Ahead of Saturday's All-Ireland semi-final between Galway and Cork in Croke Park, we look back at three famous meetings between the sides when Galway upset the odds:
For over 70 years it was like Ireland trying to beat the All-Blacks for Galway hurling fans when it came to Cork. Try as they might, the Tribesmen could not break the Rebel hoodoo, with many of their first 19 championship meetings ending in absolute hammerings from the Munster side. The controversial 1953 All-Ireland Final was the one game where Galway probably should have beaten Cork, only to finish on the wrong side of a 3-3 to 0-8 scoreline. Finally, the hex was ended at the 20th championship attempt in the 1975 All-Ireland semi-final when league champions Galway triumphed by 4-15 to 2-19. Three early goals from Frank Burke, John Connolly and PJ Qualter laid the foundations for a victory that catapulted Galway into All-Ireland consideration from that point on. Four years later, Galway repeated the dose againt Cork by 2-14 to 1-13 in another All-Ireland semi-final 'shock' when the Rebels were going for 4 All-Ireland titles in a row. And, incredibly, history repeated itself again in the 1985 All-Ireland semi-final when Galway took down the reigning All-Ireland champions Cork in front of just 8000 spectators in a Croke Park monsoon on a scoreline of 4-12 to 5-5. In Ollie Turner's 2020 book 'Game of My Life', former Galway hurler Pete Finnerty spoke about that 1985 win over Cork:
"Cork probably thought they were going to turn up and win by 10 or 15 points, without breaking sweat and be in another All-Ireland final in four weeks’ time. They were thinking about not getting injured for the final but we came with a very different attitude. We were new, we were hungry and we were hurt. Galway hurling was down and we felt insulted. We had two options… fight for the jersey or throw in the towel. We decided to fight. Cork saw this early on and knew they were in a battle and suddenly started wiring into it fairly hard as well. We matched everything they threw at us. We got a couple of goals after John Fenton scored a penalty and we built up a good lead but typical Cork, they are never beaten, and came right back at us. It looked like the game was turning again and going away from us. John Fenton got a ball and it broke, and he swung at it and missed it. Had he connected it would have been a goal and they probably would have gone on and won, but we went down the other end and Joe Cooney scored our last goal to give us some breathing room again. From there to the finish it was pure adrenalin and desire and hunger, and want that kept us going. You could feel that in every player and in the atmosphere among the few Galway people that were there. I remember thinking we can’t f***ing disappoint them now. When the game was entering the final stages I remember the excitement of the Galway people lining up on the sideline, getting ready to come on to the pitch to congratulate us. After the final whistle we were carried off the field shoulder high. People celebrated like we had won an All-Ireland, probably because it was our first chance to shout in Croke Park since we won it in 1980. It was the first time that I got to experience our own people coming onto the pitch and clapping us on the back after a senior championship game. You would be sore by the time you got to the dressing-room with lads trying to take the boots and hurl off you.
The late Miko Donoghue helped to carry Noel Lane off the pitch, and I often look back and think weren’t they two men who served Galway well. For me, that win was the catalyst for all the success that came afterwards. It brought together the old and the new. It could have been a beautiful sunny day and we could have beaten Cork by two points in a classic, but I don’t think it would have been as important for Galway as beating them in a mudbath, in a wrestling game. Tony Kilkenny sent a ball into Noel Lane that day and I remember when Tony came on as a sub three years later in the final, he sent the exact same ball into Lane for the goal that sealed the All-Ireland against Tipperary. A lot of things started that day that were improved on until we got to win an All-Ireland.
I have a poster somewhere of the RTE Men of the Match from the 1985 semi-final with the names Pete Finnerty, Tony Keady and Tony Kilkenny on it. Instead of the usual Man of the Match being selected, RTE decided that the Men of the Match were the Galway half-back line. It was most unusual at the time and I’m fairly sure it hasn’t happened since! It was also the last time that Michael O’Hehir commentated on a game; he came into our dressing-room before the match with all his stats on every player. It was an honour to meet such a legend and in many ways it took our minds off the battle that we were about to face but it was most unusual and in many ways, unique. One other aspect of that game I remember is how enjoyable the aftermath was. There were other days in Croke Park where we won semi-finals and finals, but there was more tension and pressure and nerves, and when the match was over it was more relief than anything. In ’85 I think it was the fact that we went into it as no-hopers, with very little expected of us and suddenly we found ourselves playing above and beyond what other people thought was possible. That day a good performance was nearly as much as could be expected from us, so there was a lot less pressure. I look back on it now and think had things gone wrong for us and had we lost and not performed, there was no way that half of us would ever be heard of again. There would have been a lot of lads thrown on the scrap heap. I would probably have gone back to corner-back, Keady might have had to go back to centre-forward, a lot more could have walked away but instead that day gave us all hope and lifted everyone in the county going forward."
Since 1985, Galway were on the wrong end of All-Ireland Final defeats to Cork in the finals of 1986, 1990 and 2005, and despite scoring 2-12 in a Man of the Match display, a young Joe Canning was part of the Galway team on the wrong end of a 2008 qualifier defeat to Cork in Thurles. Since then, Galway have beaten Cork in their last 5 championship meetings, including the 2012 All-Ireland semi-final, so the fear of the red jersey that was so evident before 1975 has long since evaporated. The bookies make Cork 3/10 odds-on favourites to win this Saturday, but history tells us never to write off Galway when the men from the west are underdogs!
