Cork's purple reign shows the trend for non-traditional GAA kits

It’s something of an oddity that, given the number of club teams who wear hooped jerseys, the design is all too rare at inter-county level – or at least it has been.

For the 2025 season, Roscommon have launched a new shirt with almost as much blue as gold on it, the large bands making them look more like Lisgoold (or late 1990s Parma, as has been more commonly commented) than Grenagh.

Certainly, one can imagine that the traditionalists in Roscommon will take time to adapt to the new offering. Then again, it’s worth noting that, up until 1943, the Rossies wore the opposite to now – blue jerseys with gold trim – but when they met Cavan in the All-Ireland final, they were forced to change as the Ulster county had had blue for longer. The GAA’s Central Council bought Roscommon the ‘primrose and blue’ set and victory bestowed the lucky-charm attribute to the reversal, ensuring it became the main look.

Until now, at least. And, if Davy Burke’s team were to go all the way to All-Ireland victory, you can bet that everybody up there would be quite ‘hoopy’ indeed with the change in style.

That new Roscommon kit was revealed last Wednesday, the same day as another element of the Cork GAA wardrobe for the coming season was given its first airing – an alternative goalkeeper top.

It came a few weeks after the launch of the primary jersey, which will be worn for the next two years. Thankfully, O’Neills were not as adventurous with the basic design as with the Rossies – Cork won’t be confused with Courcey Rovers/Adrigole or Imokilly.

In fact, it’s quite restrained, with flourishes like the inclusion of a map done tonally, in a darker shade of red, while the return of a collar for the first time in a decade is certainly welcome.

Even then, the collars on the jerseys from 2004-15 were red and so having a white one on the new top does more to call to mind the classic ideal of a Cork shirt. In saying that, though, the PR blurb to go with the launch was probably stretching it when saying that the collar harked back to the 1990s, “synonymous with Cork teams who dominated the game for a generation”.

While we wouldn’t have gone with a white background for the McCarthy Insurance logo on the sleeves, it’s the first time Cork have had advertising in that area and it’s understandable that the company – who have already committed to supporting the county football leagues and championships – want to get bang for their buck.

The goalkeeper jersey is the inverse, white with a red collar. Again, something we’re all familiar with, though it succeeds a hooped jersey that was in use for the past two years.

In times past, it was the case that the hooped jersey was the backup if the white one clashed with the likes of Waterford, Kildare or Tyrone or if the outfield players had to wear white against Louth or Down. However, this time around the alternative for the Cork goalkeepers will be the shirt that was launched last Wednesday, a curious-looking purple affair.

It’s unusual in that we’re used to seeing purple paired with gold on the GAA field – think Wexford nationally or St Catherine’s or Carbery locally – and that is perhaps why it will take getting used rather than any accusations of poor design.

If the Roscommon jersey is Parma, this one is Fiorentina but the traditionalist in us would like to see the red/white hoops, or at the very least the blue of Munster, used when white can’t be. That said, purple is an improvement on the change GK jersey that was used for the last two years – a strange cyan and luminous yellow concoction.

Ultimately, as someone whose age now begins with the number ‘4’, I’m not the target market and the sensibility-challenging colours are chosen because they sell. If Patrick Collins or Brion Saunderson or Chris Kelly or Micheál Martin were to produce a match-winning performance wearing purple, the acceptance process would certainly flow a bit easier.