Provincial rivals can draw on rich and long tradition

TIPPERARY V CORK:The roots of the Munster rivals' mutual respect can be found in a six-year period in the late 1940s, when they met seven times in the Munster hurling championship in six seasons

SPORTING RIVALRIES often find their natural depth in the shallow waters of bitterness and hatred. Murky places where bad blood lingers and poisons future generations. And where, just below the surface, contempt contaminates everything.

It is, perhaps, surprising that that ugly type of rivalry has stayed clear of the biggest derby in hurling. In between the handshakes, the battle is fierce, and the casualties often high. But, it’s just, well, Cork and Tipperary players and supporters can’t help holding each other in high regard.

Despite the two counties meeting regularly on GAA fields since the late 1880s, the roots of this mutual respect can be found in a six-year period in the late 1940s, when the counties met seven times in the Munster hurling championship in six seasons, with the winner each year going on to claim the Liam MacCarthy Cup.

The first of those epic clashes was on May 29th, 1949. An injury-time point was needed for the Tipp minor team to overcome Cork in the first game that day in Limerick, but there was no separating the senior sides in front of a record attendance for a Munster first-round tie – 35,000.

Despite some glorious play by one Christy Ring, Tipperary were four ahead late in the game when Jack Lynch burst up the field and fired to the net. Bernie Murphy hit the equaliser from the left and so, a month later, they were back at the same venue.

The replay was marked by the debut of 19-year-old John Doyle – who would later, of course, form one-third of a Tipperary full-back line famously known as “Hell’s Kitchen”. The Irish Times reported “the game was too fierce to be wholesome . . . the crowd on the sidelines troubled the stewards more than once and there were threatening situations near the end, when spectators came to blows”.

Once again, an hour proved insufficient, though this time it was Tipperary who needed a late goal – Jim Kennedy doing the honours. Cork were drained by the late score (and the fact they stayed on the field during a scorching hot day, while Tipp retired briefly to their dressingroom) and a goal by Mick Ryan gave Tipperary a 2-8 to 1-9 extra-time victory.

In comparison to the following year’s final in Killarney, the stewards in Limerick had it easy. On July 23rd, 1950, the hoards descended on Killarney and when the viewing areas were full, the sidelines were lined. And still they came, through gates, and over walls – more than 50,000 got in and the over-crowding was such that the game was halted intermittently so the referee and players could clear the pitch. “The game was played on a pitch which changed from a rectangle to an oval at the Tipperary goal,” a journalist noted.

Another narrow victory was bagged by Tipperary, and the following summer Tipp completed the three in a row over Cork and, subsequently, their third All-Ireland in succession. Once again Christy Ring’s magic couldn’t turn the game in Cork’s favour and, thanks to the brilliance of Tony Reddin in goal, Tipperary prevailed by two.

The stranglehold, however, was broken in 1952, with Sarsfields’ Paddy Barry leading Cork past their great rivals – 1-11 to 2-6 – in front of 42,000 spectators in Limerick. It was, perhaps, matches like these that led Ring to later remark it would be only half a championship if Cork’s great rival was not part of it.

Determined to avoid any repeat of the crowding problems that Tipperary versus Cork games were now bringing in unison with their classic encounters, the following year the stewards in Limerick closed the Gaelic Park gates after 46,000 spectators had entered – a full two hours before the senior players took to the field and despite the day being marked by heavy showers. Man of the match, once again, was the Glen Rovers club man, with Ring scoring half of his side’s total of 3-10 – with Tipperary only managing 1-11 in reply.

The following season, Ring would win a record eighth All-Ireland. Earlier, in the Munster final, Tipp had led 1-6 to four points at the break, but Ring scored two goals in the second period and Cork won 2-8 to 1-8.

Of course, the legend of Tipperary v Cork games goes back much farther than those six years. And much deeper. It simply that, subsequent to those seven encounters, no derby game would ever be treated the same again. Each match was a full war.

The sides met in three more Munster semi-finals in the late 1950s before another bruising provincial decider in 1960 in Thurles, when Tipperary won 4-13 to 4-11 in a match marked by Jimmy Doyle’s scoring prowess and tempers reaching a point where members of An Garda Síochána had to escort some of the disgruntled Cork players back to their dressingroom.

A year later, and the teams were back in Limerick, with more fun and games at the stiles – and an official attendance of 62,000 not taking into account the thousands that managed to avoid taking the normal route into the ground. Hell’s Kitchen was open for business and Ring and Co received little change in a gruelling encounter that ended in Tipp’s favour – 3-6 to 0-7.

Since then, more often than not, it has been drawn encounters and the follow-up match that has kept the rivalry alive in hurling’s heartlands. Tipperary and Cork don’t do disappointing replays after exciting draws – a feature of many other derby matches.

In 1972, the reigning All-Ireland champions let a 10-point lead slip in the final 17 minutes against Cork in the Munster semi-final. On the front page of The Irish Times the following morning, Dick Walsh wrote: “Munster hurling is like poteen from Newport. It has the flavour of turf, a touch of weather and a heart of fire. In a match that had all these things, Cork and Tipperary drew 3-8 each in Limerick yesterday . . . it was Munster hurling at its sweating best.”

Cork shaded the replay, though Tipperary had the edge in the replay of the 1980s – when, after a titanic draw in Thurles, the 1987 Munster final replay was set for Killarney and 45,000 lucky spectators (amazingly the GAA refused to allow RTÉ to show the game live) witnessed a first-rate encounter. But even that game has to bow to the replay of the 1990s, when the two powerhouses clashed in the 1991 Munster final – first in Cork and then in Thurles (see Paddy Downey’s report of the replay on page 8).

If this decade is to continue the tradition of needing two matches in at least one season to find a victor, then this Sunday’s game has to provide it. The odds, however, are staked against more than ever before – as the GAA have decided the 79th championship clash between the counties will go to extra-time in the event of 70 minutes not separating the sides.

Tipperary v Cork  Sunday, throw-in – 4pm  Semple Stadium, Live on RTÉ 2