Laois and Offaly dreaming of return to top tier as Cork wait
Fiachra Fennell of Laois is fouled by Joey Keenaghan of Offaly in last year's Joe McDonagh Cup game. Picture: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile
Opener for ten points – name the seven counties beaten by Cork in national senior hurling finals in the past 50 years.
Galway and Kilkenny, obviously, each defeated in three All-Ireland finals, while Offaly and Wexford also fell to the Rebels on the biggest day. Waterford in the 1998 national league decider is one that might take a while to think of, ditto Limerick in that competition in 1980.
That’s six, so who’s left? The natural inclination would be towards Tipperary or Clare, or maybe Dublin, but any of those guesses would be wrong.
You would be forgiven for forgetting that, in addition to the centenary All-Ireland of 1984, when Cork beat Offaly in Thurles, Justin McCarthy’s and Fr Michael O’Brien’s team also claimed the open-draw Centenary Cup.
Wins over Roscommon, Clare and Offaly brought Cork to the final in Croke Park on May 20. Their opponents were certainly there on merit, having taken the scalps of Limerick, Tipperary and Galway – it might surprise you to learn that it was Laois in the blue (and white) corner.
Cork’s pre-match preparations were hindered, as outlined by McCarthy in his autobiography, Hooked.
“The day had started smoothly,” he wrote. “The train arrived in Heuston bang on time; we got the coach to Croke Park and were there well before the game.
“Then it emerged we had no dressing room. A few minutes later, we found out there was no place for us to eat. Then we were told that there was nothing to eat.
“Between staging the football final the same day and arranging a reception for all four finalists that night in the RDS, the GAA had overlooked the most basic of arrangements for the Cork team.
Despite having to tog out in a handball alley, Cork won comfortably, 2-21 to 1-9 the final score.
Unfortunately for Laois, while they often threatened a breakthrough in the 1980s, it never came. When Offaly went all the way to the All-Ireland in 1981 – they remain the last new name on the roll of honour – their narrowest win was against Laois, the first of a few close encounters between the midlands neighbours in the decade.
The counties clash on Saturday in the Joe McDonagh Cup final, with the winners then taking on Cork a week later in the All-Ireland SHC preliminary quarter-finals.
Séamus ‘Cheddar’ Plunkett, a part of the Laois squad in the 1980s and later the county manager on three separate occasions, has good memories of those battles with Offaly but accepts that a return to anything like them would take a massive effort.
“There were four Leinster finals in a row and then a final in 1985,” he says, “with only ever a few points in it.
“If you were being realistic about it, would we have gone on to win an All-Ireland, like Offaly did? Maybe so, but I think that team was probably short a couple of quality players. “You bring it around full circle and now Laois – and most of the other McDonagh teams – probably eight or nine players short of being able to step up to the top level in hurling now. It has moved on so much, in terms of skill and tactics.
“The main issue is first of all growing the game in these counties, improve the quality and the numbers playing and coaching.”
Offaly will go into Saturday’s game on a high after winning the oneills.com All-Ireland U20 hurling title last weekend, beating Tipperary to avenge the minor final defeat of 2022 and somewhat soften the blow of last year’s U20 decider loss to Cork.
The Faithful County are certainly on the right track but, even so, U20 boss Leo O’Connor was clear in making the point that it will take a number of years for those players to mature and properly impact at senior level.
Cork will naturally be strong favourites against whichever county emerges, but equally they will be facing a side carrying some momentum with them.
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