THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY...
FOLLOWING ON FROM HIS REFLECTIONS ON THE 1968 FINAL, ENNISCORTHY MAN CONOR KELLY TAKES A LOOK BACK AT WEXFORD’S TANTALISING DEFEAT TO CORK IN THE 1976 ALL-IRELAND HURLING FINAL
I feel sure that the recently broadcast re-run of the 1976 Senior Hurling Final on TG4’s All-Ireland Gold will have evoked mixed feelings for most Wexford supporters of a certain age. The disappointment at the memories of losing such a thrilling match that remained in the melting pot right up until the closing stages really rankles but a sense of pride will always be felt at the contribution the purple and gold standard bearers made to such an enthralling spectacle.
No wonder the critics lauded it as one of the great finals of that era or that those of us lucky enough to have been in Croke Park on that first Sunday in September enthused so much about it for days afterwards leading many commentators to remark that the joyous scenes amongst the winning Cork players and supporters on the pitch at the final whistle was as much a portrayal of relief as of celebration at finally coming out on top of a ding-dong struggle.
In a match where the players played themselves to a standstill, the pace was unrelenting throughout, the exchanges tough but fair in a contest featuring a generous sprinkling of pure hurling with Cork’s traditional style of first-time pulling and sweeping ground strokes contrasting noticeably with Wexford’s tendency for taking the ball to hand at almost every opportunity. The tackles on both sides were always manly and whilst many frees were conceded, few of the transgressions were sufficiently serious to merit more than a finger wagging from the referee but, above all, the sportsmanship on display was exemplary.
For sheer excitement and thrills, the game would be difficult to better. Perhaps it was too close and keenly contested to rank as a sporting classic since the marking was too tight and the hooking and blocking too effective to allow the players to give full expression to their talents. Nevertheless, we witnessed some magnificent individual displays from the likes of Pat Moylan, Denis Coughlan and Gerald McCarthy of Cork and from Willie Murphy, Ned Buggy and Mick Jacob on the Wexford side.
The first half was as good a 35-minute period of play as I ever witnessed in an All-Ireland final. All credit to Cork for the manner in which they weathered the early brace of Martin Quigley goals and gradually worked their way back into the match thanks to a series of well-worked points from all angles and distances and a goal made possible by the deft footballing skills of Ray Cummins who, despite losing his hurley after gaining possession, still had the wherewithal to round Willie Murphy and boot the sliotar to the net from close range to leave the sides level going in at half-time.
The second half began with Tony Doran’s first minute major being almost immediately cancelled out by an opportunist strike from Charlie McCarthy for the Rebels but, despite this purple patch, the standard of play soon fell away noticeably with many scoring chances going abegging at either end.
The contest briefly appeared to turn Wexford’s way in the final quarter when a Ned Buggy sideline cut into the goalmouth slid through the cover to allow Mick Butler the simplest of tasks of palming to the net from close range.
However, in the final analysis, it was the tactical astuteness of the Cork selectors in bolstering up their defence through the introduction of John Horgan after 42 minutes and in adding impetus to their attack by the switching of Jimmy Barry-Murphy to centre half-forward on a visibly tiring Mick Jacob late on that ultimately turned the tide in their favour. How Wexford failed to muster a score in the final 13 minutes is difficult to explain and will forever haunt player, selector and supporter alike although their cause wasn’t exactly helped by the referee’s decision not to award a late close-in free for an apparent foul on Tony Doran…
It could be argued that Cork were the fresher team at the outset having enjoyed a 5-week break between the Munster final and All-Ireland day even if such a relatively long gap between matches would be decried by modern-day team managers as running the risk of blunting a team’s competitive edge and sharpness. Wexford, on the other hand, were in all likelihood drained by the two closely fought, energy-sapping semi-final contests against Galway during the August of what was a very hot summer leaving them with a mere fortnight to recover and prepare for the decider. Despite the less than ideal circumstances under which both sides entered the fray, the effort and commitment shown by the players involved at a time when training methods were less scientific than they are today was a testament to their resilience, stamina, fitness levels and a clear demonstration of what that pre-match rallying call of ‘ taking pride in the jersey’ really means when brought on to the big stage.
Of course, it would be pointless to attempt to make a direct comparison between hurling of that time and the modern game just as it would be equally folly to compare past and present performers in other sports. The changes over the years have been both remarkable and evolutionary with the 1970s heralding the period of increased player fitness levels, the 1980s marking a greater focus on man-management in team sports and during the 1990s more emphasis was placed upon developing the level of speed, tactical awareness, mobility and versatility that allows the modern player to play in any number of positions on the field and continually interchange with colleagues so as to make the man-marking tactics of yore increasingly challenging for opponents.
However, it wasn’t until the last two decades, with the help of funding from various sources including corporate sponsorship, marketing and merchandising, that inter-county team preparation has been enhanced by the introduction of gym-based, strength and conditioning programmes modelled on sports such as rugby and Australian Rules Football, pre-habilitation and recovery sessions, GPS and heart rate analysis, practical support on injury prevention, dietary and food supplement guidance, sleep improvement advice, video performance analysis, lifestyle coaching, breathing technique improvement and psychological preparation. The need to employ specialists in each of these fields has led, in turn, to the formation of the rapidly expanding backroom teams that, in certain cases, are now equivalent in size to the panel of players under their direction.
All a far cry from the days when inter-county teams were prepared for championship action by a compact grouping of manager, selectors, trainer, coach, doctor, physio and kitman, when All-Ireland Final training programmes had to be funded in the preceding weeks through community donations and when a large pot of tea and platefuls of sandwiches were the most regular items on the post-training menu for an exhausted and starving panel of players.
Looking ahead the stakes will only get higher and the competition more intense especially amongst the elite counties. With the sports science element of team preparation so rapidly increasing in significance, it is my fervent hope that the need for players to prioritize their practicing and perfecting of the basic skills of hurling is never compromised in any way by the need to be responsive to a host of analytical data being generated these days in relation to their physical and mental well-being.