The following is an extract from Pulse of the Nation: GAA 140 Years, by Martin Breheny and Donal Keenan, by Hachette Books Ireland.
*****
TEDDY MCCARTHY ALWAYS reckoned it was in the early days of summer 1979 – certainly before his fifteenth birthday on 1 July – when he first successfully manufactured an encounter with Jack Lynch.
There was a ritual amongst the youngsters around Glanmire in those days when the big state car was spotted arriving in the village on the outskirts of Cork city carrying the Taoiseach on visits to old friends.
‘I don’t know if he was still the Taoiseach at the time, but he was always the Taoiseach to us,’ McCarthy would later reflect.
Not only was Lynch a statesman and politician, he was a sporting hero – a hurler and footballer whose name was etched into the history of the GAA in Cork and nationally.
Word would spread quickly through the narrow streets and alleyways of Glanmire and Riverstown that Lynch was on his way.
They knew his destination would be Michael McCarthy’s home at the end of the terrace and that other heroes of the past would also be gathering.
Lynch had left Cork decades earlier to complete his legal studies in Dublin before embarking on the career that would make him one of the most recognisable figures in Irish history. But he had never forgotten his roots or the friends made while growing up in Cork.
McCarthy, a hurley-maker for both Lynch and Christy Ring in their playing days, was one of those old friends. He was also a mentor to the young hurlers and footballers of Glanmire.
Teddy McCarthy had been reared in St Joseph’s View on tales of the deeds of men like Lynch who had won five All-Ireland senior hurling championships with Cork between 1941 and 1946.
In 1945, when Cork’s hurling domination was briefly broken, Lynch was one of the dual stars who won an All-Ireland football medal.
And when Teddy’s dream of attending North Monastery secondary school in the city was realised in 1978, with the intervention of influential family friends who convinced the school governors that academia could be nurtured in the young man, he was further entranced by the Lynch legend.
Around the school, photos were displayed of North Mon hurling teams that had won the Harty Cup, the Munster Colleges senior hurling championship. Lynch featured prominently as a member of the winning teams in 1934, 1935 and 1936.
In the latter two years, North Mon also won the Munster Colleges football title with Lynch playing a starring role at midfield.
On that day in 1979, which McCarthy remembered with childlike enthusiasm as clear-skyed and warm, the word spread like wildfire that the taoiseach had arrived.
Lynch, Michael McCarthy and another old friend, Bertie Murphy, sat around the stump of an old oak tree and engaged in fond reminiscence and chatter.
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Teddy grabbed his hurley and ball from beside the front door of the family home and chased off down the street, belting the ball in front of him.
“When I got to the end of the terrace, I would make sure to hit the ball across the road towards the tree stump. I would go after it and hope that the men would notice me and that the great man might say something to me.
“Of course, they knew what I was at. I did it every time he came over a period of about ten years, so I wasn’t very subtle about it.
Cork GAA great Teddy McCarthy. Alan Betson / INPHO
Alan Betson / INPHO / INPHO
“On this particular day, I went through my usual routine. However, when I went to retrieve the ball Michael stopped me from chasing away.
‘“Hold it there, young Mac,” he instructed. Then, he turned to the Taoiseach and said, “Jack, this lad is going to be a good one.”
“I ran off happier than I had ever been in my life.’
Teddy didn’t just worship Lynch. He was in awe of Cork’s dual heroes, like Jimmy Barry-Murphy, Ray Cummins, Denis Coughlan and Brian Murphy. They had won a football All-Ireland with Cork in 1973 and were stars of the hurling team that dominated the game in the mid-1970s, winning three Liam MacCarthy Cups in succession in 1976, 1977 and 1978.
And when he left North Mon, laden with honours, and embarked on a successful Under-21 career with Cork, McCarthy began to realise that he would get the chance to emulate the feats of those stars.
That Barry-Murphy would be a team-mate when he won his first All-Ireland hurling title in 1986 was almost beyond comprehension.
In five incredible years between his debut in 1986 with the hurlers and the completion of the double in the 1990 All-Ireland championships, McCarthy not only matched his heroes.
He did something that no one had done before – and something that no one is ever expected to repeat – he became the only man to win All-Ireland senior hurling and football titles in the same year.
After the hurling success of 1986, McCarthy played in five All- Ireland football finals, including a replay, over the next four seasons. Cork lost to Meath in 1987 and 1988 (replay) but won the title in 1989, beating Mayo.
He was busy with both the hurlers and footballers as the championships began in 1990. Denis Walsh was also a member of both panels. The team managers – Canon Michael O’Brien (hurling) and Billy Morgan (football) – enjoyed a good working relationship and devised a structured training programme for the two players to follow.
Canon O’Brien, popularly known amongst the hurlers as the ‘Padre’, agreed in late June that the two players would spend a weekend away with the footballers for some intensive training and to play two games.
Mayo provided the opposition for the first of those games. There was no holding back. Players on both teams were eager to make an impression.
Teddy went for a trademark high catch. He leaped higher than everyone else and won the ball cleanly. As he landed, his right ankle crumpled. A five-week lay-off and a lot of mental anguish followed.
He missed the Munster final victories; he played a small part in the All-Ireland hurling semi-final but did not play in the football semi-final. He watched that football match from home and worried that his injury would prevent him from taking any further part in either campaign.
The doctors, the physios and – critically – the team managers kept faith and were patient. He was fit for the hurling final against Galway and the clamour began. He became the centre of attention, not something he was comfortable with, but he was fortunate.
On trips abroad, to Australia and New York, he had become well known to the media personnel covering Gaelic games and was friendly with some. He engaged in the pre-match build-ups and was then left alone.
When the hurlers won the All-Ireland the hype intensified.
Coach Morgan and his team-mates provided a protective cordon, as did his family. Meath, the old enemy, were again the opposition.
His good friend Colm O’Neill was dismissed in the first-half, but Cork responded to adversity. His midfield partner, Shea Fahy, played a blinder. As did Larry Tompkins. Teddy made a big contribution too. And when it was all over, he gave Fahy a huge hug and headed for the dressing room.
Years later, he recounted in his autobiography Teddy Boy what the next few minutes entailed.
“I took more belts than I had throughout the entire championship. I felt none of them. Complete strangers hugged me. A few kissed me. At one stage, I thought I would be smothered. I wriggled free.
“In the mayhem I tried to put my thoughts together. History had just been made and I was central to that. Cork had become the first county to win the All-Ireland senior football and hurling championships in the same season and I was the only player to feature on both teams.
“My old pal Denis Walsh had played on the hurling team but had not been able to secure a starting place on the football team. He deserved enormous credit for his achievements, but the spotlight was focused on me because I played in both finals.
“When it was all over and the supporters descended on the team, I felt a need to be alone. I don’t think it was just for myself. I thought about the other players. I’d had my moment two weeks beforehand and I didn’t want my presence to distract from what my team-mates had done.
“These guys were my friends and they had soldiered hard over the years for everything they had achieved. And they had achieved a great deal, more than any other bunch of Cork footballers had ever achieved in history. They deserved their glory and I would not allow anything to affect that. I decided, there and then, to head for the dressing room.
“The steward at the dressing-room gate was surprised to see me coming.
“‘Are you not going up for the presentation, Teddy?’ he asked.
‘I’ll be back out in a minute,’ I told him. I had no intention of coming back out, but I didn’t expect the surprise that lay in store.
“Expecting to be alone, I was momentarily taken aback when I noticed someone else in the dressing room. ‘Who the hell—?’
“The thought ended abruptly. One of my all-time heroes – Jack Lynch. The former Taoiseach, the Cork GAA legend, stood there, pipe in mouth and a big smile lighting up his famous face.
“‘Congratulations, Teddy. What an achievement. You should be very proud of yourself.’
I was speechless. I think I said thanks.”
*****
Pulse of a Nation: GAA 140 Years – Rankings, Ratings, Tales and Drama by Martin Breheny and Donal Keenan is published in Hardback by Hachette Books Ireland, €14.99.
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'History had just been made' - Teddy Mc, Jack Lynch, and Cork All-Ireland dual stars
The following is an extract from Pulse of the Nation: GAA 140 Years, by Martin Breheny and Donal Keenan, by Hachette Books Ireland.
*****
TEDDY MCCARTHY ALWAYS reckoned it was in the early days of summer 1979 – certainly before his fifteenth birthday on 1 July – when he first successfully manufactured an encounter with Jack Lynch.
There was a ritual amongst the youngsters around Glanmire in those days when the big state car was spotted arriving in the village on the outskirts of Cork city carrying the Taoiseach on visits to old friends.
‘I don’t know if he was still the Taoiseach at the time, but he was always the Taoiseach to us,’ McCarthy would later reflect.
Not only was Lynch a statesman and politician, he was a sporting hero – a hurler and footballer whose name was etched into the history of the GAA in Cork and nationally.
Word would spread quickly through the narrow streets and alleyways of Glanmire and Riverstown that Lynch was on his way.
They knew his destination would be Michael McCarthy’s home at the end of the terrace and that other heroes of the past would also be gathering.
Lynch had left Cork decades earlier to complete his legal studies in Dublin before embarking on the career that would make him one of the most recognisable figures in Irish history. But he had never forgotten his roots or the friends made while growing up in Cork.
McCarthy, a hurley-maker for both Lynch and Christy Ring in their playing days, was one of those old friends. He was also a mentor to the young hurlers and footballers of Glanmire.
Teddy McCarthy had been reared in St Joseph’s View on tales of the deeds of men like Lynch who had won five All-Ireland senior hurling championships with Cork between 1941 and 1946.
In 1945, when Cork’s hurling domination was briefly broken, Lynch was one of the dual stars who won an All-Ireland football medal.
And when Teddy’s dream of attending North Monastery secondary school in the city was realised in 1978, with the intervention of influential family friends who convinced the school governors that academia could be nurtured in the young man, he was further entranced by the Lynch legend.
Around the school, photos were displayed of North Mon hurling teams that had won the Harty Cup, the Munster Colleges senior hurling championship. Lynch featured prominently as a member of the winning teams in 1934, 1935 and 1936.
In the latter two years, North Mon also won the Munster Colleges football title with Lynch playing a starring role at midfield.
On that day in 1979, which McCarthy remembered with childlike enthusiasm as clear-skyed and warm, the word spread like wildfire that the taoiseach had arrived.
Lynch, Michael McCarthy and another old friend, Bertie Murphy, sat around the stump of an old oak tree and engaged in fond reminiscence and chatter.
Teddy grabbed his hurley and ball from beside the front door of the family home and chased off down the street, belting the ball in front of him.
“When I got to the end of the terrace, I would make sure to hit the ball across the road towards the tree stump. I would go after it and hope that the men would notice me and that the great man might say something to me.
“Of course, they knew what I was at. I did it every time he came over a period of about ten years, so I wasn’t very subtle about it.
“On this particular day, I went through my usual routine. However, when I went to retrieve the ball Michael stopped me from chasing away.
‘“Hold it there, young Mac,” he instructed. Then, he turned to the Taoiseach and said, “Jack, this lad is going to be a good one.”
“I ran off happier than I had ever been in my life.’
Teddy didn’t just worship Lynch. He was in awe of Cork’s dual heroes, like Jimmy Barry-Murphy, Ray Cummins, Denis Coughlan and Brian Murphy. They had won a football All-Ireland with Cork in 1973 and were stars of the hurling team that dominated the game in the mid-1970s, winning three Liam MacCarthy Cups in succession in 1976, 1977 and 1978.
And when he left North Mon, laden with honours, and embarked on a successful Under-21 career with Cork, McCarthy began to realise that he would get the chance to emulate the feats of those stars.
That Barry-Murphy would be a team-mate when he won his first All-Ireland hurling title in 1986 was almost beyond comprehension.
In five incredible years between his debut in 1986 with the hurlers and the completion of the double in the 1990 All-Ireland championships, McCarthy not only matched his heroes.
He did something that no one had done before – and something that no one is ever expected to repeat – he became the only man to win All-Ireland senior hurling and football titles in the same year.
After the hurling success of 1986, McCarthy played in five All- Ireland football finals, including a replay, over the next four seasons. Cork lost to Meath in 1987 and 1988 (replay) but won the title in 1989, beating Mayo.
He was busy with both the hurlers and footballers as the championships began in 1990. Denis Walsh was also a member of both panels. The team managers – Canon Michael O’Brien (hurling) and Billy Morgan (football) – enjoyed a good working relationship and devised a structured training programme for the two players to follow.
Canon O’Brien, popularly known amongst the hurlers as the ‘Padre’, agreed in late June that the two players would spend a weekend away with the footballers for some intensive training and to play two games.
Mayo provided the opposition for the first of those games. There was no holding back. Players on both teams were eager to make an impression.
Teddy went for a trademark high catch. He leaped higher than everyone else and won the ball cleanly. As he landed, his right ankle crumpled. A five-week lay-off and a lot of mental anguish followed.
He missed the Munster final victories; he played a small part in the All-Ireland hurling semi-final but did not play in the football semi-final. He watched that football match from home and worried that his injury would prevent him from taking any further part in either campaign.
The doctors, the physios and – critically – the team managers kept faith and were patient. He was fit for the hurling final against Galway and the clamour began. He became the centre of attention, not something he was comfortable with, but he was fortunate.
On trips abroad, to Australia and New York, he had become well known to the media personnel covering Gaelic games and was friendly with some. He engaged in the pre-match build-ups and was then left alone.
When the hurlers won the All-Ireland the hype intensified.
Coach Morgan and his team-mates provided a protective cordon, as did his family. Meath, the old enemy, were again the opposition.
His good friend Colm O’Neill was dismissed in the first-half, but Cork responded to adversity. His midfield partner, Shea Fahy, played a blinder. As did Larry Tompkins. Teddy made a big contribution too. And when it was all over, he gave Fahy a huge hug and headed for the dressing room.
Years later, he recounted in his autobiography Teddy Boy what the next few minutes entailed.
“I took more belts than I had throughout the entire championship. I felt none of them. Complete strangers hugged me. A few kissed me. At one stage, I thought I would be smothered. I wriggled free.
“In the mayhem I tried to put my thoughts together. History had just been made and I was central to that. Cork had become the first county to win the All-Ireland senior football and hurling championships in the same season and I was the only player to feature on both teams.
“My old pal Denis Walsh had played on the hurling team but had not been able to secure a starting place on the football team. He deserved enormous credit for his achievements, but the spotlight was focused on me because I played in both finals.
“When it was all over and the supporters descended on the team, I felt a need to be alone. I don’t think it was just for myself. I thought about the other players. I’d had my moment two weeks beforehand and I didn’t want my presence to distract from what my team-mates had done.
“These guys were my friends and they had soldiered hard over the years for everything they had achieved. And they had achieved a great deal, more than any other bunch of Cork footballers had ever achieved in history. They deserved their glory and I would not allow anything to affect that. I decided, there and then, to head for the dressing room.
“The steward at the dressing-room gate was surprised to see me coming.
“‘Are you not going up for the presentation, Teddy?’ he asked.
‘I’ll be back out in a minute,’ I told him. I had no intention of coming back out, but I didn’t expect the surprise that lay in store.
“Expecting to be alone, I was momentarily taken aback when I noticed someone else in the dressing room. ‘Who the hell—?’
“The thought ended abruptly. One of my all-time heroes – Jack Lynch. The former Taoiseach, the Cork GAA legend, stood there, pipe in mouth and a big smile lighting up his famous face.
“‘Congratulations, Teddy. What an achievement. You should be very proud of yourself.’
I was speechless. I think I said thanks.”
*****
Pulse of a Nation: GAA 140 Years – Rankings, Ratings, Tales and Drama by Martin Breheny and Donal Keenan is published in Hardback by Hachette Books Ireland, €14.99.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
book extract Cork GAA Teddy McCarthy