Brothers in Sport (24 page)

His views on the series are interesting. ‘People knock International Rules and I can see why. Aussie Rules is no relation to Gaelic football. You kick the ball, hand pass it and catch it but that’s it. You are trying to marry two completely different sports, two different cultures, different ways of thinking. That is why you get the problems. Having said that, having worn the Irish jersey, having stood for Amhrán na bhFiann in Croke Park, it meant so much and for that reason alone I would be in favour of keeping it going.’

* * *

Aisake Ó hAilpín watched Setanta’s early progress in Melbourne with interest. Like all other young men with a talent for sport, he yearned to play full-time. The opportunity arose when Carlton placed him on their ‘rookie’ list for the 2005 season. Although he did not manage to play a senior game for the club in three seasons in Melbourne, Aisake learned a great deal about conditioning and the lifestyle of a full-time sportsman that would ensure on his arrival back in Ireland a quick return to the Cork hurling squad for the 2009 Championship.

His presence provided Seán Óg with a great tonic. He had endured the traumas of another strike, plus the only suspension of his entire career as a result of what became known as ‘Semplegate’. It was a controversial pre-match scrap before the opening round of the Munster Championship between Cork and Clare in June 2007. Seán Óg,
Donal Óg Cusack and
Diarmuid O’Sullivan were suspended along with four Clare players following a post-match investigation. ‘What happened shouldn’t have happened,’ admits Seán Óg. ‘Although how two teams were allowed run onto the pitch at the same time is another issue. I wish it had never happened, because it would be great to look back on your career and have a clean record; I never even got a yellow card and that means as much to me as winning the All-Ireland.’

The Ó hAilpín story continues. On 31 May 2009 Seán Óg and Aisake lined out for the first time together as Cork hurlers in the Munster Championship when they lost narrowly to Tipperary. They played together again when Aisake scored two goals and a point against Offaly in the qualifiers and also in the defeat to Galway. ‘Aisake coming back and getting the chance to play together for a few seasons means an awful lot to me,’ Seán Óg explains. ‘I enjoy training with him, going to games with him and watching him get the enjoyment out of the game that I have had for so long. My brothers, my family, were always my greatest supporters.’

His adoring fans carry a triumphant Joe Cooney from the field at Semple Stadium after his brilliant individual performance for Galway against Kilkenny in the 1986 All-Ireland semi-final.
© Ray McManus/SPORTSFILE

The road between Aughrim and Kilreekil is eerily quiet today. The landscape of east Galway has changed. One of Ireland’s new motorways has diverted heavy and light traffic off the old two-lane road that linked the two major centres of commercial activity in the midlands and west of Ireland, Athlone and Galway city. Now just the odd car, van or tractor breaks the stillness in the air over the N6. Just a few kilometres to the west lie the neighbouring villages of Bullaun and New Inn, home to the Sarsfields GAA club and some of the best hurlers that Galway has produced over the last three decades.

Jimmy Cooney, the eldest of the Cooney men from Bullaun and second eldest of the clan, farms about a mile from the old family home where Joe, the third youngest brother, has built his own house and now looks after the stock. Their mother Nora still lives next door in the house where she reared fourteen children with her late husband Mick. There are mementos all around to remind them of the glory days of Galway and Sarsfields hurling when the Cooney brothers were central to the successes. And out in the fields where it all began there are the sounds of a new generation of Cooneys preparing to play their part in the family story.

Thirty years ago in the autumn of 1980, on a never-to-be-forgotten September afternoon in Croke Park, Jimmy Cooney was the first member of the family to play in an All-Ireland final. Three years later the first lines of what would become the legend of Joe Cooney were written when he won an All-Ireland minor title. And in September 2009 the next instalment involving the latest generation began to be crafted when Joseph Junior was part of the All-Ireland-winning Galway minor team.

Bullaun hasn’t changed very much in those years. New houses have been built to accommodate an increased population and the national school has expanded with extra teachers employed to cater for higher numbers of pupils. But it retains the tranquillity of rural Ireland, with the hurling field – opened in 1984 when Jimmy and Joe Cooney played together in the Galway colours for the only time – still the hub of activity for the young people.

Mick Cooney played a big part in the creation and development of Sarsfields GAA club. When Mick was playing hurling, Bullaun had supported one team, St Enda’s, and New Inn another, St Killian’s. But in 1966 they came together and named the new amalgamated unit after Patrick Sarsfield who had fought in the Battle of Aughrim in nearby fields in 1691. Mick’s wife Nora was a Fahy from Craughwell. Her brothers all played football and hurling, Paddy representing Galway in both games.

In the early years Mick served as chairman, secretary, treasurer and team mentor. ‘He used to say he served in every position at the same time,
’
laughs Joe. His sons and daughters all developed an avid interest in the game, an interest that was further fuelled when Jimmy began making an impact with Galway. Throughout the 1970s it seemed that every year the county was on the verge of a breakthrough. Jimmy was selected for the Galway under-21 team in 1977 and was also called into the senior squad that year. Injury restricted his hurling in 1978, but he was back on the Galway panel for the 1979 Championship.

That decade had begun with great hopes in Galway. They won the All-Ireland under-21 title in 1972 with a team that produced a number of players who would make the senior ranks, including
Iggy Clarke, Frank Burke,
P.J. Molloy and
Joe McDonagh. They reached the All-Ireland senior final in 1975 after a famous semi-final victory over Cork, but were not strong enough for a great Kilkenny team. In 1976 they lost to Wexford after a replay in the semi-final. ‘When 1979 came around it was felt that we were ready to win an All-Ireland,’ remembers Jimmy. ‘In fact, it was very nearly the end of that team.’

Galway played in the four major finals in senior hurling in 1979 – the National League final, the Railway Cup final (representing Connacht), the Oireachtas final and the All-Ireland final and lost them all. They were well beaten by Kilkenny in the All-Ireland final. ‘People wondered that day, we all wondered, if it was possible for Galway to ever win a senior title,’ Jimmy says.

The players gathered before Christmas to discuss the state of play.
Cyril Farrell had been appointed coach for the National League of 1979–80 and the Championship. ‘There were a lot of guys who had been around a long time,’ Jimmy explains. ‘You had lads like John
Connolly who had given such service to Galway. They had given so much and we wondered could we go one more time. We all agreed to give it one more shot. We couldn’t let it go.’

Farrell introduced a heavy training programme. The players responded. ‘We worked very hard,’ says Jimmy. ‘You had to be at your peak just to keep going. But it was worth it.’ The turnaround was complete. The despair of 1979 was replaced by unbridled joy. They won the Railway Cup with only
Joe Henry from Mayo breaking into the Galway-dominated team. And on 7 September 1980 the All-Ireland victory that had seemed so elusive was finally achieved, Galway’s first since 1923. ‘It is a day I will never forget and no one from Galway who experienced it will ever forget,’ Jimmy says happily.

Joe recalls the final against Limerick. ‘I know I was in the stands, but not all of the family could be there. There were so many of us we couldn’t get enough tickets. I was looking out onto Croke Park and all I wanted to do was to get a chance to walk on the pitch. I didn’t really dream that I would get a chance to play there. It was enough that my brother was playing. A lot of things happened after that, but the final of 1980 is a day none of us will ever forget.’

Conor Hayes,
Niall McInerney and Jimmy in the Galway full back line faced the threat of
Ollie O’Connor,
Joe McKenna and
Éamon Cregan. They were three great forwards, McKenna and Cregan having been part of the Limerick team that won the All-Ireland title in 1973. It was a huge tussle. Galway benefited from early goals scored by
Bernie Forde and P.J.
Molloy. ‘But we knew with the talent they had that Limerick would fight back. And they did. There was one huge moment when Conor [
Hayes] intercepted a pass. If he had missed it Limerick had a certain goal and that could have changed everything. When Noel O’Donoghue [the referee from Dublin] blew the final whistle I couldn’t believe it,’ Jimmy says candidly.

‘The truth was that in our wildest dreams we didn’t think it was possible for Galway to win the All-Ireland. The people had followed us over the years and they had good times, but they didn’t think it would happen. And when it did and to see what it meant to them, it made everyone so happy.’

Just a month earlier Jimmy was part of the first Sarsfields team to win a Galway Senior Championship. The club was just fourteen years old and already a major power. When the year ended he was named the All Star corner back. ‘It was difficult to take it all in. It just seemed like the good days kept coming and that they would never end.’ Jimmy won a second All Star in 1981 after Galway had lost the title to Offaly. After serving a season as Galway’s captain in 1982, when they lost to Kilkenny in the All-Ireland semi-final, Jimmy suffered a broken thumb during the 1983 National League. ‘I was self-employed, working on the farm and I had had a fair few injuries over the years. I couldn’t keep going, taking chances and not being able to work. So I decided then it was time to break from the county team and just play for the club.’

In August 1983 Jimmy wore the number sixteen jersey in the dugout as Galway lost the All-Ireland semi-final against Cork. In the minor game that day seventeen-year-old Joe Cooney wore number twelve as Galway defeated Tipperary. Joe scored five points.
Anthony
Cunningham scored two goals and one point. John
Commins, Seán
Treacy, Pat
Malone, Gerry
McInerney and Tom Monaghan were also in that Galway team. They beat Dublin in the All-Ireland final. Jimmy Cooney left Galway in safe hands. ‘Other players emerged in the next two years,’ he recalls. ‘[Michael] “Hopper”
McGrath from our own club,
Martin Naughton. There was plenty of new blood.’

A glorious era was dawning.

* * *

As Joe Cooney was growing up in Bullaun his father and brothers would often watch him practising against the wall of the house. They noticed the lightness of his touch, the ease with which he could control the ball. Jimmy remembers, ‘He was always belting a ball against the wall. It was a sponge ball so it would come flying back at him but he had great control. He was always doing tricks. He had great wrists, just a natural talent. He had touch and control, but most of all he had great vision. He could spot a lad 80 yards away and put the ball into his hand. The one thing was that he was very light and my father was always worried that he would be pushed around. But Joe was well able to look after himself and he didn’t have to be physical. He could see everything that was happening around him and he could react to every situation. He had a brilliant sidestep too.’

Joe’s progress to the Galway senior team was rapid. He was still in his teens when named as a substitute for the 1984 Championship. Joe watched from the bench in Thurles as Galway suffered a heavy defeat in the All-Ireland semi-final against Offaly, conceding four goals. He was a fully-fledged member of the forward line alongside Tony
Kilkenny, Brendan
Lynskey,
Anthony Cunningham,
Martin Naughton and
Noel Lane for his first All-Ireland senior final in September 1985 when Galway again lost to Offaly, but this time by just two points. Joe won the first of his five All Star awards that year, the others coming in 1986, 1987, 1989 and 1990.

Cyril Farrell created a new tactical plan for 1986 based on Joe Cooney’s talents. He withdrew a player from the full forward line for the All-Ireland semi-final to lure a corner back away to allow Joe exploit the extra space. Kilkenny couldn’t cope. The extra space in Semple Stadium suited the plan perfectly. Joe scored two goals and tortured the Kilkenny defence. Galway won comfortably. It created a sensation in the sport.

‘It didn’t work for the final,’ Joe says ruefully. Critics claimed Galway were naïve to think Cork would fall for the same trick and that they should have changed tactics. Joe is not so sure. ‘I think their corner back Johnny Crowley had an ankle problem and he just stuck to his position because he wasn’t able to move around. We played the ball into where we had planned to create the space and everything fell into his hand. He got man of the match.’

By 1987 there was severe pressure on Galway to deliver. The triumph of 1980 was meant to be a launching pad for a decade of success, but now the romance was being replaced by frustration. Tipperary won the Munster Championship and the All-Ireland series took on a new complexion. Galway were gaining in experience and handled the semi-final against Tipperary well. Now they faced Kilkenny in the final. ‘It wasn’t a fancy game, it was a hard final,’ Joe admits. ‘It was a difficult day and
Ger Fennelly missed a few frees for them that he would normally put over. But we had a great mix in our team by then. We had stylish players like Eanna
Ryan,
Martin Naughton and “Hopper”
McGrath. We had ball-winners like Brendan
Lynskey who brought the rest of us into the game. We had powerful backs;
Conor Hayes and Sylvie
Linnane didn’t take any prisoners. And we had that half back line of Gerry
McInerney,
Tony Keady and Peter
Finnerty. It was a great line. There were so many players. We had the Kilkenny brothers
Ollie and
Tony. Steve
Mahon and Pat
Malone were great midfielders.
Michael Coleman then came along. We were a team playing with the rhythm you only get from playing together for a few years.’

It was the same formula that saw them maintain their dominance over Tipperary in 1988 when Galway won a second successive title. It was the beginning of a rivalry that was not always healthy, though Joe contends that it was not as bitter as some would suggest. Contests between them included the 1989 National League final which Galway also won. It was their second League triumph in three seasons. The Galway and Tipperary players met regularly in the interprovincial series, the Railway Cup, when the Connacht team made up entirely of Galway players won four titles out of the five competitions played between 1986 and 1991. Galway and Tipperary played again in the 1989 All-Ireland semi-final, which had been shrouded in controversy over the suspension of
Tony Keady for unwittingly playing illegally in an exhibition game in New York. ‘Because we were meeting so often the rivalry got a bit out of hand and sometimes it boiled over,’ admits Joe. ‘But I don’t think it was ever too bad. What happened with Tony [
Keady] was a pity because he was such a great hurler. But a lot of the challenges in the semi-final that day were more awkward than anything else. And when the game was over it was all forgotten.’