FURTHERMORE
By Gerry Moran
The town is never quite the same when Kilkenny are not in the All-Ireland Final. I miss the buzz about the place. Miss the vendors flogging flags and match paraphernalia. Miss the black and amber displays in shop windows. Miss the arguments, predictions in the pub and, of course, I miss not being in Croke Park with my great friend Jimmy ‘Brewery’ Rhatigan.
Will miss the buskers on Jones’s Road, and lorrying into lamb sandwiches at half-time. But, hey, we can’t be making the pilgrimage to the capital every year and, besides, we cannot complain. The ‘cats’ are still top-dogs when it comes to All-Ireland titles.
Here’s that Roll of Honour: Kilkenny 36 All-Ireland Hurling titles, Cork 30, Tipperary 28, Limerick 12, Dublin 6, Wexford 6, Galway 5, Offaly 4, Clare 4, Waterford 2, Laois 1, Kerry 1, London 1. In the meantime here are some bits & bobs about Kilkenny hurling: John Drennan from Conway Hall, Kells presented a set of black and amber jerseys to the Kilkenny County Board to be worn by the Kilkenny team. Drennan chose the colours as he had won a lot of money on a race in which the winning jockey wore black and amber.
• Kilkenny’s first All-Ireland was the 1904 final which was played in Carrick-on-Suir on June 24, 1906. Kilkenny beat Cork 1 – 9 to 1 – 8.
• Kilkenny have won 7sevenof their 32 All-Ireland titles by one point.
• Kilkenny then went on to win seven titles in 10 years (1904 – 1913).
• Monsignor Tommy Maher coached seven All-Ireland winning teams in 1957, 1963, 1967, 1969, 1972, 1974 and 1975. Mick Lanigan, former Senator, trained five All Ireland winning teams in 1967, 1969, 1972, 1974 and 1975.
• Brian Cody, the greatest hurling manager ever, won 11 All-Irelands, including four-in-a-row (2006 – 2009), during his 24 year tenure. Kilkenny also won 10 league titles and 18 Leinster titles during that time.
• The Doyle brothers, Dick, Eddie and Mick, of Mooncoin have created a hurling record that may never be beaten. They have won 18 senior Hurling All-Ireland medals between them. Dick won seven, Eddie won six and Mick claimed five.
• The Larkin family from the James Stephen’s hurling club hold a unique place in the annals of hurling. They were the first family in GAA history to win All-Ireland honours across three generations. Paddy Larkin, his son Phil ‘Fan’ Larkin and ‘Fan’s’ son Philip have won eleven All-Ireland senior hurling medals between them while ‘Fan’ and son Philip were the first father/son combination to win All Star honours, a feat that has yet to be emulated.
• Twin sisters Angela and Ann Downey each won 12 All-Ireland Camogie medals with Kilkenny, including the county’s first ever senior title in 1974 when they were only 17.
• Nowlan Park is called after Alderman James Nowlan, the longest serving GAA president. Opened in June 1928 the main game that day saw Mooncoin defeat Dicksboro in the Senior County final by 4 – 2 to 3 – 2. The first point was scored by Christy Murray from Dicksboro while the first goal was scored by Johnny Roberts from Dicksboro also.
• My first All-Ireland Final was in 1963 when I sat on my mother’s knee in the Hogan Stand furiously waving my black & amber flag much to the annoyance of the Waterford man behind us who saw his team go down 4 – 17 to 6 – 8. Eddie Keher scored 14 points, a record, Tommy Walsh, my idol, was brilliant while captain Seamus Cleere became the first Kilkenny player to win the Caltex ‘Hurler of the Year’ award.
• And then there was the 1967 All-Ireland Final when Kilkenny, after 45 long years, beat their bogey team Tipperary 3 – 8 to 1 – 7. My best friend and I jumped for joy in the Canal End.
• The only 80-minute final ever played was in 1972. Kilkenny were eight points down with 18 minutes to go and staged a remarkable comeback beating Cork (red hot favourites on that red hot Sunday in September) by seven points 3- 24 to 5 – 11; Frank Cummins’s glorious goal forever etched on my memory as I watched from the Cusack Stand with my brother.
