Joe McDonagh Cup final
By John ‘Curly’ McIlwaine
Last Sunday as I sat in the Croke Park photographer’s Press Room posting a few photos of the Wexford v Kilkenny minor game I glanced at the clock which showed 1:35 and thought Oh Sh*t, I have missed it.
The ‘It’ I refer to was a pic of Dunloy’s Colum ‘Skinny’ Cunning with the Laois and Westmeath captains before the start of the Joe McDonagh Cup final. I sprinted from the press room as fast as my 68 year old legs would allow and thankfully made to the centre of Croke Park just as the linesmen were bringing the captains up for the toss and thankfully I got the photograph. However it was the next shot I took that really got me going as Colum joined his mum Anne, his dad Pat, his brother Cathaoir and their fellow Dunloy club-mate Colin McKendry for a very special photo. Afterwards I posted it on Facebook asking the question if anyone had refereed an All Ireland final before with his mum, his dad and his brother doing umpire. Though it still hasn’t been confirmed I doubt it very much if it has happened before.
The reason that photo was so special to me is that I photographed four of the five officials before, on a very special day for Antrim hurling when the men in Saffron faced Tipperary in the 1989 All Ireland final. Up around Quinn’s (or maybe it was McGovern’s back then) in Drumcondra the Antrim fans were milling around in their thousands and in one of the little side streets I came upon Anne and Pat and their four sons Conor, Cathaoir, Cormac and Colum sitting on the pavement having their lunch before going down to Croke Park. The love of the game was instilled on days like those and it has obviously endured down the years with the boys all playing for their club, and Conor representing his county at senior level. On Sunday last Colum did the biggest game of his career as his climb up the refereeing ladder continues. He joins fellow Antirm men like John Gough, Gerry McClory, Tommy McIntyre, Garett Duffy, Owen Elliott and fellow clubman James McLean who have been the men in the middle of big days in Croker. Let’s hope it is not the last time we, Skinny and his family members are in Croker on big match days.
An interesting footnote to the day is when Laois were up receiving the Joe McDonagh Cup on the steps of Croke Park they went out of their way to call up one of the team attendants Paddy Delaney, a man who has represented Laois Hurling at so many levels both on and off the field for more years than he would care to remember. That famous day in 1989 when Antrim faced the mighty men of Tipp, Paddy Delaney was the referee.
