Cork's three-in-a-row stars of 1976-78 are reunited

Not since 2001 had the of the Cork three-in-a-row side of 1976-78 gathered together, so the recent reunion was well overdue.

With Martin O’Doherty, the captain in 1977, home from San Francisco and keen to reunite with his former colleagues, a plan was put in place, with The South County in Douglas the ideal venue.

Eamonn O’Donoghue played a key role in organising and he was delighted that the evening proved to be a success.

“Martin and I had an email exchange and then I met Dr Con [Murphy] and we said that we’d try to all the players who had been on those s, I think it was 31 in all,” he says.

“We got phone numbers for people ed everybody, all the players and the next of kin of those who have sadly ed.

“Then, Tom O’Connor from the South County looked after us very well, he said he’d sponsor the food and a few drinks. It all went very well and everybody was delighted to be able to meet up after such a long time.”

Having not won the All-Ireland since 1970, Cork beat Wexford in the final and then repeated the trick the following year before completing the three-in-a-row by beating Kilkenny.

“It was very enjoyable, chatting about all the past matches,” O’Donoghue says.

“Importantly, nobody had ever fallen out with anyone else – you can have that in teams and it’s sad when it does happen.

“That was a big thing in the three-in-a-row group, there was always a great camaraderie.

“Denis Hurley, one of our selectors, he’s 92 years of age now, he turned up and it was great to see him. We had a few who couldn’t be there, unfortunately, but that will always be the way with things like this.

“Everybody who was able to do there turn up, which was great.”

Since 1978, Cork have only won consecutive titles once, in and 2004 and 2005. They did make it to the 2006 final but lost to Kilkenny – Brian Cody’s Cats then went on to win the next four, something matched by Limerick under John Kiely from 2020-23 inclusive.

The magnitude of what Cork did in the 1970s is underlined by the fact that no other team apart from Kilkenny and Limerick has come close to winning three on the bounce.

For that team, under the management of Fr Bertie Troy with Christy Ring an important figure as a selector, it was a case of a few things coming together at the right time.

“It was a good achievement, in fairness,” O’Donoghue says.

“There was a good set-up there and everybody worked well together.

“Fr Troy was a very good coach and he had been involved in a few minor victories prior to that.

“Kevin Kehily had been in Strawberry Hill in London and having him as a physical trainer was a huge benefit. As well as that, ‘Ringy’ put his own stamp on things too, he was a big presence.

“You talk about backroom teams now – we had Dr Con and the ‘Kid’ Cronin and that was it. Different times but there was a good spirit there.

“Ringy never put any emphasis on the league, he used to always say, ‘Don’t worry about the league, ye’ll be ready for the championship.’”

And they were.