On a day when we were bleary-eyed from an early rise to watch Kellie Harrington enter the history books, the staple of the Irish summer needed a big game to remind us that while what’s rare is precious that we sometimes have the greatest of moments close to hand.
Internationally we bounced from a Euro 2020 that held us in thrall through to the last penalty shoot out, then we tumbled into an Olympic Games that has made us cheer, cry and remember why sport can be so powerful.
The Lions Series never really took off and even when we looked there was only bickering and TMO decisions.
Our soccer teams were doing well in Europe but with no mainstream TV coverage so were stuck to the back pages and the fan zones.
A succession of average enough Provincial Finals in Gaelic Games had kept our sports in mind but without really catching fire.
Bur with exquisite timing the GAA then served up Cork against Kilkenny, a mere ten hours after Portland Row just around the corner exploded with Joy after Kellie’s Olympic Gold.
Limerick had put away Waterford with ease on Saturday night but this was always likely to be closer.
From the outset, the sides were locked together. Level on double-figure occasions Kilkenny at one point led by five then Cork made changes from the bench and surged back and then past the Cats. A younger hungrier team looked set for the win but Kilkenny never really go away.
One point, then another and another and the margin was down to three but then Cork win a ’65 with three minutes of the four in added time already played and surely that’s it.
Up steps Patrick Horgan but the ball drifts wide. Still, only twenty seconds left. Cork’s drought of eight years since a Final and 16 since the last title will surely move one step closer to an end.
One final drive by goalkeeper Eoin Murphy, who had himself put in perhaps the best goalkeeping performance ever seen at the stadium, landed in the small square but was caught by Cork and take out by Tim O’Mahoney who had been a titan throughout. Past one man and then send it into the stands but no, a bounce on the ground and possession turned over. Head in the hands for Cork but come on, this can’t be taken away. Then Adrian Mullen wins the long ball in, turns and the net billows. Goal. Draw. Extra Time.
Momentum can be the most fickle of advantages and whatever was said in the respective huddles, the advantage swung back to Cork and this time Kilkenny could not come again.
The joy on the players and coaches faces, the roar of the fans from every corner of the Rebel County, told us that this was one for the ages.
It will be two weeks now until the Final. Limerick are probably the better team. They have it in them to win by ten points. But Cork have speed and they have belief. Yes, they could lose by ten but they could also win in style.
In Football Dublin went 16 years without an All Ireland win, then came back ten years ago and have won eight since. Cork’s drought is now the same length of time. During it, they have been overtaken by Kilkenny as the most successful team of all time. Yesterday’s victory will have been sweet but there is only one prize that matters, and now the GAA has a Final that will have us on tenterhooks, just when they needed it.
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