Blackrock National Hurling Club celebrate a glorious history with anniversary event

If the next 140 years are as fruitful for Blackrock National Hurling Club, then few of the Church Road denizens will be complaining.

Cork’s most successful hurling club marked its anniversary with a special event at its clubhouse last Saturday night.

From 1887, when the club – known as Cork Nationals before settling on the current title a year later – won the inaugural staging of the county hurling championship, 32 more senior titles have been claimed, the most recent of those in 2020.

Before the proper creation of county teams, Blackrock won three All-Irelands for Cork and later, after the establishment of Munster and All-Ireland club championships, they claimed five provincial and three national titles.

Members of county championship-winning Blackrock teams were the guests of honour and surviving members attended in strong numbers while some featured in a wonderfully put-together documentary by Conor Hurley, which was shown to those in attendance.

Entitled ‘All That I Am, All That I Ever Was’, it charts the journey of the club since 1956, when the Rockies won the Cork SHC for the first time since 1931.

Terry Hassett, a member of that team, was interviewed along with Roger Ryan, Eamon O’Donoghue, Timmy Murphy, Tom Cashman, Fergal Ryan, David Cashman, Shane O’Keeffe and Alan Connolly, bringing the club’s story right up to the present day. In addition, there was an exhibition of memorabilia and archived material and Seán Ó Sé provided a typically passionate rendition of The Boys of Blackrock.

Tánaiste Micheál Martin and Larry McCarthy, who recently completed his term as president of the GAA, were among the special guests who spoke to the large audience. Along with club president Roger Ryan and chairperson Ger Coughlan, Lord Mayor Kieran McCarthy was also a speaker and he spoke about what life was like in the 1880s, just as the GAA and Blackrock were coming into being.

Former Cork County Board chairperson Frank Murphy is of course a Blackrock member and has filled a number of roles in the club and his speech focused on the glorious history that had been enjoyed.

Naturally, the hope for all in Blackrock is that the future can be just as memorable.