An odyssey that will forever remain etched in the memory
ENNISCORTHY MAN CONOR KELLY RECALLS THE FAMOUS SUNDAY IN SEPTEMBER 1968 WHEN, AS A 10-YEAR-OLD BOY, HIS FATHER BROUGHT HIM TO CROKE PARK TO SEE WEXFORD TOPPLE TIPPERARY
WATCHING the recent All-Ireland Gold re-run of the 1968 senior hurling final on TG4 evoked many happy, personal memories of this iconic moment in Wexford sporting history since I was lucky enough to experience the occasion as a young supporter when my father took me on my first trip to Croke Park.
Of course, every journey begins with a single step, but when those steps take you to the scene of one of the biggest annual events on the Irish sporting calendar for the very first time, it’s an odyssey that will forever remain etched in the memory.
Perhaps not as imposing a stadium in those days long before the advent of the three-tiered superstructures, executive boxes, HD screens, conference centre and floodlighting, it was still to me a sporting theatre of dreams with a commanding presence on the north Dublin skyline overshadowing all other landmarks in the area.
The sight of the surrounding streets filled with cheerfully intermingling, rival fans adorned with their hats, badges and flags of the day, the sounds of summer provided by the myriads of buskers along Dorset Street and Lower Drumcondra Road and the increasing density of food, beverage, programme and souvenir sellers all added to the tapestry of big match approaches to the ground. Once inside, the ambience, array of colour and cacophony of sound generated by the multitudes were striking phenomena that no radio listener or TV viewer could have fully appreciated.
From our vantage point in the lower deck of the Hogan Stand, the beautifully appointed playing surface was lusher and greener than anything I’d ever witnessed before adding to the allure of a venue that appeared almost like a place of make-believe to an impressionable 10-year-old. Pre-match entertainment was provided, in accordance with best GAA traditions, by the red and blue uniformed Artane Boys Band, as they were then called, working in perfect synchrony as they crisscrossed the pitch, accentuated by the beat of the four drummers providing a range of musical tunes that have rung pleasantly in my ears over the ensuing 50 years.
Although Paul Lynch got Wexford off to the perfect start with a point from play after just 10 seconds, Tipperary soon assumed total control courtesy of a succession of points from Jimmy Doyle and Babs Keating followed by a deflected goal when Jimmy Doyle got the faintest of touches to a sweetly struck sideline cut from Donie Nealon. With Mick Roche in imperious form at centre-back and Len Gaynor to his left mopping up all that came his way, a fifth All-Ireland title of the decade appeared to be a racing certainty for the Premier County. Despite Kilmore’s Jack Berry striking a daisy cutter to the net out of the blue after 26 minutes, the half closed with Wexford eight points adrift of their Munster rivals and, but for the safe hands and sharp reflexes of netminder Pat Nolan, would and perhaps should have been much further behind. As the teams trooped off at half-time, not even the most optimistic of our contingent gave the purple and gold standard bearers a chance of winning.
But how much wider of the mark could any of us have been considering the epic tussle that unfolded on the resumption? If
Mick Roche was the outstanding player of the first half (has anyone ever played better in an eventual losing cause?), then his Wexford counterpart Dan Quigley was the standout figure for me after the change of ends. Unfortunate enough to lose the services of master craftsman, Jimmy Doyle through early second half injury, the Tipperary half forwards soon found themselves shackled by a stonewall Wexford half-back line leaving them unable to create the sort of openings they’d carved out with such consummate ease earlier on. These factors, allied to galvanizing effects brought about by the introduction of John Quigley to the Wexford half-forward line at the interval following the earlier switching of Tony Doran to full-forward, sent the pre-match favourites’ fortunes into a tailspin.
I don’t think I could ever forget the images of Tony Doran grabbing a lobbing ball from Phil Wilson and turning on a sixpence to crash a low shot past goalie John O’Donoghue in the early minutes of the second half, the rising gem of a 21-yard free from Paul Lynch that found its target just beneath the crossbar, the point blank save by O’Donoghue from a goalbound, Jack Berry palmed effort, the sheer strength of Tony Doran somehow holding off the robust challenge of opposing full-back Noel O’Gorman to force the ball to the net followed by a length of the field movement culminating in Jack Berry crashing home the fifth major with just minutes remaining to complete a dramatic comeback and leave too little time for Tipperary’s late brace of goals to have anything other than statistical significance.
But whilst the inspired switches in the forward line contributed significantly to Wexford’s second half revival, anecdotal evidence would suggest that it was the forceful, half-time pep talk by Manager, Padge Kehoe, that really inspired the troops to display the character, style, will to win and high fitness levels Padge had proclaimed in pre-match media interviews that the team possessed in abundance. Whilst none of us will ever be able to vouch for what really transpired in the confines of the dressing room during the interval on that fateful day, the exchanges were reportedly of such a nature as to cause consternation to one or two Croke Park officials alerted to the sounds of crockery shattering on the concrete floor.
Wexford’s sensational comeback in the second half of the 1956 National Hurling League Final against the same opposition has always been attributed in GAA folklore to the influence wielded by the gale-force wind that raged on the day but the turnaround achieved on a relatively benign afternoon in early September 1968 could not be similarly explained. Indeed, their second half scoring spree, when playing into the Hill 16 end, flew in the face of the proclamations of modern-day TV pundits whose view is that this end of the ground is the harder of the two to score into due to the swirling winds that blow across from the Nally Terrace corner.
Looking back on that second half turnaround, it is hard not to