Treaty triumph
Kyle Hayes celebrates in Croke Park after Limerick beat Cork following extra-time to book the Treaty County’s place in the All-Ireland final for the first time since 2007.
THE torrential rain of the morning was replaced by the tears of tens of thousands of Cork fans, whose All-Ireland dreams were shattered in the blink of an eye.
It was a match that will go down in history as one of the most thrilling and nailbiting, one that offered everything you could expect.
An army of 70,000-plus supporters stormed the capital at daybreak, with many arriving at Croke Park hours before kick-off.
A group of blissfully ignorant American tourists wandering on Jones Road looked on in astonishment and confusion as a sea of green and red jerseys walked by.
“Oh wow! Is there some type of sports game going on?” said one of them.
Indeed, there was, but little did they know that this “sports game” was fated to be the penultimate humdinger that could have gone either way.
It turned out to be an epic comeback that was as compulsive as the Galway-Clare classic a day earlier.
In the 16th minute of extratime Pat Ryan sped down the end-line and lobbed the ball into the net.
It was only then that many Cork fans accepted defeat.
Hundreds of crestfallen supporters from the Rebel County started to disperse from Croke Park as fast as they could.
Maybe the jubilation and deafening cheers from the Limerick side were too much to bear.
“It’s over, there’s no point in staying any longer,” said Pat Curren from Skibbereen.
“Sure, it’s extremely disappointing but it would be a lie to say I didn’t enjoy myself. I can’t remember ever watching a more fantastic game of hurling.”
This was the viewpoint that the clear majority of Cork supporters had when the final whistle was blown – devastation, mixed with a resounding sense of pride.
“It was a very good game of hurling, you can’t deny that,” said Conor O’Riordan from Ballyvourney.
“The forwards fell asleep in the end. Up six points at half-time, but they threw it away. But having said that, we got our money’s worth and we’ll be back next year regardless. The boys tried their best and they’re still our heroes.”
Stuart Flaherty’s fouryear-old son Jake from Blarney wasn’t as gracious in defeat.
Wiping a tear away from his eye, the young Rebel told the Irish Independent that he wanted to go home and was “just tired of it all”.
The Limerick fans, however, held nothing back when it came to making their triumph known.
A group of young supporters, belting out a questionable rendition of Amhrán na bhFiann as they marched out of Croke Park, made their exhilaration contagious.
“They played an absolutely fantastic game,” said Michael Smyth from Limerick city.
“We never doubted them for a second and I know they’re going to annihilate Galway.
“I don’t even care that it’s Sunday – the party is going to continue well into the night,” he said.