A LINK BETWEEN their prosperous past and their positive present.
Ger Cunningham’s club playing career was punctuated by big days and rousing wins, accompanied by silverware as St Finbarr’s were a major figure on the Cork hurling scene.
When he lined out in the 1993 county decider, it was his tenth taste of the showpiece when you factor in the replay of that year. A sixth medal arrived to mark the occasion.
What happened next?
The club’s hurling fortunes nosedived, Cunningham saw time as a supporter and mentor prove not as fruitful. Trying to regain the title was one daunting task, contesting a final again was another ambition they couldn’t realise.
On Sunday at last the gap is bridged, Cunningham the manager as St Finbarr’s end that lengthy wait to sample Cork county hurling final day in Páirc Uí Chaoimh.
“It’s brilliant for the club, it’s fantastic for the community, there’s a great buzz around the place,” says the former Cork goalkeeper.
“For people like us who have lived in that drought of almost 30 years, it’s great to have it back. The older lads have given massive service to the Barrs hurlers. So for them to play in a county final is brilliant.
“I think you must grab the moment and live in the moment that you’re in. Who’s to know what’s going to happen in the future?”
The contrast between recent years of struggle and the golden era Cunningham had a front-row view for, couldn’t be starker.
“1979 was my first final, I was still a minor,” he recalls.
“At that age, you go out and you don’t be thinking of the consequences too much. It is what you grew up hoping to play in. Looking back, it was a great experience, even though we lost it. We went from there to ’84, played in six finals in a row. Great times.
“It is great that some of the guys who played in those, who haven’t been around for a while, they are now coming back in and being drawn back to the club, which is fantastic. Hopefully we have given the supporters a lift because it is a bit unexpected.”
Last Sunday week with the hurlers already having a safe passage to the final, Cunningham took his seat in Páirc Uí Chaoimh to see the club footballers try to maintain the double dream.
The reigning football champions kept up their end of the bargain, progression achieved by five points. It was a curious experience for the hurling boss, five of his players featuring for the Barrs footballers and the three Cahalane brothers in opposition for Castlehaven.
Since then the groups have mixed together once more, fuelled by the common goal of securing hurling medals.
“This week is fine because it’s over. We were going to have a situation no matter who won or who lost, we were going to have players disappointed and players happy.
“It’s very unique that you have a situation players playing potentially against their team-mates two weeks before a county final.
“We’ve tried to be aware and tried to keep everyone on board in relation to what we have to do. It’s unusual but I think we’ve managed it as best we can.”
Other challenges are thrown at him. This was a post he previously filled around 2007 but was not one he was actively pursuing to take again. Commitments with the Cork seniors consumed him, Cunningham spent another period at the helm of Waterford’s Ballygunner.
When club hurling chairman Diarmuid O’Meara contacted him last autumn about assuming the managerial reins, there were family matters to consider with his sons Ben and Sam having moved into the senior ranks.
“What I have tried to do is treat them as players the same as everyone else. I have tried to take away the emotion of the fact that they are from the same family, put in a situation where if they are good enough to play based on their ability, they’ll play. And if they’re not, they’re not. That can be hard at times.
“Every club has fathers and sons involved. Having John, Adrian, and Billy there, who don’t have any family directly involved in the team, they are very grounded on it. I would respect their thoughts.”
Modern club management presents different challenges. With plenty inter-county experience stockpiled, his current club position informs his views on the split season.
“We’ve hardly had a weekend off. It’s all the more remarkable how the players that are playing dual hurling and football are able to keep it going in the circumstances. Hats off to them. The season is definitely different now because you start on the 12th of March
“It’s challenging. You can go into a debate and people say there’s different angles. I haven’t heard of a better one. I think the best people to ask are the players and taken from that point of view, if they’re able to plan their lives better. The fact that you know when your games are on the certainty, that’s a massive plus for players. Look it’s not ideal, it’s challenging but it’s probably the best at the moment that’s out there.”
Co-operation is the name of the game. St Finbarr’s football boss Paul O’Keeffe is the hurling team doctor. That exemplifies the attitude where the teams seek to work hand in hand.
“The players are the priority,” says Cunningham.
“There is no point us arguing or fighting over players. We must look after them. What is right for them is the golden rule. I think it has worked well.”
The footballers have helped restore the club to the main stage, lifting Cork crowns in 2018 and 2021 before their run to the Munster title last January and an All-Ireland semi-final extra-time tussle with Kilcoo, helped reawaken the memories of when St Finbarr’s conquered the provincial and national arenas.
“The day in Thurles and the day in Portlaoise, against Kilcoo, it was a massive day for the club. It is not just the club anymore. It is the whole area and whole parish and the whole community. There is a new generation following the Barrs now, and they wouldn’t have seen the Barrs having success before. So the success the footballers have had, we have tried to tap into that and keep that momentum and feel-good factor going.”
The riches of their past is something they are conscious of and yet also careful not to let it become a suffocating pressure for the players. The tradition is there to be harnessed, which is why they addressed the narrative about the Barrs bidding for the double with both sets of players after the group stage progression.
It has been embraced without being allowed to distract.
The challenge on Sunday is considerable. Blackrock are a powerful, seasoned side. Their experience impresses Cunningham with a 2017 final appearance and 2020 final success, while he is mindful of their winning mentality from the underage ranks.
It is a fixture with an obvious appeal, forty years on from their last final, the pair of city aristocrats will draw the interest of hurling neutrals.
“From our point of view, it is probably more the older fellas John (Cremin), Sean McCarthy and myself, who would have grown playing Blackrock. A lot of the current players wouldn’t have that intense rivalry with each other that was maybe there in the past. It has diluted a bit in that context.
“You talk to people of our generation and the Barrs-Rockies is still one of the special games. All city finals are. From the county board’s point of view and traditionally, it is a good county final; two old rivals coming back together to face each other.
“We’ll embrace the fact we are playing Blackrock.”