We knew we had to get over feeling inferior towards Kerry
LarryTompkins spearheaded a Cork side that refused to bend to their neighbours and he believes, in time, the Rebels can dominate the rivalry once again
LARRY TOMPKINS is talking all things Americana. Telling tales from his own time in New York when it felt like the centre of the universe. In election week, as the pull of the presidential race has him glued to the television all week, he’s recalling not just a career framed by all things Cork and Kerry but the time he felt the King of New York himself – at least in the confines of Gaelic Park. He recalls the trips to Van Cortlandt Park with his buddy JC Daly, shouldering the goalposts to toughen themselves up. The runs up Eucon Park hill after the workouts at LaLanne’s Gym also come to mind. His life intertwining with Kerry great Mick O’Connell and the Saturday mornings spent chatting over breakfast in the Riverdale Diner.
Back then he rocked to Elton John and Madonna at Madison Square Garden. He watched basketball Hall of Famers Larry Bird and Michael Jordan strut the boards.
He saw Eamonn Coghlan winning the Wannamaker Mile in the Millrose Games. All of which gave him an appreciation, an understanding, of what it takes to make it at elite level, no matter the sport. It’s the same drive that brought him to try and beat Alan Shearer on the bike while in rehab at Lilleshall in England, a conversation point – if he ever needed one – while running his pub in Cork city on Lavitt’s Quay when Match of the Day ever pops up in conversation.
Putting the business up for sale the first week of March, when the pandemic struck, is just one reason why it’s been a testing year. On a normal Munster Championship Sunday at the Park, with Cork-Kerry going at it, the place would be hopping. But the promptings involved in finishing off his autobiography Believe (with Denis Hurley) have brought him back in time as much as passing the time.
So yes, all week he’s had one eye on the trials and travails of Donald Trump and life on the other side of the Atlantic. ‘My wife was giving out to me – I was going to stay up for the whole thing the other night! It comes from being over there for so long and getting involved and interested in so many things, politics and sport.
‘I did a bit of work outside Giants Stadium for a bit as well. Spent a lot of free time heading down to Madison Square Garden. So many different events happening there. I don’t know if it’s the only place in the world that can transform its stadium into anything. ‘I saw Elton John, Madonna. To the Golden Gloves boxing. To see Larry
Bird and Michael Jordan. Eamonn Coghlan being crowned King of the Boards. One of the great moments of sport that I was there to witness it.
‘You’re talking about 26,000 people in Madison Square Garden when these events are on. My kids would be slagging me here that I wouldn’t be into the music side of things but to see Elton John in concert. He was fascinating.’
When tickets were scarce, the GAA connections that weave their way through the city streets, usually came through.
‘Three or four years ago I went over there with my family. Massive big ice hockey game on involving New York Rangers, tickets were like gold dust. It was the semi-final. I contacted a fella from Kerry who I knew. Inside a couple of hours he said, “Meet me in Central Park – I’ve a couple of tickets for you”. Crazy stuff.
‘You look at the likes of Michael Jordan and Larry Bird. Like Larry Bird was really the one white person who could match the black players. They were incredible games to watch. To see how easy it was for them, the athleticism was immense.’
His book gets to the heart of what drives an ultra-competitor like Tompkins whose story of leaving his native Kildare to put down roots in Cork and drive the county to the double All-Ireland success of 198990 – keeping Kerry down along the way – is well told. The same as Tompkins was fascinated by The Last Dance documentary on Netflix to try and understand the drive of a Michael Jordan.
‘I watched it. It was incredible. It has to come from within. You have to be driven. I’d be only looking at my own road and I came across plenty of guys at the professional level. Trained with them when I was at Old Trafford or spending a lot of time at Lilleshall in the rehabilitation centre. I would have trained with Alan Shearer, Ally McCoist, lots of rugby union players like Rory Underwood, Jonathan Webb who were on the England team.
‘I went in and okay, these guys had names. But when I came out it makes you even feel more confident about yourself because you realise you were as good as them, if not better. As fit as them. I have massive admiration for GAA players because it’s an amateur game. I wouldn’t give it back for the world.
‘You play for the club. You’re the star, the person who is supposed to be leading the troops. The person who is supposed to be nearly kicking it out and catching it. Then there’s the county scene. On top of that you must have a livelihood, you must work. I came out of there with massive admiration for GAA players, for what they do. The sacrifice they give to club and county as amateurs. To see the gratitude and respect from the supporters then.’ From being fed on stories of Mick O’Connell growing up, funny how they ended up becoming close in New York. ‘He was working on a building site by day and in Moynihan’s bar by night. On a Saturday morning we used to meet for breakfast in the Riverdale Diner and the friendship endured after we both returned to Ireland.
‘Lord have mercy on him, my father used to talk about Mick O’Connell a lot. At that time Railway Cups were huge. My father went to a lot of Railway Cup finals at Croke Park. Used to take the bus in. When I was very young, I didn’t really get to see Mick O’Connell live but I used to go in and watch the Railway Cups in the 70s. ‘Micko was always mentioned in our house because my father thought that he was so far ahead of the rest. At that time there was a lot of catch and kick and Micko just stood out. He had an extraordinary drop-kick that was so accurate. Mastered it.
The Munster final and Super 8s were very encouraging last year
Could put a drop-kick ball right into your hands. Had an explosive, beautiful leap off the ground.
‘He was just ahead of his time. And my father used to always say, and it was in my head growing up, that he’d watch Mick O’Connell coming out of Croke Park, walking down the street when he was in his clothes, and he’d say his heels never touched the ground.’
To end up then having breakfast regularly with him was an education. ‘When I went to America then I got to know Micko well. He used to work on a job and so did I, a construction job during the day. an incredible man. He used to work then at night-time – he was over there to try and make a few pound for his family. Here you had a legend of the game, somebody I had been brought up with, with my father talking about him so many times, and then having breakfast with him. I used to slag him, saying “Do you know what my father used to say about you?”
What was he like? A lovely old clip of him with his son Diarmuid went around recently but he is not t one to look for the e limelight.
‘Micko is a gentleman. He has s his ways. We’d spend hours talkking about the game. He loved the game, loved talking about and looking at players. There was one great story. He was over the Kerry team over there – I was playing with Donegal. We had organised a challenge match through our friendship at Gaelic Park. The usual thing, who was going to referee it? So Micko refereed it. We had a guy playing from Wi Wicklow, Pat O’Toole. Well a big high ball came into the square and Pat caught a magnificent ball. Pat would be very strong. Of course a few fellas ended up on the ground when Pat came out with the ball and cleared it down the field. But Micko gave a penalty. Well Pat gave him the language – “what the f**k” and the rest – and there was a bit of a rumpus. Sure Micko threw the whistle at him. Said “you referee it!” And went away home.’ A singular player and a singular character.
So much of Tompkins’ career was underscored by Kerry. That famous first session after switching from Kildare, how he was lapping the other players. Not once but twice, when manager Billy Morgan ordered a re-run. He told the manager that change was needed. So what changed? How did they come to dominate Kerry for such an extended period?
‘Cork will always have ability but that era there was enormous success at Under 21 level. From the early ’80s to the ’90s there was something like six All-Ireland U21 titles won. When I joined, they had won three or four. So talent wasn’t an issue. It was the application. That belief to beat Kerry. To get over that inferiority complex because Kerry had beaten Cork so many times.
‘What was the difference? The application and intensity at training. We weren’t going in laughing or fooling around. Training became serious and tough and hard. The matches in training were as tough as Championship matches. and I don’t think that was there with Cork before that.’
EVEN when inducted into the GAA’s Hall of Fame himself, it was in the company of a Kerry man, Denis ‘ Ogie’ Moran, father of current player David. As a Cork footballer, Kerry usually tend to blot out the skyline. The same for this current generation.
You look at Tompkins the player and think that’s exactly what Cork could do with this afternoon for this Munster semi-final. That mental toughness. The will to win. To ‘Believe’ as his book title puts it.
‘I just think maybe there is a bit of an inferiority complex – I wouldn’t throw that to one side and say it doesn’t exist. I remember going down to see Cork and Kerry in an U21 game, when Ciaran Sheehan was on it – he’s 31 now so it’s probably 10 years ago. And I remember Cork beating Kerry by 17 points in that game. Six of the Kerry U21 squad advanced onto the senior squad and became very influential. I think only two of that Cork side really advanced to be a senior star. So what happened with that team?
‘A lot of those players weren’t given the opportunity to develop. I think they were lost. I think Cork are a few years behind yet but they are coming with a good, exuberant squad.’
Imagine if they could win? The resonance of the Cork double 30 years ago, the return to a knock-out format. What better way to mark this seismic year than beat Kerry?
‘I was at the Munster final last year and Cork put it up to them, big time. I do think it is in them to get a result. But yet it feels like it is a year too soon. That they probably need two or three more influential players to get over Kerry.
‘Having said all that, the tail-end of last year was very encouraging. After confidence being low after relegation to Division 3, look at the Munster final, and how they got on in the Super
8s. I was at all those games.
It was very encouraging.’
And his heart will be with them today.