To win an All-Ireland hurling final you need a few kind breaks of the sliotar

And while you are fully aware that Cork would bag four second-half goals to turn a five-point half time deficit into a three-point win at the end, you can’t help noticing that a lot of the failings in the present Cork team existed in the Cork team of 30 years ago too.

Hurling was a different game then. Watching the way Cork wing-back Sean McCarthy pulled on the ball first time makes one lament for some of the lost skills. The knack of scoring goals hinged on a tendency to drop the ball into the full-forward line. Players were just lobbing hopeful balls goalwards in 1990 from positions that they would be going for points from nowadays.

Still, they had luck on their side, with Eanna Ryan’s first-half goal being pulled back for an earlier awarded free in, while the big moment in the game came from Ger Cunningham’s save with his face from Galway wing-forward Martin Naughton early in the second half. Despite blood spilling from the Barrs keeper’s face, after being struck by the sliotar, it was signalled as a wide. Clearly the blades of grass on Croker that day were a tad on the sharp side!
