AS IT HAPPENS, THIS Sunday marks the 16th anniversary of a march through Cork city in support for the striking county hurlers.
It’s fair enough to take a philosophical look at it at this remove. The country was still chewing over the last bits of gristle remaining lodged in the teeth from the Saipan fall-out.
The handy shorthand for it all was that players were just trying to raise standards and be the best they could be. And others, management and administrators, were holding the whole thing back.
On the Saturday night, clubs convened at Maryborough House Hotel in Douglas. The was almost 100 percent attendance, 193 voted to carry a vote of no confidence in then-manager, Gerald McCarthy.
No clubs present revealed they had voted in his favour. Some 44 abstained and 21 were registered as not having discussed the matter.
The following day, an “official attendance” was reported as 1,760 marched from a rally at Kennedy Park – addressed by the comedian Des Bishop – before making their way to Páirc Uí Chaoimh, where the county footballers were playing a national league game against Fermanagh.
For obvious reasons, that time is featured prominently in Thursday night’s Laochra Gael episode on the O’Connor twins, Ben and Jerry.
Casting his mind back now, Jerry recalls just how big it all got, and his memories of being on the march.
“Yeah, it was a stressful time. We were still trying to train. And you had all this going on in the background,” he recalls.
Advertisement
“What I will say is the march that was held above in the city was unbelievable. The amount of people that came out to support us, it was just brilliant. I think that was a turning point. It just showed what the Cork hurling fans wanted.
“Getting back to the strike then, we were fierce well looked after. We trained above in Na Piarsaigh and we were so well looked after by the club. And we were taken in for breakfast after. We trained below in Mallow – we were well looked after there.
So yeah, it was a stressful time. But at the end of the day, it was done for a reason. And I think the reason that it was done for, it has improved conditions for all Cork teams since then. And it’s been onward and upward. And you won’t hear anybody complaining about the way teams are prepared or looked after in Cork.”
Reflecting back on it hasn’t been simple. The Laochra Gael programme has become a rigorous, valuable piece of journalism that frequently takes their subjects into uncomfortable places.
At home in their hurley-making business in Newtownshandrum. INPHO
INPHO
Given how the O’Connor twins were somewhat media-averse during their playing careers, featuring in the programme did not come entirely natural.
“Not one bit. I’ve had sleepless nights over it, I’ll be quite honest with you,” says Jerry.
“It’s hard to know what to make of it. You’re taken down, you’re in a dark room, you’re asked piles of questions and you’re coming out afterwards thinking, ‘Did I really say that?’ or, ‘What did I answer to that?’ or, ‘I could have done better’ and you’re just over-thinking it in your mind all the time.
“You just don’t want to come across as being a kind of a lamp, for the want of a better word. I found it hard enough. When you were playing hurling, you got used to meeting reporters but I haven’t spoken to anyone about hurling in years and years so I suppose I was out of the going of it and I felt under a little bit of pressure. But hopefully it will end up alright.”
He continued, “Even remembering things, I find it hard to remember what happened last week, not to mind being asked a question about what happened 12 or 13 years ago. It’s just getting into that way of thinking again and actually trying to say something that makes sense.”
The public are enriched by the story being revisited, as painful as it surely was for many of those caught in the middle.
It’s difficult to know if such a groundswell of public support could have been counted on in other counties. But Jerry believes that comes down to the connection of the Cork sporting public and their hurling team.
Is there too much made of it?
“No, I don’t think there is. For me the best experience I’ve had at a match for a long time was last year after beating Limerick above in Páirc Uí Chaoimh,” he says.
“Backs to the wall, if we didn’t win, we were out of the championship, we were playing the All-Ireland champions. For me, any fella that was playing with Cork that night, they see what Cork hurling means to the public.
“So, that should be something driving those fellas on. Even when things weren’t going great for us, at times, we always had great support in Cork, every match. You had 22,500 for Kilkenny, Clare will be sold out at the weekend, you had 20,000 for the Limerick match, and what a bad night that was. It just shows the passion for Cork hurling in the public’s eyes here.”
While there was a certain charisma around that Cork team and the frontline players, there is also a belated acknowledgement that they changed the terms the game was played in.
The importation of the ‘Newtownshandrum style’, one devised and coached by the twins’ father Bernie, had its opponents, not least from prominent hurling people within Cork. But the running-game style was their chief weapon as they won All-Ireland titles, and it was since developed by Limerick.
The young O'Connor twins either side of their father, Bernie. Morgan Treacy / INPHO
Morgan Treacy / INPHO / INPHO
“Look, we were never advocates for all short passes. It just happened we did a lot of it but if the right ball is to a man 90 yards down the field or a man that was free, that was the ball we hit as well at the time,” says Ben O’Connor.
“We were a little bit castigated at the time because we did do a lot more handpassing than other crowds were doing. But any time we went out the field we were told if the ball was on, give it long or short.
“Look, at the time it was a little bit different and people were mad to have a cut off us but look it has worked for us and I think it’s still being played at the moment. It’s been refined a small bit but it’s still being played.”
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Close
Comments
This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic.
Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy
here
before taking part.
'At the end of the day, it was done for a reason' - Jerry O'Connor on Cork strikes
AS IT HAPPENS, THIS Sunday marks the 16th anniversary of a march through Cork city in support for the striking county hurlers.
It’s fair enough to take a philosophical look at it at this remove. The country was still chewing over the last bits of gristle remaining lodged in the teeth from the Saipan fall-out.
The handy shorthand for it all was that players were just trying to raise standards and be the best they could be. And others, management and administrators, were holding the whole thing back.
On the Saturday night, clubs convened at Maryborough House Hotel in Douglas. The was almost 100 percent attendance, 193 voted to carry a vote of no confidence in then-manager, Gerald McCarthy.
No clubs present revealed they had voted in his favour. Some 44 abstained and 21 were registered as not having discussed the matter.
The following day, an “official attendance” was reported as 1,760 marched from a rally at Kennedy Park – addressed by the comedian Des Bishop – before making their way to Páirc Uí Chaoimh, where the county footballers were playing a national league game against Fermanagh.
For obvious reasons, that time is featured prominently in Thursday night’s Laochra Gael episode on the O’Connor twins, Ben and Jerry.
Casting his mind back now, Jerry recalls just how big it all got, and his memories of being on the march.
“Yeah, it was a stressful time. We were still trying to train. And you had all this going on in the background,” he recalls.
“What I will say is the march that was held above in the city was unbelievable. The amount of people that came out to support us, it was just brilliant. I think that was a turning point. It just showed what the Cork hurling fans wanted.
“Getting back to the strike then, we were fierce well looked after. We trained above in Na Piarsaigh and we were so well looked after by the club. And we were taken in for breakfast after. We trained below in Mallow – we were well looked after there.
Reflecting back on it hasn’t been simple. The Laochra Gael programme has become a rigorous, valuable piece of journalism that frequently takes their subjects into uncomfortable places.
Given how the O’Connor twins were somewhat media-averse during their playing careers, featuring in the programme did not come entirely natural.
“Not one bit. I’ve had sleepless nights over it, I’ll be quite honest with you,” says Jerry.
“It’s hard to know what to make of it. You’re taken down, you’re in a dark room, you’re asked piles of questions and you’re coming out afterwards thinking, ‘Did I really say that?’ or, ‘What did I answer to that?’ or, ‘I could have done better’ and you’re just over-thinking it in your mind all the time.
“You just don’t want to come across as being a kind of a lamp, for the want of a better word. I found it hard enough. When you were playing hurling, you got used to meeting reporters but I haven’t spoken to anyone about hurling in years and years so I suppose I was out of the going of it and I felt under a little bit of pressure. But hopefully it will end up alright.”
He continued, “Even remembering things, I find it hard to remember what happened last week, not to mind being asked a question about what happened 12 or 13 years ago. It’s just getting into that way of thinking again and actually trying to say something that makes sense.”
The public are enriched by the story being revisited, as painful as it surely was for many of those caught in the middle.
It’s difficult to know if such a groundswell of public support could have been counted on in other counties. But Jerry believes that comes down to the connection of the Cork sporting public and their hurling team.
Is there too much made of it?
“No, I don’t think there is. For me the best experience I’ve had at a match for a long time was last year after beating Limerick above in Páirc Uí Chaoimh,” he says.
“Backs to the wall, if we didn’t win, we were out of the championship, we were playing the All-Ireland champions. For me, any fella that was playing with Cork that night, they see what Cork hurling means to the public.
“So, that should be something driving those fellas on. Even when things weren’t going great for us, at times, we always had great support in Cork, every match. You had 22,500 for Kilkenny, Clare will be sold out at the weekend, you had 20,000 for the Limerick match, and what a bad night that was. It just shows the passion for Cork hurling in the public’s eyes here.”
While there was a certain charisma around that Cork team and the frontline players, there is also a belated acknowledgement that they changed the terms the game was played in.
The importation of the ‘Newtownshandrum style’, one devised and coached by the twins’ father Bernie, had its opponents, not least from prominent hurling people within Cork. But the running-game style was their chief weapon as they won All-Ireland titles, and it was since developed by Limerick.
“Look, we were never advocates for all short passes. It just happened we did a lot of it but if the right ball is to a man 90 yards down the field or a man that was free, that was the ball we hit as well at the time,” says Ben O’Connor.
“We were a little bit castigated at the time because we did do a lot more handpassing than other crowds were doing. But any time we went out the field we were told if the ball was on, give it long or short.
“Look, at the time it was a little bit different and people were mad to have a cut off us but look it has worked for us and I think it’s still being played at the moment. It’s been refined a small bit but it’s still being played.”
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
blood brothers Cork GAA Hurling TWIN ACT Twins