Christy O'Connor: Double header in Tullamore is a throwback to ...

IT was a different time and a different era for Cork hurling and football - a more successful one - but there was one weekend in the summer of 2007 when Cork GAA supporters had their fill of traipsing around the country to watch their teams.

It only effected the most dedicated followers but the tipping point was that 2007 August Bank Holiday weekend. 

John Miskella celebrates scoring a goal against Sligo in 2007 at Croke Park. Picture: INPHO/Cathal Noonan

On the Saturday, Cork played Sligo in an All-Ireland football quarter-final in Croke Park, while the minor hurlers played Dublin in an All-Ireland semi-final in Portlaoise later that evening. A day later, the Cork hurlers were back in Croke Park again for an All-Ireland hurling quarter-final replay against Waterford.

Not a whole lot more could have been done that weekend to facilitate the Cork supporters. The football quarter-final was part of a double-header with the Meath-Tyrone quarter-final, while the hurling the following day was a unique situation when an All-Ireland hurling semi-final (between Kilkenny and Wexford) was the curtain raiser to a quarter-final replay, when Cork and Waterford played out their third classic match that season.

At that time, Cork had been the most regular visitors to Croke Park over the previous five years, which had meant millions of euros spent on tickets, travel, accommodation, food and drink.

The Cork supporters were as important to the exchequer and the economy as they were to the GAA but there was also a strong feeling amongst those supporters that the GAA could be doing more to facilitate them.

When Cork and Kilkenny were due to meet in an All-Ireland hurling semi-final the following August, there was an immediate clamour for Cork’s All-Ireland football quarter-final clash with Kildare to be played as the curtain raiser. Some Cork supporters even called for the support of the county board and the players from both squads to ensure that it happened. It did, on the same afternoon in early August 2008.

Cork keeper Alan Quirke saving this penalty from Ronan Sweeney of Kildare during the 2008 All-Ireland football quarter-final at Croke Park. Picture: Dan Linehan

Croke Park was packed and, while the footballers won and the hurlers lost, the whole experience was still very pointed when it came to the comparable support received by both sides.

Cork had to survive a scare from a late Kildare rally but the reaction was still fairly muted from a Cork perspective. 

As soon as the hurling game began though, it was almost like entering into a whole new world in terms of atmosphere, noise levels and anticipation.

Despite the footballers having reached the previous year’s All-Ireland final, before going on to contest two of the next three All-Ireland finals, they still always knew their place when it came to the levels of support the footballers expected to get in comparison to what the hurlers were guaranteed.

As Cork faded from the elite football landscape over the following decade, that support base decreased more and more with each season. The hurlers may not have been successful either but the footballers still always looked on at them in envy.

FRUSTRATION

The footballers hadn’t always done enough to convince more supporters to commit to their cause but the frustration was becoming even more acute over the last 12 months when they had done so much to advance their cause for greater backing. Before they played Donegal two weeks ago, Cork had won six of their previous seven games.

The players were even more desperate again to sample what the hurlers had tasted after their games against Limerick and Tipperary. Especially against such a big gun as Donegal, who were being talked up as genuine All-Ireland contenders.

“For the past couple of weeks, we have been seeing the joy the hurlers have brought to the people of Cork,” said Seán Powter after Cork beat Donegal. “Us in the background have always thought, ‘Jesus, I'd love that as a Cork footballer'. You would be a bit jealous but thankfully we got a small sense of what it is like here. Hopefully now, wherever we play Tyrone, we will draw a crowd and hopefully we will push on from there.” 

Cork are guaranteed to have a crowd now for Saturday’s double-header. It’s even more of an advantage again with the footballers playing first. 

When Cork met Clare in a hurling and football league double-header in February 2022, most of the crowd disappeared as soon as the hurling match concluded before the football game began.

On Saturday, the footballers will hope that the huge Cork crowd in the ground will push them on against Tyrone like they did against Donegal.

“The fans make a massive difference,” said Colm O’Callaghan after the Donegal game. “People probably don’t realise but coming down the stretch there in the last 15 minutes when we got a run on Donegal, the crowd, they backed us all the way. You could hear the chants. It does give us a massive boost. It was unbelievable and it made a massive difference.” 

The hurlers will always dominate the support base but Saturday also feels like a golden chance for the footballers to cash in on this profile. For some of those hurling supporters who have always been lukewarm or indifferent to the footballers, this is certainly an opportunity for the footballers to win some of them over.

The hurlers will definitely win on Saturday. The footballers will hope to beat Tyrone, but they are also playing for more than just a result and a chance to progress straight through to an All-Ireland quarter-final.

Another display like what they produced against Donegal would certainly mobilise a lot of floating Cork supporters into getting behind the team – especially where there is so much positivity and good vibes around Cork teams at the moment.

And it could make a huge difference to the Cork footballers for the rest of the season.