Cork GAA Jersey Wars: Erin's Own v Glen Rovers

WE want to know what your favourite GAA geansaí is.

From here until the end of August, your votes will decide the best design in our Cork GAA Jersey Wars competition.

Our resident jersey expert Denis Hurley compiled a list of 32 clubs, based on those involved in the senior tiers and a selection of wild cards. We put them in alphabetical order and paired them up and we're now down to the last 16 stage. 

Full details of the competition are here.

Voting will run from 8am each day for 24 hours on the link below:

ERIN'S OWN

WHILE green would seem to be the colour most commonly appearing in club GAA jerseys, red and blue – paired with white or gold, usually – are not at all unusual. However, the two primary colours together are quite rare.

In Cork, Dripsey – founded in 2005 – have a mainly red jersey with blue trim and, apart from that, Erin’s Own are the only other club to pair those shades.

Back in the 19th century, Caherlag competed in ‘goaling’, a forerunner to hurling, and the battle-cry of their supporters acknowledged the colours used: “Come on Caherlag/ And don’t be in dread/ For we are the men/ In green and red.”

By the time the first Cork county championship draws were made in 1887, there were two clubs in the parish of Glounthaune, Knockraha and Little Island, and this local rivalry persisted until the early 1960s, though in the intervening period different teams such as Brooklodge, St Patrick’s and Leeside had sporadically competed.

In 1963, an U14 team, under the Little Island name but including players from all of the parish, won the East Cork title and that was the catalyst for discussions to take place regarding a merger, led by the parish priest, Canon McSwiney.

October 1964 saw the committees of the two clubs decide to join forces, with Rogha Éireann, or Erin’s Own, chosen as the name ahead of the other option, Glenmore.

The original colours of the new entity were white jerseys with green collars and cuffs but after a few years the dye in them ran and there was no money for new ones so the blue and red set used by Knockraha was called upon again and became the first choice.

Success was slow arriving at first but the 1970s was a fruitful period for the club as the Imokilly junior A hurling title was claimed in 1973, 1975, 1977 and 1979, reaching the county final in 1977. The decision was taken to go intermediate for 1980 and that championship was won in 1984 – after which they opted not to move to senior – and again in 1987, when the step to the top grade was taken.

County senior glory was achieved in 1982, wearing Henkel-sponsored adidas jerseys, while there was a two-in-a-row in 2006 and 2007. By that stage, Michael O’Connor Motor Factors was the name on the chest and it’s a relationship which has endured to the present day, albeit with the business’s new ‘Mickio’s’ logo now present.

Having had the same design for more than a decade, featuring a red chevron on the upper half of the torso and a hoop lower down, a more traditional look was restored in 2020. When colour-clashes occur against the likes of neighbours Sarsfields and Carrigtwohill or St Finbarr’s, red jerseys with blue trim are called upon.

GLEN ROVERS

THERE are few sets of colours that are as unique and easily identifiable as those of Glen Rovers.

Apart from the English rugby union enthusiasts for whom Northampton Saints would spring to mind, the combination of green, black and gold is unmistakeably Glen. Of course, there is unfortunate circumstance linked with such an occurrence.

When the club formed in 1916, the colours chosen were green and gold hoops, the same as Blackrock, but black was added as a tribute to those who fell in the fight for freedom. In a 1954 article, the great GAA journalist John D Hickey identifies founder member Mick O’Connell as the man who made the suggestion, which was unanimously welcomed.

The club competed at junior before making the jump to intermediate after winning the 1924 county title and they romped through the second tier at the first attempt to secure senior status for 1926, remaining there ever since.

They soon became established as one of the foremost clubs in Cork, winning 24 county SHC titles up to and including 1976, while that victory was followed by their third Munster club championship and second All-Ireland.

That ’76 victory was notable because it came over Blackrock, who were always able to retain their green and gold hoops when the sides met by virtue of being the older club. Usually, the Glen donned the black and white of sister football club St Nicholas but in ’76 they wore gold jerseys, black shorts and green socks. By the time the clubs made it back in 1978, the ‘older club’ rule had been dispensed with and so Blackrock also had to change, wearing green jerseys with gold trim.

Gold jerseys remained the Glen’s back-up choice until the millennium and black shorts were sometimes used in games against the likes of northside rivals Na Piarsaigh. When the Glen met Blackrock in the 2013 county minor final, a jersey with thick green and black hoops was used while the following year the seniors wore a Kerry-style green with gold hoop but with black sleeves against Ballymartle. Then, in 2019, against Newtownshandrum, an all-black kit was used.

For 2020, the club entered into a new agreement with McKeever Sportswear and wanted to honour the centenary of the birth of Christy Ring on their new jerseys. A watermark of the great man was overlaid on the hoops and, when the Glen reached the county final against Blackrock and lost the toss for colours (both clubs’ alternatives were too similar), an all-black version was worn.

The Ring jerseys proved to be incredibly popular, with more than a thousand sold by the club, and they will continue to be used in 2021. While the Glen went without a shirt sponsor for almost a century, Blackwater Motors are now on board.