IS it really 30 years since, in the early hours of the morning and amid pouring rain, Noel Kearney addressed a huge gathering of O’Donovan Rossa supporters in Skibbereen town square following their club’s All-Ireland football club victory?
He can’t quite believe it either.
Kearney was O’Donovan Rossa club chairman at the time. Turning to the masses of Skibbereen natives, and in front of their triumphant returning football heroes, he declared that these men were simply ‘the greatest bunch of lads that ever left this town.’
The Skibbereen club’s 1992/93 odyssey was the stuff of magic and culminated in the late Mick McCarthy bringing the All-Ireland trophy back to the West Cork town. To this day, those cherished memories remain crystal clear in Kearney’s mind.
‘Well the first thing to say is that we (O’Donovan Rossa team) were very late coming back that night,’ the former club chairman recalled.
‘After the replayed All-Ireland final in Limerick, we had a meal in the hotel. On our way back, sure every West Cork GAA club was out to welcome us. My God, Inishannon, Bandon, Clonakilty, Carbery Rangers and Kilmacabea were all out to greet us and that delayed our homecoming. It was well after 1am before we finally got to Skibbereen.
‘What a crowd was out to greet us though. I distinctly remember getting off the bus in the town square and the first fellas I met were from Barryroe! They had travelled to Skibbereen that night, just to be part of the homecoming.
‘It was a dream, that’s the only way I can describe 1993. The drawn (All-Ireland) final and the replay were something but coming back home to Skibbereen and experiencing what it meant to the people of, not just our town but West Cork too. Unbelievable, unbelievable.’
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Whatever about O’Donovan Rossa’s homecoming and subsequent weeks of celebrations, their 1993 All-Ireland final triumph did not happen overnight.
Kearney believes the genesis of Skibb’s All-Ireland success was down to a number of factors. Those included toppling Beara to win an U21 county title, experiencing a unique trip up north and bringing in a new senior football management team.
‘Did we ever think something like this could happen? No, before 1992, I don’t think we did,’ Kearney admitted.
‘Did we think we had the players to achieve something? I would say we certainly had. Before 1992, O’Donovan Rossa won three U21 county titles in seven years and that was a huge achievement against all the big teams in Cork .
‘In between, O’Donovan Rossa also won a county intermediate and five West Cork football titles as well. We won the 1990 U21 county against a star-studded Beara team. That young Skibbereen U21 team is what brought through the likes of Don Davis and Kevin O’Dwyer, who was already a Cork minor goalkeeper, to our senior ranks.’
Along with their U21 and underage successes at the start of the 1990s, one specific senior club championship game sticks out. It would prove a major turning point in the club’s history.
‘I distinctly remember O’Donovan Rossa played St Finbarr’s in the second round of the 1991 Cork SFC,’ Kearney said. ‘That game was played late on a Friday evening in Ballinascarthy. We were pretty well beaten, 3-6 to 1-7, on the night. Three of our fellas had college exams that same day so that wasn’t ideal. It was after that Barr’s defeat when people from within the club felt we needed to go in a different direction.’
The triumphant O'Donovan Rossa footballers welcomed home to Skibbereen after their All-Ireland success.
Not long after that county championship loss to a St Finbarr’s team that would reach the 1991 county final (and lose by a point to Duhallow), Skibbereen’s senior panel travelled to Belfast.
‘We were invited up to Belfast to take part in a tournament involving all the GAA clubs from around the country named after O’Donovan Rossa,’ Kearney explained.
‘There were only a handful of clubs (with that club name), four or five at most, around that time. So, on the June bank holiday in 1991, O’Donovan Rossa took a huge panel up north. That included the current senior panel and a lot of the younger fellas coming through our minor and U21 teams as well.
‘There were about 40 Skibbereen players in total traveling to Belfast. Anthony Davis and Mick McCarthy had to leave early to play for Cork in a national league game. That weekend was very important because all the players bonded over the weekend. It was also the weekend everyone felt a new management team was needed. So that’s what we did.’
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A new-look management team was in place by the end of 1991. The newcomers certainly made their mark, culminating in 1992 Cork SFC county final glory and a 2-9 to 0-10 defeat of Nemo Rangers.
That first-ever county senior football success had the desired effect as Rossas went on to claim a Munster title by defeating St Senan’s in the provincial decider.
Safely negotiating their All-Ireland semi-final trip to Derry and overcoming Lavey 2-10 to 0-4 (thanks to 1-9 from Mick McCarthy), suddenly, O’Donovan Rossa were in a first All-Ireland club senior final against Carlow’s Éire Óg.
‘Obviously, Mick Burns was part of the Skibbereen set-up all his life and a valuable member of that 1993 management team,’ Kearney explained.
‘Mick was a Drimoleague man and wouldn’t have been tied into things happening around town. Gene O’Driscoll joined us from Caheragh around 1986 and knew what was needed for O’Donovan Rossa to be successful.
‘Tony Goulding got a job in the Skibbereen branch of AIB. He lived next door to the Rossa Park pitch so was down there nearly every night of the week. Tony had played football with the Barr’s and was an ideal choice. He was a fresh pair of eyes with no previous connections. Martin Crowley was a Garda stationed in Cork city, a very level-headed fella. We also had Sean Lucey, a great man for statistics, well ahead of his time.
‘We put all those fellas together and put one proposal in place at the club AGM. We wanted all five to be put in charge of the O’Donovan Rossa senior team in bloc. Our motion was passed. It might have been looked upon as a radical move back then but we had to do something different if we wanted to be successful.
‘That defeat to the Barr’s broke the club’s heart back in 1991. We were county U21 champions the year before after beating one of the best Beara teams of all time. The likes of Brian O’Donovan, John O’Donovan, Mick McCarthy, Brian Carmody, Kevin O’Dwyer came from that U21 team, bolstered our senior panel for 1992 and 1993. The rest, as they say, is history.’
