Liam Miller tribute: The match in the Páirc can be a celebration of the unifying power of sport

That was only the tip of the iceberg though because he didn’t play organised soccer until he was in his early teens and joined a Ballincollig team coached by Mick McNulty, the father of Cork City keeper Mark, who became one of Miller’s best friends all the way until his untimely passing back in February. The son of current Ballincollig AFC chairwoman Gerardene McNamara, Eamonn, played with Miller all through the ranks.

If soccer hadn’t become his focus, Miller would almost certainly have pulled on the red geansaí in either hurling or football, maybe even both.

Miller had no gear with him but with the Cork management initially short one player for a full-scale match, he was asked to take part and was put in at corner-forward for the ‘whites’. A notebook recording the scoring in the game underlines Miller’s versatility as a sportsman — he notched four goals and two points.

“He played with Tom Kenny, the famous Cork hurler, and that is Cork, people grow up in a GAA environment, they play soccer, you might play a bit of rugby, the best GAA players became soccer players. It’s a very ecumenical sporting city, it’s a mad sporting city in some respects.”

Even though it’s not viable anymore, Davie Barry was famous as a dual soccer and football winner, a legend of Cork City FC as a player and then manager, having also collected cups for St Finbarr’s and the Cork footballers in 1989-‘90.

Yet it should also be viewed as a toast to how sport unites us.
