A new lease of life for ugly, unloved venue that packed in thrills and controversies
THOSE charged with administering Gaelic games in Cork have been criticised on many points over the years. The lashing they took in an editorial in the old Cork Examiner on a July morning in 1990 must be the most exotic controversy that ever troubled the suits in Páirc Uí Chaoimh, however.
A crowd of over 55,000 was coming to the city to see Prince play in the home of Cork GAA. He would spend less than 12 hours in the city, but the concert was estimated to be worth over £4million to the local economy.
However, his lyrics and dissolute reputation concerned some.
The Lord Mayor of Cork at the time, Chrissie Aherne, said he would not greet the star at the city’s airport. ‘I leave it to the people of Cork to do what they want to do, but I think I have more respect for my children and the children of Cork,’ he said.
And the Cork Examiner went further, obliging the GAA to share responsibility for exposing Cork to this dangerous foreign influence. ‘But certainly questionable is the involvement of the Cork County Board of the GAA with Prince, who might be regarded as the very antithesis of the association’s Gaelic ideals,’ thundered the paper.
‘Without again belabouring the point, the GAA has refused its grounds to other sports organisations, and yet is prepared to allow the park to be used by a pornographic performer. Croke must certainly be turning in his grave.’
The county board was reported to have received a fee of £80,000 for making Páirc Uí Chaoimh available for the concert. This not only helps to explain their involvement, but also the long-established reputation for pragmatism among GAA powers in the second city.
That ability to endure criticism served many Cork county boards well not merely in their general work but in relation to Páirc Uí Chaoimh in particular.
From the day it opened in 1976, this testament to cold mass concrete was unloved, but it survived for almost 40 years before its closure for redevelopment in 2014.
The Páirc, stark and ugly on the banks of the Lee, was absorbed into the features and routines of the place.
Its opening day was in June 1976, when the Cork footballers and hurlers played Kerry and Kilkenny, the defending All-Ireland champions. A month later, it hosted the Munster football final, its first competitive fixture.
There was chaos, with the crowd pouring in to the extent that hundreds of fans had to be accommodated along the sideline and behind the goals. An official attendance of 40,000 paid through the gates, but a gate was forced and up to 10,000 more people streamed in.
The Cork-Kerry rivalry would boil to its fiercest heat in those years, and Pat Spillane later recalled one incident from the day.
‘I was standing in the goal for a forty five when a fellow hit me a belt of an umbrella across the legs and said, “Don’t come in here for the rest of the game”.’
‘It was ridiculous out there. The crowd milled around the goal like flies,’ Cork goalkeeper Billy Morgan said afterwards.
The match finished in a draw and the replay was fixed for the same venue, with Kerry winning a classic in extra-time. The provincial hurling final between Cork and Limerick was also played in Páirc Uí Chaoimh, Cork winning that one.
Jimmy Barry Murphy played in the three provincial finals in the new ground that July, scoring 2-4 in them.
In 1983, Kerry were recovering following the shock of the previous September, when Seamus Darby’s ageless goal stopped them winning five in a row. If history would subsequently suggest that the golden years’ team were past their best by then, they were still strongly fancied to win the Munster Championship in ’83.
If they did so, it would be an astonishing ninth provincial title in a row. In the final against Cork in Páirc Uí Chaoimh, they looked good for victory until Tadhg Murphy’s dramatic goal at the finish stole the game for Cork.
NOT only one of the sweetest memories in Cork football, the win also temporarily broke Kerry’s regional dominance: had they held out in 1983, they would have won 12 Munster Championships in a row, as they triumphed again in 1984, 1985 and 1986.
In the subsequent All-Ireland semi-final, Cork drew with Dublin in Croke Park and it was decided to hold the replay in Páirc Uí Chaoimh. Dublin ran away with the win on a score of 4-15 to 2-10, but the match was as significant for the fact that it was one of those rare occasions when Dublin are obliged to leave Croke Park.
If it is a novelty nowadays, it was considered adventurous then, to the point that security was strengthened around the ground for fear that a minority among Dublin’s boisterous support would cause crowd trouble.
They didn’t, satisfying themselves with watching their men storm to a big win.
The first Compromise Rules Test in Ireland was played in Páirc Uí Chaoimh in 1984, and the Australians started as they meant to go on. They won the Test by 13 points, but the more vivid memories attend their behaviour.
They beat the Irish players around the pitch, gleefully exercising their physical superiority. Meath’s Mick Lyons was carried off the pitch, unconscious, after one attack. It caused uproar, a reaction that would recur for years afterwards following the latest Australian outrage.
There was chaos with hundreds accommodated along the sidelines
Because Munster football has for generations been an effective duopoly, it means Cork and Kerry have alternated as hosts of the Munster final for years. Consequently, big-match memories of Páirc Uí Chaoimh revolve more around the big ball than the sliothar.
This runs contrary to the division of affections within the county, where hurling has always held the much greater share of supporters’ passions. Paul Kerrigan commented in recent days that he expected more Cork GAA supporters to be in the new ground for yesterday’s opening match between Tipperary and Clare, than to travel to Ennis to watch the footballers play Mayo in a qualifier.
Tradition dictates that Semple Stadium is the home of the Munster hurling final, while the strength of the Cork hurling following means their matches can be fixed for Limerick or Thurles and they will travel in big numbers.
One of the most famous hurling finals in the past half-century was held in Cork – but did not involve them. Waterford ended their 39-year wait for a provincial championship in 2002 when they beat Tipperary.
THE Clare-Tipperary rivalry of the late 1990s, which took on a wicked edge, played out some of its dramas in the ground, while in 1996 Cork took a fierce beating from Limerick in Páirc Uí Chaoimh. This was in one of Cork’s doom-laden down periods, while Limerick were one of the strongest teams in the country at the time.
They tore Cork apart, winning by 16 points, 3-18 to 1-8.
Nine years later, Cork would end the season as All-Ireland champions, but first they disposed of Tipperary in the Munster final in Páirc Uí Chaoimh. It was a match that became infamous in retrospect, when Dónal Óg Cusack revealed in his autobiography that Cork swapped the match sliothar for one of a different brand that they had softened up, when they conceded a penalty.
Eoin Kelly struck the penalty with the doctored sliothar, it was saved, and Cork eventually won by five points.
The venue also hosted what is estimated to be the largest crowd for a county final, when, in 1977, 34,151 watched St Finbarr’s beat Glen Rovers in the Cork hurling decider.
Besides hurlers, footballers and Prince, Páirc Uí Chaoimh in its old iteration also hosted U2, Michael Jackson and Bruce Springsteen.
Concerts will be a crucial part of the financial strategy of the new venue, too. There have been rumours of a Garth Brooks gig there at some point next year. It would be understandable, one supposes, if the portly cowboy never wanted to hear mention of Croke Park again.
Its role in the Irish Rugby World Cup 2023 bid is also prominent, and expect determined efforts by Cork officials to have as many big GAA matches fixed for the ground as they can in the coming years.
A national league final in hurling or football will surely be requested, for instance.
Much excitement has been churned up by footage of the new Páirc Uí Chaoimh. The national broadcaster devoted prime time TV and radio slots to news reports of Wednesday night’s dry run, an intermediate club hurling match.
However, the unhappiness within Cork GAA at the tens of millions being spent on a venue that might be full only once a year remains. This is most easily detected amongst critics of the current structures of hurling and football in Cork, who argue that if a fraction of the money was spent employing coaches then the long-term benefits would be more valuable than a bright new stadium.
Their concerns have been ignored, for now. This weekend, the people that rule GAA in Cork are feeling very happy with themselves.