Brian Cody launched his own hurling book at the ploughing championships the other day. I’m dying to read it myself. It should make for a fascinating read. Anyone with even a passing interest in GAA and hurling will want to buy it. I heard from someone who did queue up to get herself a signed copy but the queue was too long so she had to abandon her quest.
You talkin' to me, Morrisey?
The fascination that the public have with Cody is what makes him tick. How does someone continue to motivate a team to keep achieving? How does he motivate himself? The technique involved and the hunger that drives him are, I think, the two principal things that we want to be party to. His recent performance with Marty Morrisey was curious to say the least – a mask slipping or a bit of book-promoting devilment at the expense of one of our national broadcaster’s most eminent servants?
Waterford GAA and Waterford hurling have achieved nothing near the glory of our more illustrious Noreside neighbours. When victory does occur for the Deise hurlers over Kilkenny in championship hurling, it is as rare as it is sweet.
On the occasion of the last time that Kilkenny lost an All-Ireland final to Waterford back in October 1959, the celebrating was intense. The day had been hot for the time of year, with temperatures of twenty-three degrees (global warming my backside?). At the post-match function at Malahide, the Deise men were in rare form. A society columnist with the Evening Herald, was amongst the press corps at the Grand Hotel that night. In his ‘Going Places’ column, he captures the exuberance of the evening:
“‘Beating Kilkenny is worth two All-Irelands’, Matt Maloney said triumphantly. Matt is secretary of the most over-worked Waterford Reception Committee. That remark is not meant incivilly. It is only a statement of fact: 1938, 1948, 1957 and twice this year. ‘May I quote you?’ I asked. ‘In heavy type,’ said Matt…. Kilkenny has long been a Waterford bogey. And yesterday the bogey was well and truly laid. Hence the particularly intense jubilation… The London–Irish party to the number of 30 or so joined the Waterford revellers and in their good fortune. And squeezing the last sweet drops of reminiscence from a splendid day the entire party was listening raptly to a recording of the last, fateful 10 minutes of play. As if to intensify the rapture of it all they ran a colour film of the 1957 game. ‘You may think this is something,’ said Matt, ‘but it is nothing to what will happen in Waterford to-morrow. You should go down.’ And maybe I shall do just that very thing.”
It’s not hatred, of course, but simply healthy rivalry. Here’s another example of it: A couple of years ago, the Irish cricket team had performed some miracles in the world championships in the Caribbean by beating Pakistan, before exiting the competition.
Kilkenny in action?
A reporter from British sports television hijacking operators Sky was despatched to speak to some of the plain people of Ireland to see what they made of it all. The Sky man asked one passer-by if he was now going to switch his allegiances to England now that Ireland were out of it. The Irishman said no and that he “couldn’t do that”. But why not? the Sky guy persisted. “After all… we always support Ireland if our team are knocked out early.”
“Well, you know… 800 years and all that.” said the man, who was a Waterford man it must be pointed out.
The satellite hack shook his head in disbelief and finally pleaded: “Are there any circumstances in which you could see yourself supporting England?”
The Deise man paused for a moment and then said: “Maybe if they were playing Kilkenny.”
“My Father: A Hurling Revolutionary, the life and times of Ned Power” is out on paperback at the end of November 2009. Click here for further information, pre-order and excerpt.