Cork v Tipperary: Newtownshandrum involvement has a proud heritage

They’ve enjoyed redressing the balance in Newtownshandrum the last couple of years.

Bordering nearby Ballyagran, the locals have been very exposed to Limerick’s ascension to the top of hurling since 2018, especially when there are so many ‘mixed marriages’.

“The colour has changed,” says Alan G O’Brien, “because it was green and white flags non-stop.

“A lot of the people here, they'd be married to Limerick people.

“The children might support both and there was a sea of green and white the last while but now it’s all red and white.”

On Sunday, Tim O’Mahony will be midfield with his friend and neighbour, Charleville’s Darragh Fitzgibbon, while Cormac O’Brien has also played a part in Cork winning the league and Munster titles.

For the next generation, seeing their heroes up close makes the dream of going all the way more tangible.

“It’s super for the juveniles here,” says Alan G O’Brien.

They see Tim and he might be pucking around with Darragh; Damien Cahalane is friends with them and he’s here sometimes.

“When we were younger, we didn’t have that but then Pat Mulcahy was on the panel and Ben came on in 1999 and Jerry after that.

“Paul Morrissey and James Bowles and John Paul King were on the fringes of it and the next man then was Cathal Naughton. We had Jamie Coughlan after that, then Tim and Cormac.”

People in Cork and beyond are used to the idea of a Newtown man being on the Cork team – in 2004, for instance, there were six on the successful Cork squad while twins Ben and Jerry O’Connor and Pat Mulcahy were All-Stars in 2005.

Of course it was not always that way; Ben in 1999 was the first to play championship – though it should be noted that John Buckley featured in the 1974 league win and was harshly dropped for the Munster SHC defeat to Waterford that year.

IMPRINT

Cork’s three-in-a-row from 1976-78 had a strong Newtown imprint, though it is one that is perhaps unfairly unforgotten.

The 1970s saw the cult of the manager grow in the GAA, given oxygen by the football successes of Kevin Heffernan of Dublin and Kerry’s Mick O’Dwyer. In tandem with those triumphs, the Cork hurlers were top of the charts, guided by Newtown native Fr Bertie Troy.

The three-in-a-row wasn’t even the first time he had been involved in consecutive Cork successes, though.

Born in 1930, Troy won a Dr Harty Cup medal with St Colman’s College in 1948 and coached at the Fermoy institution after his ordination.

“From 1966-71, Cork won six straight Munster minor titles and went on to win four All-Irelands,” says another Newtown man, Simon Morrissey.

As well as that, they won four U21s in a row from 1968-71 and Fr Troy was involved in all of those teams.

“Altogether, he coached 15 Cork teams to win Munster titles and 11 to All-Irelands – there aren’t too many you could say that about.”