Cork v Kilkenny: 2002 league final sowed seeds for titanic tussles

IT'S somewhat fitting that Cork and Kilkenny should meet in an Allianz Hurling League knockout tie at a time of civil disobedience on the part of the Gaelic Players’ Association.

Tonight’s semi-final clash at Páirc Uí Chaoimh comes at a time when the organisation is requesting that players and managers should refrain from post-match interviews. Two decades ago, the counties’ meeting in the final was overshadowed by an infamous incident as the organisation, still in its infancy, strived for recognition.

The game saw Kilkenny win by what the great Jack Lynch once described as “the usual point”, but the 70 minutes of action in Thurles on the May bank holiday Sunday of 2002 were almost a sub-plot, given what would emanate from the day.

Cork, having been 10 points adrift at one stage, managed to play their way back into the game and almost managed to snatch it before points in injury time by Kilkenny brothers Seán and Brian Dowling gave them the victory.

After 17 minutes though, a one-point outcome did not look very likely as Kilkenny led by 2-6 to 0-2, Martin Comerford and John Hoyne with the goals. By half-time though, the deficit was down to 2-9 to 1-7, Eamonn Collins with Cork’s goal, and when he found the net again nine minutes into the second half there was just a point in it, as there would be at the end, despite the best efforts of Alan Browne and Wayne Sherlock for the Rebels.

However, it was what happened prior to throw-in sowed the seeds for a coolness between the sets of players that would largely last through the decade. In the eyes of the Cork players, Kilkenny failed to stand shoulder to shoulder with them in a pre-match protest of tucking their shirts out and wearing their socks down for the parade in a bid to highlight the players’ welfare and promote the then-fledgling GPA as a necessary instrument.

Dónal Óg Cusack mentions it on page 3 of his autobiography, Come What May. He outlines in the book how, the night before the game, Kilkenny captain Andy Comerford rang him saying, “Look, you’re in for trouble tomorrow,” as he had not got backing from the rest of the squad.

According to Michael Moynihan’s book Blood Brothers, the next morning Cusack was in tears as mentors pleaded with him not to go ahead with the protest.

“We were pulled into a room in Dundrum House Hotel and told about famous Cork hurlers who’d worn the jersey, the likes of Jamesy Kelleher and Christy Ring,” remembered Seán Óg Ó hAilpín in the same book.

We were told we’d be doing them a dishonour by not treating the jersey properly.”

In the end, not every Cork player took part in the protest, including, ironically, Alan Browne, who had suggested the idea in the first place in preference to the team not lining up for the photograph before the game.

Comerford was the only Kilkenny player to do so, however, and comments from Peter Barry which appeared in the Irish Examiner later that week – albeit later clarified by him – did nothing to help the Cork players’ mood. It was the first public episode that paved the way for that winter’s strike as the concerns of the squad were laid bare.

After the boil on Cork hurling was lanced – for a few years, anyway – they proved to be Kilkenny’s toughest rivals for the next four years, and still managed to be the side that got closest to them in their all-conquering year of 2008.

Now, the counties are among the chasing pack trying to reel in Limerick. Tonight, at least, the focus will be firmly on the hurling.

Scorers for Kilkenny: M Comerford 1-3, J Hoyne 1-0, B Dowling, H Shefflin (0-2 f) 0-3 each, A Comerford, E Brennan 0-2 each, P Tennyson and R Mullally 0-1 each. 

Cork: E Collins 2-0, J O'Connor 0-4 (0-2 f), A Browne 0-3, B O'Connor 0-2, N McCarthy, J Gardiner, T McCarthy, K Murray and D O'Sullivan (65), 0-1 each.

KILKENNY: J McGarry; M Kavanagh, N Hickey, P Larkin; R Mullally, P Barry, JJ Delaney; D Lyng, P Tennyson; J Hoyne, H Shefflin, A Comerford; E Brennan, M Comerford, S Grehan. 

Subs: K Power for Grehan (injured, 61), S Dowling for Tennyson (62), B Dowling for Power (65).

CORK: D Óg Cusack; W Sherlock, D O'Sullivan, F Ryan; D Barrett, J Browne, S Óg Ó hAilpín; A Cummins, J Gardiner; J O'Connor, K Murphy (Erin’s Own), N McCarthy; E Collins, A Browne, B O'Connor. 

Subs: T McCarthy for Gardiner (32), K Murray for N McCarthy (51), P Ryan for K Murphy (56).
Referee: M Wadding (Waterford).