From The Avondhu 21 January 2021
This year 2021 is a special one for White’s Cross GAA as it marks 40 years since we made our debut in the Cork City Division competitions. It would be a further 4 full years before we were fully immersed as club in that division as we chose to remain in East Cork and play in the competitions there simultaneously for a period. The burden in that first year was not too onerous as the club only competed for two trophies; the Craobh Rua and Seandún Cups. These are knockout tertiary tournaments for Junior B sides only.
Though we played so few competitive games the success that year was possibly the highest ever in terms of success to games-played ratio as, in the first year of activity entering only two competitions, we reached both finals and we won one. The one we lost was last through a last-minute goal. We were therefore agonisingly close to a 100% win-record in our first season.
Though they did not win the Craobh Rua Cup hurling the side had to show some character to reach the final. The first game was against Fr O’Callaghans. Not such a daunting challenge in itself, however, the game was fixed by the City Division board only three days after the East Cork hurling championship semi-final. As we were guests of the City Division we were not in a position to question the timing of the game. We had also lost that championship semi-final for the third consecutive year having prepared so well for that particular championship. The side were therefore quite deflated going into the game against a decent Callaghans’ outfit. Nonetheless, they were able to rouse themselves for the challenge and they managed to prevail a tight game by five points. Back on track, the semi-final was more straightforward and we recorded a big win over Nemo Rangers.
Ballinure provided the opposition in our first final having only played two games. And with respect to our opponents, it is game that White’s Cross should have won. They lead for most of the game and could have put the game beyond the reach of the Mahon-based side had the forwards been more economical on the day – a forward line that included Eddie Dorney who had started with the Cork senior hurling team in the 1965 Munster championship and JJ Long the former Sars hurler among others. However, going into the last minute of the contest they held the narrowest of leads and such leads are dangerous. So it was to be and the concession of a late goal saw victory snatched away despite the best efforts of John and Tommy Hickey, Jimmy O’Callaghan and Billy Meade. Disappointment was our lot.
If the first round of the hurling competition was scheduled after a championship loss, the first round of the Seandun Cup was played after a far greater loss; one that puts sport in perspective. The club and community suffered a great tragedy when, one of its players , Peter Sheehan died , aged 25, on September 7th that year. He was great friend to many on the team; a team that still contained his twin brother Ted.
Unsurpisingly after such an event there was little interest in the opening game of the Seandun Cup against Na Piarsaigh which was the first club fixture after the funeral of one of its members. Barely able to field a team, White’s Cross scraped through. It took a last minute goal to secure the victory over Na Piarsaigh by a solitary point. The next two games were actually conceded to us with both, the now defunct, Our Ladies Hospital and St. Michaels both unable to fulfil their fixtures. This perhaps gave the team some time to gather their collective thoughts ahead of the semi-final.
That football semi-final victory came with a defeat of Whitechurch, a side that were relatively new to the City Division scene themselves having played for decades in Mid Cork. They had a very decent football side at that time and reached the final of the A grade football championship themselves the following year (losing to St. Nicks). Hence it was significant moral boosting victory when White’s Cross beat them after a great game of football by 5 points.
In the final we played a very strong Nemo Rangers team that had 1973 All-Ireland winner Seamus Coughlan in their ranks. They were raging hot favourites to win the game. The first half was a very close affair with the sides level coming to the break. Nemo probably should have been ahead as they missed a number of easy frees. However, in one minute the game would swing dramatically. Firstly, we were awarded a penalty which our star forward Tommy Hickey scored. From the resultant kick-out the Nemo goalkeeper presented the aforementioned Hickey with another opportunity as a result of a very poor kickout. He duly accepted the gift and dispatched to the net. Immediately after this the ref blew his whistle and Nemo now found themselves 6 points behind in a low scoring game that they had been the better team. The score was 2-02 to 0-02.
If Nemo were the better side in the first half, the second half completely belonged to them. Those two goals would amazingly be White’s Cross’ last time to trouble the umpires into raising a flag of any colour for the remainder of the game.
Nemo dominated the exchanges in the middle of the field as they relentlessly attacked White’s Cross. One of the heroes of the hour that day, centre back Andrew Hickey, remembers at one point asking referee Brian Gould how much time remained. When told that there still 15 minutes of Nemo onslaught to sustain, he looked at fellow back Ricky Burke and wondered if they could hold out. But heroics from Hickey, Burke and the Longs (Niall and JJ) meant that they did hold out. So while White’s Cross did not score at all and while Nemo dominated possession they too struggled to score. The wayward free-taking in the first half persisted into the second. Pressure from White’s Cross caused panic and any attempt at Nemo to change things up or get back into the game were repelled. They only managed to get two scores themselves and as result there were great scenes of joy at the end as the Cross held out for an historic victory on a final score of 2-02 to 0-04.
It was historic in that it was our first year in the City Divison, it was our first ever adult trophy in football. It was also historic as White’s Cross were the first non-City club to win a City Division competition. Whilst it would have been nice to win the double, we did well to win the one we did and on balance one final victory was probably what we deserved. Thanks to Andrew Hickey for his assistance with this piece. We salute all those involved at the time and remember particulary those no longer with us; foremost among them Peter Sheehan , John Hickey, the Longs, and Eddie Dorney.