride Rovers when it reformed in 1964 and he also played senior hurling with UCC.

The Cork 1966 team

His intercounty career began as subkeeper on the 1962 minor team but a year later he was a starter at right half forward and he later progressed to playing U-21 and Intermediate with Cork before he was called up to the senior panel and he made his championship debut in 1966.

That was against Clare and Cork needed a late, late goal from Justin McCarthy from a long range free to snatch a draw to set them on the road to Croke Park where they found themselves coming up as rank outsiders against a highly experienced Kilkenny team.

“We were a young team – the three McCarthys, Charlie, Gerald and Justin and myself, were all under 21 – in a sense we were innocent because none of us had played in an All-Ireland before – we had the attitude that we had nothing to lose and we were very determined and very united.”

Cork shocked Kilkenny with Colm Sheehan from Éire Óg bagging three goals while Fr Seanie notched up four points to see him lead the scoring charts in that year’s championship with 3-23 as he collected his Celtic Cross as part of a team that is regarded with huge affection in Cork.

He later collected a second Celtic Cross as an unused sub when Cork beat Wexford in 1970 but just a year later, his intercounty career was over as following his ordination as a Kiltegan Father, he went on the missions first to Nigeria and later Kenya where is now based.

“I managed to get back for a lot of the All-Irelands involving Cork afterwards – I was back for the three in-Row in 1976, 77 and 78 and I was here for the double in 1990 but for other games I was in Africa, and it was very hard to follow them because communications were so poor.

“I’ve heard stories of fellows tuning into radios to try and listen to games, but I never did that myself though I do recall watching the Cork v Clare game in 2013 on TV and seeing O’Donovan slotting over that last-minute point to tie the game and Clare, of course, won the replay.”

Turning to Fr Pat Barry (still no relation – to borrow from the great late Micheal O Muirearchtaigh), he remembered being in Croke Park as a 14-year-old, watching his namesake help Cork to victory in 1966 but his own intercounty career didn’t start until five years later.

A native of Ballyphehane on Cork’s southside, his father Michael Barry and his uncle Paddy ‘Chancer’ Barry were from Blackpool on the city’s northside, so he transferred to famed Glen Rovers and their sister football club, St Nicks, lining out in both codes for club and county.

He made his football debut for Cork as a minor in 1969 and was drafted into the under-21s hurling team the following year as a sub when Cork beat Wexford and a year later he was collecting an under-21s football medal when Cork beat Fermanagh and he went on to play senior football in 1972.

His senior hurling debut came a year later, and he won a national league and three Oireachtas medals with Cork over the next three years but even before he was ordained, his clerical studies were impacting on his hurling, and he went off the panel in 1976 when he was sent to England.

“I was ordained in June 1976, and I went over to relieve the parish priest in Canvey Island so he could come back on holidays, but Pat McDonnell got injured in July and Frank Murphy rang me and asked me could I come back to join the panel, but I said I was the only priest in the parish.

“He asked me could I come back if he got a priest to replace me for the weekend, so Fr Jackie Corkery from St Colman’s came over, I came back and played against Limerick and I held my place and that September, we beat Wexford, so I feel very lucky to have won an All-Ireland.”

Later that year after captaining Glen Rovers to a county success, Fr Pat headed out to Nigeria and, like Fr Seanie, continued following the fortunes of the Cork hurlers from afar and he was back in 1978 to see them beat Kilkenny as they completed their second three-in-a row.

The Cork 1976 team

“We got home every two years, so I was back in 1978 but I missed 1977 and I was working in rural parish in the Diocese of Ijube-Ode with poor communications, so it was only when my mother sent out Monday’s Examiner and it arrived 10 days later, that I learned Cork had won.”

Like Fr Seanie, Fr Pat has tried to get home for as many games as possible over the intervening years and he was in Thurles for 1984 Centenary Final but missed the 1986 final and the 1990 final but by now communications were beginning to improve.

“I generally try to get back any time Cork make an All-Ireland final, but I don’t ever remember listening to any ones I missed on the radio because you couldn’t get RTÉ, but I was at the 2004 and 2005 finals – little did I think that would be the last time Cork would win an All-Ireland.”

For both Fr Seanie and Fr Pat, GAAGo has been transformative and Fr Seanie will be watching Sunday’s final at his home in Nairobi having already used the service to monitor Cork’s progress all summer long from their poor opener against Waterford to their semi-final win over Waterford.

Fr Pat is equally laudatory of the service, making the point that even at weekends when there are several matches on and impossible to catch all of them, GAAGo allows him to watch some of the other top games at his leisure during the following week.

Interestingly both men, who met two years ago at a workshop in Zambia, offer almost identical responses when asked if they have regrets over following their faith to go on the missions rather than staying in Cork to pursue hurling careers that would surely have led to more success.

“I didn’t really regret it,” says Fr Seanie “once I joined the Kiltegan Fathers, I knew my hurling days were going to be limited but I got everything in the game, a lot more than many other people ever go – the people playing with Cork the last 18 years got nothing like that.

“So, I got a lot from hurling, much more than I ever expected so by the time I was finished hurling, I think I was happy enough to be finished – I enjoyed my hurling while it lasted and I really don’t have any regrets as I look back.”

Fr Pat says: “No, I don’t have any regrets I mean I was grateful for getting the one All-Ireland – I had been lucky to get back on the Cork team in 1976 and it was a very good year for me in that I was also captain of the Glen when we won the county that year.

“I thought ‘76 would be the end of my hurling career, but I came back and played with the Glen in ‘78 and ‘80 and although we lost two county finals to Blackrock and the Barrs, getting back on the Glen team was great so I feel a good sense of fulfilment as a hurler.”

So how do they rate the current Cork side and what do they think of their chances against Clare?

Fr Seanie says: “I think Cork should win – if you were to go on the two semi-finals, the standard and speed of the hurling in the Cork-Limerick game was higher than in the Clare-Kilkenny game and Cork deserved to come out on top.

“But in a final, you never know, my own experience in ‘66, we were rank outsiders and we beat a fancied Kilkenny team so anything can happen – I’d love to see Cork win – it was only 12 years when we won the All-Ireland in ‘66 but it’s going on 19 years now so it’s well overdue.”

Fr Pat, who is currently home on leave and was invited to go to the game but has opted to watch it with family members as he is due to fly out to Zambia on Monday, reckons that Cork will have to repeat their performance in the semi-final win against Limerick if they are to succeed.

“I think if Cork bring the same intensity and commitment that they showed against Limerick a fortnight ago, I think they should win but they need to have that intensity and maintain it for the full 70 minutes if they are to come out on top.

“I suppose if you were to call it, you would say it’s a 50/50 game, but I suppose it’s all about who turns up on the day – like both teams are going to be hungry for it – I mean Cork are waiting 19 years and really, I think Cork needs an All-Ireland at this stage.”

Barry Roche

Barry Roche

Barry Roche is Southern Correspondent of The Irish Times