Cork V Dublin 1983 - Jayo Cluxton

The recent clash of Dublin and Cork in the All Ireland semi brings back great personal memories of the 1983 semi final replay. When the bould Frank put the foot down and insisted that Dublin travel for the rematch – Heffo simply said bring it on! We were blessed to draw the first game with a very late goal in Croker and were traveling more in hope than anticipation! And in massive numbers.

We set off at 9 ish – no motorways then! The bros all coming straight from a nightclub – one a bouncer, the other a patron – complete with white tank top covered in Guinness stains and drunkenly asleep (he woke up in Horse and Jockey!).

A 1976 Elite Escort took us to Cork among a flotilla of Dublin vessels – buses, cars, vans and even a navy-sky blue Citroen Dyane (more anon). In those days you drove for years and arrived at a little roundabout and went around to 3 o’clock for Cork. Some guys in front of us had forgotten where the brakes were – bang, bang, bang – nothing more than broken glass and busted egos!

The stadium appears on your left – the other side of the Lee – as you drive down the quays. We parked and walked towards the ground – drinking in the atmosphere and little else. That would be later. The city end was a mass of red – the Blackrock end blue – impressive! We had a few sprinklings of Corkonians among us – yuppies they were too (remember them?).

My memories of the game are of an awesome Brian Mullins (goal-scorer), Joe McNally’s soccer style finish for the 4th and an unbelievable display to stride home, 4-15 to 2-10!

We hit Watergrasshill on the way home and Ollie’s in New Inn in Tipp for the Sunday Game (or whatever it was then) – joined by busloads of Dub fans – and the four hairy Furey look-alikes in the Citroen – with the final score now emblazoned on the back! A day of days and one of my all-time great sporting memories.

Dublin had their homework well done that day and Cork could never really get into the game. They kept Jimmy Kerrigan (one of the original attacking half-backs) too busy to go forward, and deservedly won the match, much to my disappointment. Thanks to Dublin, after all those years, for being so sporting to come down.

Another match between Cork and Dublin that springs to mind was the league final when Cork failed to come out for extra time (having been assured by Frank that there would be a replay) and Dublin put the ball into an empty Cork net to win the title. There was some dispute afterwards about how the referee handled it. I think that the rules of the time stated that the referee in such a situation should thrown in the ball, then blow the whistle and award the match to the team on the field. Technically when he allowed Dublin to go down field and put the ball in the net, he put himself in a kind of Twilight Zone, since there was no one to kick the ball out again, and there was no provision for him abandoning the game because a kick out wasn't taken. No quibbles about Dublin being awarded the title,though.

Aye scorpio, and this year we never came out for the second half!