A familiar trail, trying to rediscover Cork football’s lost golden thread

Before the 2003 All-Ireland club final, Cork’s Nemo Rangers were facing the possibility of a third consecutive defeat on the big day. Opponents Crossmolina had beaten them in the first year of that sequence and it took a mighty kick from Colin Corkery at the death to break the deadlock and effectively land the Andy Merrigan Cup.
That extended the club’s tally at the top of the championship roll of honour to seven titles, won over the 33 years of the official club championships. All told, with St Finbarr’s winning three and Skibbereen another, Cork had 11 All-Irelands.
That is, however, where it sits. In the 22 seasons since then, no club from the county has added to that tally. Castlehaven travel to Killarney for a tough first defence of their Munster title against Dr Crokes. The west Cork team will be the latest to try to break the barren and lengthening sequence.
Former Cork footballer Ephie Fitzgerald won four All-Irelands with Nemo in the 1970s and ‘80s and also managed the club to a couple of Munsters. He believes that circumstances have changed.
“Nemo was unusual in that unlike clubs such as Corofin and Crossmaglen, who had golden generations and maximised their potential, we did it over a longer period of time. I know in the last 20 years we haven’t won anything but when we were winning All-Irelands, it covered four decades.
“To be fair, we have continued to win the county, 23 titles in 50 years but the championship outside of Cork has become more competitive. I don’t agree with the format used in the county either in that it’s very hard to get knocked out initially with group games.
“In my day, it was knockout and that was that. I think that makes you mentally more focused, sharpens the attitude towards training and makes you more motivated. I mean, if you were beaten, your year was over.
“Then, there’s intercounty level. Cork haven’t won Munster for 12 years. I don’t think you can put your finger on one particular factor. Nemo have been quite close but haven’t got over the line. In my time, we were very lucky. I played four All-Ireland finals and won them all.”
The club’s success was such that in their first 14 provincial campaigns, they lost just once – to Thomond College in the 1977 final — before sustaining a first defeat by Kerry opposition, Dr Crokes, after 36 years of the championship in 2006.
The ratchet effect has seen them defeated by a widening circle of opponents while All-Ireland success became harder to achieve and even finals harder to reach. The most recent was a sobering collision seven seasons ago with the outstanding Corofin team, who became the first to win three All-Irelands in a row. Nemo lost by 15 points.
John Meyler played for the 1987 All-Ireland-winning St Finbarr’s team. He was one of four future Cork hurling managers to have won football All-Irelands with the club that decade, along with Jimmy Barry-Murphy, Donal O’Grady and John Allen.
There are now fewer examples of top-rank hurlers lining out for football clubs even in a county with as mythologised a dual tradition as Cork. The Cahalanes play hurling with the club but resolutely represent their Castlehaven heritage in football. Brian Hayes, a breakout star for the Cork hurlers this year, won a Munster football medal with Finbarr’s.
Meyler says that this growing specialisation doesn’t help.
“If you look at recent years,” says Meyler. “The successful hurling clubs are specialist hurling clubs and the same in football. They tend not to play both, certainly at top level. Barrs are a genuine dual club in that they have won football and hurling in the last couple of years but Castlehaven don’t have an impact at senior hurling level.
“Look at the hurling. Imokilly won this year but last year it was Sarsfields and the year before, Midleton. There’s no hurling club supplying players to top football teams. And in football, Nemo play junior hurling.
“You have hurling coaches discouraging the playing of both. Coaches like me, if I’m honest!”
Hurling is a concern for another day but has similar problems with Cork clubs not winning the All-Ireland for 20 years.
Another feature of the modern game is the extent to which successful clubs establish a grip on their county as a springboard to All-Irelands. Even in their heyday, Nemo never won back-to-back All-Irelands.
“We tended to be beaten early in the following season in my time,” says Fitzgerald. “It was a long year.”
Recent decades have been different with perennial contenders. Crossmaglen, six-time All-Ireland winners, have been Armagh champions 23 times in the last 29 years.
By 1989 Corofin in Galway trailed roll-of-honour leaders Tuam Stars by three titles to 24. Currently that lead is down to 25-23, as they have dominated this century with 15 victories. Another recent All-Ireland winning team, Kilcoo have picked up 12 of the last 13 Down championships.
In Cork, such hegemony has never been easy and Munster has become a lot more competitive with clubs from Clare, Limerick and Tipperary all winning the province, which was unthinkable for a long time.
The longer the drought continues, the more exclusive the focus on the county.
“There’s more emphasis on winning your county championship and pressure on the clubs to do so. Back in those days, the challenge in Munster was more or less the Kerry champions, Stacks or whoever.
“Nemo will always be competitive in my opinion but competitive with the standards we set in previous years?” says Fitzgerald. “That’s not going to happen again but it’s the same for all clubs now. They’re at the level we were at in the past.”
Meyler agrees with the new reality.
“In ‘87, we qualified as beaten finalists because Imokilly beat us in Cork [divisional teams are not allowed progress to the provincial championship]. We had to beat Austin Stacks in Tralee — that was the hard part but once we got over that, we were on the road.
“Another difference is that when you were playing for Cork then, you went back to your club after matches and trained with them. Now, you’re with the county until they’re finished. Also, we never had to deal with players deciding they were going away for a year and that sort of thing.”
It may sound daunting for Castlehaven this weekend but last season there was very little between the All-Ireland semi-finalists. They won Munster and lost narrowly to St Brigid’s, who very nearly won the final.
The question may have become an annual prelude to a disappointing answer but might this be Cork’s year – finally?