Christy O'Connor on Glen Rovers and Barrs' modern rivalry: Northsiders have the edge

When Glen Rovers and St Finbarr’s met in the 2017 senior hurling championship, the headline of John Horgan’s report in these pages referenced how the Glen had broken the Barrs’ hearts in ‘an old-school club hurling classic’.

Horgan detailed how one of the best games of that era was a throwback to the glory days of old. The Glen, chasing three in-a-row, were on the brink of elimination after a defeat to Sarsfields in the previous round but a goal from David 'Paddy' Cunningham with virtually the last play knocked the Barrs out. 

“The Barrs were crushed, their heroic effort had all been in vain,” wrote Horgan. “It was no consolation to them afterwards that they had fully restored the pride in the old jersey. 

It was a night to bring back memories of a time long past when these two were kings of Cork hurling.” 

The quality on show that evening carried loud echoes of the past. In the long and storied history of the Glen and the Barrs, that 2017 game was the joint-highest scoring championship match between the pair. It equalled the points total from their previous championship meeting in 2013, which the Glen also won, on a scoreline of 1-22 to 2-11.

There always has been something mythical and highly attractive about the Barrs and the Glen. When the club championships returned in July 2020, and people finally had some form of normality back in their lives again during the pandemic, RTÉ’s first live broadcast was an opening day championship meeting between the two clubs.

It was a local affair, like club games everywhere, but the television audience peaked that night at 140,000. RTÉ knew that going big would bring in the numbers. And the Barrs and the Glen was one of the biggest out there.

Increasingly rare

Incredibly, that 2020 meeting was the last championship match between the two great clubs, who meet in a county final on Sunday for the first time in 38 years. In the intervening years, the clubs have only met eight times, with the Glen having reasserted their traditional dominance over the Barrs with five wins to one, along with two draws.

It's exactly 100 years now since Glen Rovers first joined the senior ranks in Cork in 1926 after back-to-back promotions from the county Junior and Intermediate championships. St Finbarr’s went on to win their eighth Cork senior title that season.

The first recorded meeting of the two senior teams was in the Bride Valley Gold Medal Tournament in March 1927, but it was another seven years before they first met in the championship. Appearing in their first senior final in 1934, the Glen beat the Barrs by five points to secure a maiden title.

In their 38 championship meetings across the last 92 years, the Glen are ahead 21-13, with four of those matches having ended in a draw.

The two clubs were such powerhouses that they always expected to meet on big days. Prior to that their last final meeting, the Barrs and the Glen had met in 12 finals and 10 semi-finals. In the last 38 years though, they never met beyond a quarter-final, which only happened once, in 1996, when the Glen won a replay by three points.

Incredibly, it would be 14 years before the clubs would meet again in the championship, in 2010, when the Glen won a round four clash again after a replay.

In the first six decades of the rivalry, the longest hiatus between championship meetings was six years – which happened twice – but a 14-year gap between 1996 and 2010 mirrored the struggles of both clubs.

Big day clashes were no longer guaranteed because the Barrs and the Glen were no longer consistently featuring on the big days.

In the 10 years between that clash in 2010 and their opening group clash in 2020 (which was the first season of the championship restructure), the Barrs and the Glen only met in the first round (twice) and in round 2B once, which was that 2017 classic.

Glamour tie

Apart from the rich history and tradition associated with the fixture, what had always made St Finbarr’s-Glen Rovers matches so attractive was the huge volume and cast of Hollywood A-list players involved. That was particularly evident during the peak of the rivalry in the 1970s and 1980s.

When the rivalry became so dormant across the following decades, the lack of star quality on both sides diluted the attraction of the fixture. The Barrs and the Glen was still a huge draw – but it was nothing like it was.

Now that they are finally meeting in a final again, the magic is back, not just because it is such a loud echo to a glorious past, but because of how the star quality on show has added to the mystique.

Cork are no longer hoovering up All-Irelands like they were when the Barrs and the Glen were in their heyday but at least both clubs have strong representation on Cork senior teams again; nine of the players which will feature on Sunday have played senior championship for Cork, while Ben Cunningham has the potential to play at that level.

The prize now on Sunday is colossal for both clubs but it’s also an opportunity for everyone else to bask in the atmosphere and nostalgia of what it used to be like when the Barrs and the Glen were kings of Cork hurling.