Sure it doesn’t matter anyway @backinatracksuit mate, you had great craic leading up to the final with the bantz and the neighbours and all. It was such fun.
Did you end up watching the whole game or did you leave it off at half time?
It’s a strange one as that Cork team from 1999 to 2006 contained probably half a dozen great and dominant hurlers in the likes of Curran, Corcoran, Deane, Ben O’Connor, Sean Og and another half a dozen lads who on their day were decent players who who were characters/Cork fan favourites in the likes of the Rock, Donal Og, Gardiner, Sherlock, Timmy Mc, Kenny, Seanie McGrath et al.
I think their style of hurling was slightly too methodical for neutrals and certain players neutrals for the most part rubs neutrals up the wrong way. 5 A/I finals in 8 years and 3 wins despite the scorched earth approach and upheavals in 2001 and 2002 was a fair achievement especially as they were always carrying a handful of lads.
They are certainly underrated in the grand scheme of things. Maybe due to coming to prominence after the golden spell of the late 90s and the emergence of the greatest team of all time straight afterwards didn’t help. The polls we had back in 2020 picking a team of the last 20 years hardly had a Cork man in contention for a spot while multiple Waterford players of the same era were in the mix despite having only a fraction of their success in the same period would bear that out.
That Cork team was not involved in any great finals. Four of those finals were against Kilkenny. The two ones they won were fairly drab, goalless affairs, played in pissing rain. The two Kilkenny won were fairly drab, one goal each, low scoring affairs. The rest of the country tends to have a lower level of interest in Cork-Kilkenny finals than it would if a non-big three county is involved. It’s not a rivalry that excites the general public.
The other final Cork were involved in was against Galway which was a professional kill by a favoured team, they were always more or less in control of it.
Cork’s memorable matches came outside the All-Ireland finals, against Waterford several times, or Offaly 1999/2000, Wexford in 2003 or Clare 2005, and Galway 2008.
The memorable moments of the Cork teams from '84 up to about '91 are easy to think of. Seanie Leary’s goals against Tipperary and Offaly in 1984, Hennessy pickpocketing against Offaly, Mulcahy’s goal against Galway in 1986, Hennessy’s piledriver in the same match, Fenton’s pull from 100 yards against Limerick, the matches against Tipp in 1987, Mark Foley putting everything over and in from all angles against Tipperary in 1990, John Fitzgibbon’s poaching and celebrations, Ger Cunningham saving Martin Naughton’s shot with his face, the epic nature of the matches against Tipp in 1991. You could add Jimmy Barry-Murphy’s pull against Galway in 1983 into the mix. The swashbuckling style of it all.
The Cork team of 1999 to the strike era of the late 2000s scored very few memorable goals. They tended to win their matches with totals of 1-21 or 0-23 or totals like that. In a decade, their most memorable goals were probably Tom Kenny’s against Wexford in 2004 and Joe Deane’s against Limerick in 2000. Beyond that you’re talking about points by Diarmuid O’Sullivan in 2001 against Limerick, Brian Corcoran in 2004 against Kilkenny. But mostly the impression that Cork left was a general one rather than specific moments. Their highlights reel is fairly short.
They didn’t play Tipperary very much in big matches, only once playing them in a knockout match, in a qualifier, whereas in the '84-'92 period Cork played Tipp in knockout almost every year, and those matches were usually classics. The Cork-Tipp rivalry of '84-'92 was much more exciting than the Cork-Kilkenny rivalry of 1999-2006 - in the same way that Cork-Waterford of the 2000s was more exciting than Cork-Kilkenny.
In short, style, I guess. Cork 1984-91 were associated with swashbuckling thrills and excitement and style and colour and joy. Cork 1999-2010 seemed sullen and bitter and clinical and dour by comparison.
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Garvan McCarthy’s 2004 munster final goal was ICONIC!
“What a day-boo!”
Just like Paul Flynn’s free, he saw a useless fucker standing on the goalline and went for it and caught him out with an audacious effort
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Some excellent points, as usual, but could you really deem Seán Óg Ó hAilpín a great hurler? He was a great athlete.
To most Kilkenny folk, the best hurlers on that Cork run of talent, skills wise, were Wayne Sherlock and Ben O’Connor. Brian Corcoran started off brilliant but had a certain amount of glitches – by the highest criteria – in his hurling.
I would have had Sean Og more in the dominant rather than great hurler hence the reference to it. He was a machine in terms of physicality.
Fair enough.
Wayne Sherlock, at his best, seemed to me a truly superb defender. Seán Finn is quite similar in style.
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Jesus Finn doesn’t have the wrists Sherlock had
A fair point, in a way, but SF can hurl at an extremely high level. We do not see how good he is at times, because he is so often in complete control.
I rate WS extremely high. A lovely person to meet, into the bargain.
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The two best corner backs I’ve seen play. Sherlock was blackguarded by the captaincy system in Cork. He should have played a lot more. Gave an utter exhibition in 02 league final.
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Would agree with that assessment but would obviously want to mention Ollie Canning, who was WS’ only equal or near equal.
No one in Kilkenny could understand how WS fell out of favour. He was brilliant.
Yere Paul Delaney is another really underrated corner back. Outside of Nicky English and Michael Cleary, he was the best out and out hurler on that team.
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Delaney in his pomp was before my time. Forwards were more impressionable on the 7-11 year old Fat Pox. My abiding memory of him is hammering Waterford lads in a brawl in 95.
The other thing about Sherlock + Finn is that they can take on all types of forwards and win. Usually a defender has a kryptonite opponent (Tommy Walsh - Danny Sutcliffe)who exposes them with one or more of speed, stick work, aerial ability, footwork or a dominant side. I can’t seem to remember either of the above being exposed in many games.
Curiously both WS & OC played corner back for their clubs . At that time there was a theory ( sometimes correct) that you could get more from IC corner backs further out the field
Cork playing Pat Mulcahy at corner back instead of WS in 2006 proved very costly
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Excellent point. OC used to dominate from corner back for Portumna. For the 2010 Club AIF, Colin Fennelly was specifically put on OC to stop him coming out with the ball. Mostly worked and the move’s impact was crucial to the win.
Cork playing PM over WS in 2006 was more than a bit mad, as you imply. John Allen had lost the run of himself.
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Wasn’t it as much a case that Cork played Brian Murphy ahead of Sherlock as much as Mulcahy?
Mul started the 03, 05 and 06 finals and missed 04 through injury while Murphy the 04, 05 and 06 finals while Sherlock only started the 03 and 04 finals from what I recall. Mulcahy was captain in 2006 too
Ollie Canning for me.
I really like that point about WS and SF. And the one about TW/DS. Both very true. Henry Shefflin used find Declan Ruth hard to manage.
TW was on the slide, via Father Time, but DS franked the slippage. TW’s game, even in his magnificent pomp, was based on going and going and going to the ball. Once the legs slipped even 5%, he was going to slip 50%.
Seán Finn stands clear and above all others.
Sherlock and Canning were outstanding too. I’m too young to remember Paul Delaney properly.