TEN YEARS on and only Anthony Lynch and Nicholas Murphy remain of the team that reached an All-Ireland final and narrowly lost to Meath.
Cork under Larry Tompkins had emerged suddenly enough that year, winning the league by beating Dublin in the final and going on two months later to dethrone a Kerry team in hot pursuit of a fourth successive Munster title.
In those clear-cut days, you only had to see off Kerry once, a faraway world from this decade by the close of which the counties will have met at least 19 times in championship football.
A cerebral defender, Lynch may have preferred life in the traffic out in the half backs, but the bulk of his inter-county football has been spent in the corner looking after opposition danger men, as he did so effectively with Colm Cooper in July.
For a couple of years Billy Morgan gave him his freedom at centre back and wing back before it was decided the team needed him more on the inside line.
He ended his first full season in 1999 with the disappointment of losing an All-Ireland and the consolation of his first All Star and could be forgiven for having expected a more glittering career, which he admits he did.
“I think I did, even though in ’99 when I was younger I was mature enough in my thinking. I knew I mightn’t get a chance like that again – that’s what I would have thought around then. But losing a game is losing a game and losing a final like that is pretty sickening alright.”
When Cork lost again, eight years later, he was missing, unable to start because of a hand injury that was strapped up to permit his entrance late in proceedings and with Kerry well on the way to a thumping victory.
For a player so fit, he has suffered a few injury problems, particularly in the later years, a recurrence that he says has never caused him to lose patience with the game and its demands.
“It was frustrating, but you just get over it and move on. All sports people will tell you that injuries are the worst thing you have to deal with, but you just have to get on with it. I never thought about retirement – just thinking about the next game to be honest. That’s the way I’d look at it, try to be positive.”
He has always been unusually positive for a defender. Versatile enough to play all around the field in his younger days he has proved a ball-playing back and effective without the cynicism.
His highest-profile disciplinary lapse cost him a red card in the Munster final of 2007, followed by one of those end-of-the-pier conjuring tricks by which county secretary Frank Murphy made the suspension disappear.
By his own account as a young player he based his game on positioning and, although not big, he had sufficient physical presence to hold his own as well as formidable powers of concentration. His disciplined approach to defending doesn’t mask his passion however.
A favourite memory of him is grappling with the Aussie skyscraper Barry Hall – despite being several stories shorter – during the tumultuous Second Test in Melbourne in 2003 when Ireland nearly pulled the First Test deficit out of the fire.
As an elder statesman on a team reinvigorated by the influx of successful under-21s, he speaks highly of his younger colleagues.
“They have great attitude to training and they are fantastic players. It’s great. They’re great because it’s all about attitude when you’re training with a panel. Their attitude is great, so they’re a great addition to us.
“They have talent and the talent of players coming through is unbelievable really. John Cleary’s under-21s and the players coming through from that in the last few years have been unbelievable. Look at Daniel Goulding, Michael Shields, Eoin Cadogan and then (Paul) Kerrigan and all those players.”
Lynch was born to football – his uncle Jerry played for Cork in the successful under-21 All-Ireland final against Fermanagh – and has been a club stalwart with Naomh Abán, giving up on the chance to win what would have been county and provincial medals with UCC in order to assist the divisional side Muskerry, who were captained that year by his brother, Gary.
As a native of the Cork-Kerry border lands between Ballyvourney and Gneeveguilla he can be expected to feel it acutely should Sunday go wrong and in that situation is understandably inclined not to make things worse.
“Being in the final is the most important thing and we focus on ourselves. If you’re going to focus on someone else when you’re playing the likes of Tyrone, you’re going down. That’ll be the end of your story. So no, we didn’t focus on them at all, but when you’re in the final you expect to be playing the best and Kerry have been the best up to this point. . . .
“We’ll have to win the game first and we can look back then.”
Anthony Lynch
Club: Naomh Abán.
Occupation: Stockbroker.
Age: 32.
Height: 6ft.
Weight: 13st.
Honours: Munster SFC (1999, 2002, '06, '08 and '09), NFL (Division One 1999 and Division Two 2009, All-Stars 1999 and 2002.
