"No holds Barred" Mickey Byrne pulling with kilkennys Liam Reidy as Tony Brennan looks on, number 6 for Tipp is Pat Staekelum
Tipp lost the League final of 1938 quite heavily to Limerick who were winning a record five league titles in a row, and seemed about to resume "normal service", only to fall to a John Keane-inspired Waterford in the Munster championship. On the other side of the draw, Tipp met Clare at Limerick and won comfortably by 3-10 to 2-3. However, one of the most famous controversies in hurling history was to torpedo Tipp’s chance of retaining their All-Ireland title. The issue related to Tipp’s star midfielder Jimmy Cooney from Carrick on Suir and has gone into GAA history as the “Cooney Case”. It is more often than not lazily considered by the media as being an issue about the infamous “ban”, but strictly speaking it is only tenuously related to the “ban”.
Jimmy was a student based at University College Dublin, and for anybody residing outside the county in those days, there was a requirement to formally “declare” for his native county – otherwise he by default became a player for his county of residence. Cooney attended a rugby match in February 1938 and incurred a three-month suspension as a result. Ten days before attending this match Jimmy had filled out his declaration form and forwarded it to the Tipperary county board, but from some reason it wasn’t forwarded to the central council for quite some time after this. Jimmy Cooney – everybody in Tipp assuming all was in order – played in a Monaghan cup match in London (a precursor to the “Wembley” tournament) against Limerick. He was declared illegal for this game on the basis that his “declaration form” was received by central council during his period of suspension, which rendered it null and void. He incurred a six month suspension for this “offence” which was that of being an unregistered player, and therefore nothing to do with the "ban" per se. Tipperary were notified of this on the eve of the Clare match, but despite serious reservations even within the Tipp camp, they decided to play Cooney, despite Clare’s pleas not to do so, as the Bannercounty didn’t want to go down the road of objections if they could avoid it. This is often considered an All-Ireland thrown away by Tipp and it is difficult to argue with this suggestion when you look at the subsequent results. As it happened, a Tipperary man – Mick Daniels - did receive the Liam McCarthy cup in 1938, but it was on behalf of his Dublin team.
Tipp went down to Limerick in ’39, and Cork in ’40, but in 1941 another “outside influence” intervened from a Tipp perspective. Foot and Mouth disease arrived in Ireland and Tipperary along with the likes of Kilkenny, Laois and Carlow suffered more than most, with the effect that rather than risk Kilkenny and Tipperary travelling before a sufficient disease-free period had elapsed ; Cork and Dublin were declared representatives of their respective provinces for the All-Ireland series. After Dublin (who were captained by Boherlahan’s Ned Wade) beat Galway in the All-Ireland semi-final, they lost very heavily to Cork in the final. Dublin subsequently beat Kilkenny in the delayed Leinster Final, but Tipp beat the champions Cork in the re-fixed Munster Final four weeks after the All-Ireland. The Tipp team was captained by Moycarkey’s Johnny Ryan. The previous decade of club hurling in Tipperary had been dominated by his club and their fierce rivals Thurles Sarsfields, winning nine titles between them, with Moycarkey taking five.
This 1941 Munster Final victory – whatever its specific merits – casts a small shadow over Cork’s great achievement of four All-Ireland titles between 1941-44, but in subsequent meetings between the teams in the following year and again in ’44, Cork had comfortable victories, with Waterford being Tipp’s conquerors in between. During these years Cork and Limerick were the main forces in Munster hurling, and indeed Limerick might well have won the 1944 Munster final which was lost in a replay to Cork - to which they would surely have added an All-Ireland title.
The 1940s generally was not a good decade for Tipp who lived in the shadows for much of the time, but 1945 provided welcome relief for the county. Tipperary avenged many a recent defeat on the way to this championship, beating Waterford, Limerick, Cork, Antrim and Kilkenny again in the final. This team was back-boned by players from the great hurling strongholds of Boherlahan, Thurles and Moycarkey. A famous hurling family – the Ryan’s of Moycarkey, Johnny, “Sweeper” and “Mutt” brought home three All-Ireland senior medals, though Johnny (who had played on the ’37 team) missed the final because of an injury picked up in a junior football match. This team also featured the Coffey brothers from Boherlahan, whose nephew Michael Murphy was to lead Tipp to All-Ireland victory nineteen years later. Another feature of this team was that the full-forward Tony Brennan, and centre-forward Tommy Doyle were to achieve lasting fame in defence for Tipperary. Mick Murphy, the right half back on this team from the Thurles Sarsfields club, was a native of Kilmaley, and brought a rare All-Ireland senior hurling medal to the Banner county half a century ahead of schedule.
At club level in Tipperary, the powerful Mid Tipp teams generally held sway in the '40s, taking six titles, before Borris-Ileigh emerged as a new force towards the end of the decade. However, during the '40s we had two "one-hit-wonders" taking the county title, namely Eire Og, Annacarty taking a rare title - at the time - to the West division , and Carrick Swan taking an equally rare title to the south division when they beat Borrisoleigh in the 1947 decider.
Tipp produced what was a very highly rated minor team in ’45, led by a man who subsequently was to achieve iconic status in Tipperary. The player in question was Pat Stakelum of Holycross. The minors were surprised by Dublin in the final, a result which was to be repeated the following year. In ’47 it was third time lucky for the Tipp youngsters, led by Paddy Kenny of Borrisoleigh in his third final, and had John O’Grady, John Doyle and Mick Maher also on board, who were to make varying impacts on the senior grade at a later stage. John O’Grady of Moycarkey had the honour of being the first captain to receive the Irish Press cup on behalf of a winning All-Ireland minor team - two years later in ’49 - and subsequently stood between the sticks when Tipp triumphed at senior level nine years later. He is now well known as the writer of the long-standing “Culbaire” column in the Tipperary Star.
The years following the ’45 victory were barren years for Tipperary at senior level, with John Mackey of Limerick being the primary destroyer of Tipperary hopes, as Limerick knocked Tipp out of the championship three years running. Mackey was a flamboyant, ebullient character, and one year he ran into Jimmy Maher, Tipp’s diminutive goalkeeper from Boherlahan, patted him on the head and said “you haven’t grown an inch since last year, Jimmy !”.
In 1949 Tipp won their second National League title beating Cork, and as it turned out it was turning point in Tipp’s fortunes. Cork again were the opponents in the Munster championship first round, and this turned into what is arguably the most famous championship tie Tipperary has ever played. On the first day it seemed as if Cork were going to progress, but a right at the death, a Jimmy Kennedy goal hauled back the Rebels and earned Tipp a replay. Jimmy from Puckane, who had played for Dublin in the previous year’s final when they lost to Waterford, was now in the colours of his native county. The replay – in which John Doyle began one of the most celebrated careers in hurling history - went to extra time, with a brilliant Jack Lynch goal after a long solo-run necessitating the extra period.
Tipp, fully refreshed after stint in the showers during the break, emerged to beat a Cork team whose achievements and consistency over the previous decade are remarkable. Tommy Doyle, who had come out of retirement for the ’49 championship, had a battle royal with Christy Ring over the 150 minutes of hurling, which played no small part in a famous victory. This game represented a passing of the torch in Munster hurling and the exchanges between Tipp and Cork over the next six years are the stuff of folklore. Tipp beat Clare – who had a fine team in the late 40s – in the semi-final, and Limerick in the final by 1-16 to 2-10 at Cork. Antrim were disposed of in the semi-final, and the final against Laois, - captained by the exotically named Paddy Rustchizko – was a runaway for Tipp who won by the same score as in 1937, which incidentally is the only occasion on which a previous All-Ireland final score-line has been replicated.
Tipp retained both National League and All-Ireland titles in 1950, beating Kilkenny in both the “Home” league final and the All-Ireland Final. The championship campaign was another long one with Limerick, Waterford, Cork, and Galway being the victims on the way to the final. By this stage Tony Reddan, who had taken over as Tipp’s number one after a superlative display in the 1948 county final for Lorrha against Holycross, was the leading goalkeeper in the game. The Munster final against Cork in Killarney featured chaotic crowd scenes including one Cork supporter trying to throw a coat over Reddan’s head to dilute his effectiveness ! Tipp pulled through by 2-17 to 3-11, with Paddy Kenny is devastating form. In the All-Ireland semi-final Jimmy Kennedy - who had scored 3-6 against Limerick – was singled out for special “treatment” from the Galway defence at Tuam. Paddy Kenny did the damage with three goals, and also scored the late goal in the final against Kilkenny when Tipp won by 1-9 to 1-8. Bobby Ryan, Tipp’s 1989 All-Ireland winning captain had two uncles, Pat Stakelum (the 1949 captain) and Ned Ryan on this team, as well as his father Tim. The 1950 outfit was led by the Borris-Ileigh powerhouse Sean Kenny who according to a contemporary match report played a captain’s part ;
“I rate Sean Kenny as the real match-winner. He switched early to the 40 yards mark and from here he rampaged at will to the complete bewilderment of Prendergast, who found himself chasing a “shadow” for most of the hour.”
The club of the Kennys and Jimmy Finn - Borris-Ileigh - were the leading club side in Tipp at the time winning county titles in 1949, ’50, and ’53, and having memorable battles with Holycross, Sarsfields, and Boherlahan in the process.
Another Borris-Ileigh man, Jimmy Finn, led Tipp to the third consecutive championship in ’51. Jimmy was one of the minors of two years previously, and in his senior career was to achieve a peerless status in the right-half-back position, which culminated in being chosen at number five on the team of the century. Tipp had another titanic clash with Cork in the 1951 Munster Final with Christy Ring being almost uncontainable at centre-field for the Cork men. Mick Ryan of Roscrea was switched from the "forty" to midfield and helped to gain a degree of parity in midfield. Tipp pulled through narrowly by 2-11 to 2-9, with this final back at the Gaelic Grounds. A new force had emerged in Leinster. Wexford were the All-Ireland final opponents, and the counties wore their provincial colours in what was the had won their first Leinster hurling title for forty-one years, and approached the final amid a great excitement and aniticpation. Wexford started the final very well with an early goal, but ultimately their effort was undermined by goal-keeping errors. Nicky Rackard, probably the greatest goal-scorer that game has seen, was rampant scoring 3-2 in the final, but Wexford were outgunned by a very experienced and accomplished outfit. By the end Tipp were in a comfortable position winning by 7-7 to 3-9, with Paddy Kenny once again being in superlative form.
Jimmy was a student based at University College Dublin, and for anybody residing outside the county in those days, there was a requirement to formally “declare” for his native county – otherwise he by default became a player for his county of residence. Cooney attended a rugby match in February 1938 and incurred a three-month suspension as a result. Ten days before attending this match Jimmy had filled out his declaration form and forwarded it to the Tipperary county board, but from some reason it wasn’t forwarded to the central council for quite some time after this. Jimmy Cooney – everybody in Tipp assuming all was in order – played in a Monaghan cup match in London (a precursor to the “Wembley” tournament) against Limerick. He was declared illegal for this game on the basis that his “declaration form” was received by central council during his period of suspension, which rendered it null and void. He incurred a six month suspension for this “offence” which was that of being an unregistered player, and therefore nothing to do with the "ban" per se. Tipperary were notified of this on the eve of the Clare match, but despite serious reservations even within the Tipp camp, they decided to play Cooney, despite Clare’s pleas not to do so, as the Bannercounty didn’t want to go down the road of objections if they could avoid it. This is often considered an All-Ireland thrown away by Tipp and it is difficult to argue with this suggestion when you look at the subsequent results. As it happened, a Tipperary man – Mick Daniels - did receive the Liam McCarthy cup in 1938, but it was on behalf of his Dublin team.
Tipp went down to Limerick in ’39, and Cork in ’40, but in 1941 another “outside influence” intervened from a Tipp perspective. Foot and Mouth disease arrived in Ireland and Tipperary along with the likes of Kilkenny, Laois and Carlow suffered more than most, with the effect that rather than risk Kilkenny and Tipperary travelling before a sufficient disease-free period had elapsed ; Cork and Dublin were declared representatives of their respective provinces for the All-Ireland series. After Dublin (who were captained by Boherlahan’s Ned Wade) beat Galway in the All-Ireland semi-final, they lost very heavily to Cork in the final. Dublin subsequently beat Kilkenny in the delayed Leinster Final, but Tipp beat the champions Cork in the re-fixed Munster Final four weeks after the All-Ireland. The Tipp team was captained by Moycarkey’s Johnny Ryan. The previous decade of club hurling in Tipperary had been dominated by his club and their fierce rivals Thurles Sarsfields, winning nine titles between them, with Moycarkey taking five.
This 1941 Munster Final victory – whatever its specific merits – casts a small shadow over Cork’s great achievement of four All-Ireland titles between 1941-44, but in subsequent meetings between the teams in the following year and again in ’44, Cork had comfortable victories, with Waterford being Tipp’s conquerors in between. During these years Cork and Limerick were the main forces in Munster hurling, and indeed Limerick might well have won the 1944 Munster final which was lost in a replay to Cork - to which they would surely have added an All-Ireland title.
The 1940s generally was not a good decade for Tipp who lived in the shadows for much of the time, but 1945 provided welcome relief for the county. Tipperary avenged many a recent defeat on the way to this championship, beating Waterford, Limerick, Cork, Antrim and Kilkenny again in the final. This team was back-boned by players from the great hurling strongholds of Boherlahan, Thurles and Moycarkey. A famous hurling family – the Ryan’s of Moycarkey, Johnny, “Sweeper” and “Mutt” brought home three All-Ireland senior medals, though Johnny (who had played on the ’37 team) missed the final because of an injury picked up in a junior football match. This team also featured the Coffey brothers from Boherlahan, whose nephew Michael Murphy was to lead Tipp to All-Ireland victory nineteen years later. Another feature of this team was that the full-forward Tony Brennan, and centre-forward Tommy Doyle were to achieve lasting fame in defence for Tipperary. Mick Murphy, the right half back on this team from the Thurles Sarsfields club, was a native of Kilmaley, and brought a rare All-Ireland senior hurling medal to the Banner county half a century ahead of schedule.
At club level in Tipperary, the powerful Mid Tipp teams generally held sway in the '40s, taking six titles, before Borris-Ileigh emerged as a new force towards the end of the decade. However, during the '40s we had two "one-hit-wonders" taking the county title, namely Eire Og, Annacarty taking a rare title - at the time - to the West division , and Carrick Swan taking an equally rare title to the south division when they beat Borrisoleigh in the 1947 decider.
Tipp produced what was a very highly rated minor team in ’45, led by a man who subsequently was to achieve iconic status in Tipperary. The player in question was Pat Stakelum of Holycross. The minors were surprised by Dublin in the final, a result which was to be repeated the following year. In ’47 it was third time lucky for the Tipp youngsters, led by Paddy Kenny of Borrisoleigh in his third final, and had John O’Grady, John Doyle and Mick Maher also on board, who were to make varying impacts on the senior grade at a later stage. John O’Grady of Moycarkey had the honour of being the first captain to receive the Irish Press cup on behalf of a winning All-Ireland minor team - two years later in ’49 - and subsequently stood between the sticks when Tipp triumphed at senior level nine years later. He is now well known as the writer of the long-standing “Culbaire” column in the Tipperary Star.
The years following the ’45 victory were barren years for Tipperary at senior level, with John Mackey of Limerick being the primary destroyer of Tipperary hopes, as Limerick knocked Tipp out of the championship three years running. Mackey was a flamboyant, ebullient character, and one year he ran into Jimmy Maher, Tipp’s diminutive goalkeeper from Boherlahan, patted him on the head and said “you haven’t grown an inch since last year, Jimmy !”.
In 1949 Tipp won their second National League title beating Cork, and as it turned out it was turning point in Tipp’s fortunes. Cork again were the opponents in the Munster championship first round, and this turned into what is arguably the most famous championship tie Tipperary has ever played. On the first day it seemed as if Cork were going to progress, but a right at the death, a Jimmy Kennedy goal hauled back the Rebels and earned Tipp a replay. Jimmy from Puckane, who had played for Dublin in the previous year’s final when they lost to Waterford, was now in the colours of his native county. The replay – in which John Doyle began one of the most celebrated careers in hurling history - went to extra time, with a brilliant Jack Lynch goal after a long solo-run necessitating the extra period.
Tipp, fully refreshed after stint in the showers during the break, emerged to beat a Cork team whose achievements and consistency over the previous decade are remarkable. Tommy Doyle, who had come out of retirement for the ’49 championship, had a battle royal with Christy Ring over the 150 minutes of hurling, which played no small part in a famous victory. This game represented a passing of the torch in Munster hurling and the exchanges between Tipp and Cork over the next six years are the stuff of folklore. Tipp beat Clare – who had a fine team in the late 40s – in the semi-final, and Limerick in the final by 1-16 to 2-10 at Cork. Antrim were disposed of in the semi-final, and the final against Laois, - captained by the exotically named Paddy Rustchizko – was a runaway for Tipp who won by the same score as in 1937, which incidentally is the only occasion on which a previous All-Ireland final score-line has been replicated.
Tipp retained both National League and All-Ireland titles in 1950, beating Kilkenny in both the “Home” league final and the All-Ireland Final. The championship campaign was another long one with Limerick, Waterford, Cork, and Galway being the victims on the way to the final. By this stage Tony Reddan, who had taken over as Tipp’s number one after a superlative display in the 1948 county final for Lorrha against Holycross, was the leading goalkeeper in the game. The Munster final against Cork in Killarney featured chaotic crowd scenes including one Cork supporter trying to throw a coat over Reddan’s head to dilute his effectiveness ! Tipp pulled through by 2-17 to 3-11, with Paddy Kenny is devastating form. In the All-Ireland semi-final Jimmy Kennedy - who had scored 3-6 against Limerick – was singled out for special “treatment” from the Galway defence at Tuam. Paddy Kenny did the damage with three goals, and also scored the late goal in the final against Kilkenny when Tipp won by 1-9 to 1-8. Bobby Ryan, Tipp’s 1989 All-Ireland winning captain had two uncles, Pat Stakelum (the 1949 captain) and Ned Ryan on this team, as well as his father Tim. The 1950 outfit was led by the Borris-Ileigh powerhouse Sean Kenny who according to a contemporary match report played a captain’s part ;
“I rate Sean Kenny as the real match-winner. He switched early to the 40 yards mark and from here he rampaged at will to the complete bewilderment of Prendergast, who found himself chasing a “shadow” for most of the hour.”
The club of the Kennys and Jimmy Finn - Borris-Ileigh - were the leading club side in Tipp at the time winning county titles in 1949, ’50, and ’53, and having memorable battles with Holycross, Sarsfields, and Boherlahan in the process.
Another Borris-Ileigh man, Jimmy Finn, led Tipp to the third consecutive championship in ’51. Jimmy was one of the minors of two years previously, and in his senior career was to achieve a peerless status in the right-half-back position, which culminated in being chosen at number five on the team of the century. Tipp had another titanic clash with Cork in the 1951 Munster Final with Christy Ring being almost uncontainable at centre-field for the Cork men. Mick Ryan of Roscrea was switched from the "forty" to midfield and helped to gain a degree of parity in midfield. Tipp pulled through narrowly by 2-11 to 2-9, with this final back at the Gaelic Grounds. A new force had emerged in Leinster. Wexford were the All-Ireland final opponents, and the counties wore their provincial colours in what was the had won their first Leinster hurling title for forty-one years, and approached the final amid a great excitement and aniticpation. Wexford started the final very well with an early goal, but ultimately their effort was undermined by goal-keeping errors. Nicky Rackard, probably the greatest goal-scorer that game has seen, was rampant scoring 3-2 in the final, but Wexford were outgunned by a very experienced and accomplished outfit. By the end Tipp were in a comfortable position winning by 7-7 to 3-9, with Paddy Kenny once again being in superlative form.
1950 Team
