Stars of Cork's All-Ireland three-in-a-row and 1986 wins gather for reunion

Given that he was the ‘baby’ of the Cork three-in-a-row team, perhaps it’s hardly surprising that those achievements don’t feel like a half-century ago to Johnny Crowley.

The Bishopstown man was barely 20 when he made his Cork debut in 1976; three more birthdays would pass before he first tasted championship defeat in the 1979 All-Ireland semi-final against Galway.

Plans were afoot to mark the 50th anniversary of the start of that run with a reunion at the Heineken Brewery when the call was made in the WhatsApp group to also commemorate 40 years since the 1986 victory, the last of Crowley’s five Celtic Crosses.

“We were talking about doing it for the three-in-a-row and then we said, look, the 1986, there’s only ten years in it,” Crowley says.

“We said we’d do the two together and it worked out grand, there was a good response from both sets.

“It still feels recent in your head, but then you’ll be talking to different people then, and you'll mention 1976 and their fathers were probably only children!

“It feels like only yesterday in some senses but then, in other senses, it is 50 years. It probably helps that I was the youngest on that team!” 

Fr Pat Barry, following his retirement from missionary work, was present at the gathering as the stars of the past reminisced about great feats and great games, with an account of the successful campaigns provided by Frank Murphy.

“I asked Frank then just to give a quick synopsis of the eras, because Frank, in fairness to the man, would always have a lot of research done,” Crowley says.

“He did a great five- or seven-minute piece that gave a run-through of the teams and the games and that was nice to hear, too – like everything, we’d all forget very quick at times!” 

While some were unable to attend the event in The Kiln and some heroes of the past have sadly died, there was nevertheless a large contingent present.

“Unfortunately, a few lads have passed from the three-in-a-row team – Seánie O’Leary, Seán Lucey, John Horgan and Ollie O’Keeffe, who has a selector on the ’86 team,” Crowley says.

“There’s none of us getting younger, as the fella said, so we may as well make the most of it – in a way, you’d think we should nearly be doing it more often.

“In fairness to Heineken, they were very good to us and then a few of us ended up over in Cashman’s, as we would!”