Advertisement League of Ireland Horse Racing TV Listings GAA Fixtures The Video Review Sport meets news, current affairs, society & pop culture Rugby Weekly Extra Dive into all the news and analysis 3 times a week The Football Family Weekly insights from the week’s big talking points Advertisement More Stories Cork and Tipperary parade before the final. 65 years on, Cork and Tipp meet in another league final in another world Christy Ring and Jimmy Doyle towered over a game that brought a crowd of 28,000 to the Cork Athletics Ground the last time they met in a final. 6.01pm, 2 Apr 2025 Share options Declan Bogue WHEN AT FIRST the statistic emerged that this was the first time Cork and Tipperary were meeting in a hurling league final since 1960, the law of averages felt this scenario highly unlikely. But it’s true. The two teams that have met in 31 Munster finals (though, interestingly not since 2006), have not faced each other in a league final in 65 years. That league began in a different decade to the final. Cork got underway in the Cork Athletic Grounds on 11 October 1959 with a loss to Kilkenny, 3-7 to 5-7. Thereafter they handed out beatings to Antrim in Casement Park (Remember there? No?), Wexford, Waterford and Dublin to top NHL Division 1A. While Division 1B featured six teams, Clare only played three games and Kerry played just one, a victory over Carlow. Tipperary had a clean sweep of their four games with wins over Galway, Carlow, Clare and Limerick to make it to the league final, set for May Day, Cork getting the home advantage. To look back on the footage from that league final day played at the Cork Athletic Grounds on YouTube is an assault on the senses. Advertisement Classic GAA Videos & Clips / YouTube Before you even get to the hurling there are the obvious societal changes that jars; the heaving crowds, reported as 28,000 (and receipts of £3,600 according to the ‘Cork Examiner’), pretty much all men dressed in suits. A lot of enthusiastic sucking of Woodbines. Dozens of men standing on a flimsy looking roof of a stand that simply had to be packed tight with asbestos. Not a helmet in sight. The pipe band having to gain access to the stadium, marching snare drums and all, through the narrow turnstiles designed for the typical shape of a Victorian gentleman. It was a different fame, one spread by song and story and newsprint to make Christy Ring the first nationwide household name for a hurler. Here, Ring was six months off his 40th birthday and much of the footage centred around him. It’s fair to say that his athletic prime was some way behind him at this stage – gravity always wins – but he made up for it in other ways. You can see him remonstrating with the referee, listed as a G. Fitzgerald of Limerick, over certain moments in the footage. He was not afraid of a little or a lot of physical contact with his marker, Mickey ‘The Rattler’ Byrne. He had carried some form coming into the game too, with 6-4 against Wexford. As the voiceover of the coverage notes, everyone was there to see Ring. Tipperary followers might dispute that of course, but Ring held his end up with scoring tally of 3-4. Ring was lucky the Celebration Police wasn’t around back then, too. After he lashes one 21-yard free to the net he indulges in one high knees jolly, and a buck-leap/forward bicycle kick for good measure. All for a league game? They’d be suspicious nowadays. League Sunday would hold an inquest for a start and by midweek the Internet will have had its’ fill of the hilarious content spilling out of the celebration. You can see why his appeal was universal. John D Hickey in the Irish Independent breathlessly noted, under a sub-heading of ‘A man apart’; ‘One thing I learned from this match was that it is but folly to imagine Ring is as other men, as regards carrying his years or in hurling wizardry.’ Christy Ring (centre). Tipperary had their own stars, of course. In a couple of seasons they would have their fabled ‘Hell’s Kitchen’ full-back line of Michael Maher, John Doyle and Kieran Carey and thus began a period of national dominance; losing the 1960 Liam MacCarthy final to Wexford before winning four out of the next five All-Irelands. And, they had Jimmy Doyle, who scored nine points here to arrest the Cork 2-5 to 1-5 half time lead, and leave it 2-15 to 3-8 in Tipp’s favour by the end. Hickey wrote of Doyle; ‘(His) presence was as great a cause of worry as to the Cork defenders as was Ring’s wand a source of infinite anxiety to the winners.’ And added, lapsing into a dose of Red Peril; ‘The Tipperary man, who was almost as closely guarded as a certain noted Russian on his visits to other countries…’ Other names from that pairing echo through the ages, albeit growing fainter now; Theo English, Donie Nealon and Mick McCarthy. In goal for Cork that day was Mick Cashman. Flat-capped and fearless, the caption in ‘De Paper’ acknowledges his ‘many fine saves during yesterday’s National League Final against Tipperary.’ His grandson, Alan Connolly, is in line to play some role this weekend for Cork, at the other end of the pitch. Speaking at the recent Munster championship launch, the Blackrock man had been sent a link to the 1960 coverage by his mother, with the proud rejoinder that his grandfather was sitting next to Ring in the team photo. Perhaps it was all passed down the bloodlines to Alan’s brother Gavin, the current Blackrock goalkeeper. Related Reads Páirc Uí Chaoimh to host hurling league finals, Croke Park football deciders confirmed Hayes set to miss Cork's league final but no long-term injury suffered All the ups and downs of the hurling leagues as we explain final day permutations “I don’t know why Gav is a goalkeeper,” Connolly laughed. Cork's Alan Connolly, a grandson of 1960 league final goalkeeper Mick Cashman.Ryan Byrne / INPHO Ryan Byrne / INPHO / INPHO “I’m glad he is anyway because he’s a good one. But I don’t know why. It probably played some part in his mind anyway.” Even winning this league wouldn’t be anything to blow and bum about to his uncles Tom and Jim Cashman who have six All-Ireland titles between them. The world, the sport and the culture around it changes. But all the same, a meeting of Cork and Tipperary can still sell out 18,000 more than what it sold 65 years ago. Some going. Declan Bogue Viewcomments Send Tip or Correction Embed this post To embed this post, copy the code below on your site Email “65 years on, Cork and Tipp meet in another league final in another world”. Recipient's Email Feedback on “65 years on, Cork and Tipp meet in another league final in another world”. Your Feedback Your Email (optional) Report a Comment Please select the reason for reporting this comment. 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