All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship 1953

Infobox Hurling All-Ireland
year=1953


team=Cork
titles=18th
captain=Christy Ring
manager=
munster=Cork
leinster=Kilkenny
ulster=
connacht=
poty=
matches=
The All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship of 1953 was the 67th edition of Ireland’s premier hurling knockout competition. The championship ran from May to September of that year, culminating with the All-Ireland final, held at Croke Park, Dublin on 6 September. The match was contested by Cork and Galway, with Cork taking the title by 3-3 to 0-8. The game itself is often referred to as the dirtiest All-Ireland final ever played.

Format

The All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship was run on a provincial basis as usual. All games were played on a knockout basis whereby once a team lost they were eliminated from the championship. The format for the All-Ireland series of games ran as follows:
* The winners of the Munster Championship advanced directly to the All-Ireland final.
* The winners of the Leinster Championship advanced directly to a lone All-Ireland semi-final.
* Galway, a team who faced no competition in Connacht, entered the championship at the All-Ireland semi-final stage where they played the Leinster champions.
* There were no representatives from Ulster in the All-Ireland championship.

All-Ireland final

Overview

Sunday September 7 was the date of the 1953 All-Ireland senior hurling final between Cork and Galway. Cork were appearing in their second consecutive championship decider, having beaten Dublin to take the title in 1952. Galway last appeared in the championship decider in 1929 when they lost out to Cork. They last won the All-Ireland title in 1923 when they defeated Limerick to take their first championship. Cork and Galway last met each other in the championship in the All-Ireland semi-final in 1952 with victory going to Cork. An interesting statistic at the time was the fact that Galway had never beaten Cork in the championship.

A then record of 71,195 spectators turned out in Croke Park to see Ireland’s two biggest counties do battle in the All-Ireland final. Brilliant sunshine greeted the spectators and the players as they entered the pitch; however, the atmosphere during the game was sulphurous. Prior to the game Galway decided that the physical route was the one to take against Cork, particularly against their star player Christy Ring. The Galway captain, Mickey Burke, was detailed to mark Ring and handed out some harsh treatment from the beginning. The partisan Galway crowd dished out a severe booing to Ring every time he got the sliothar. As a result of these tactics the reward for the record crowd was to witness the most unsporting championship decider ever.

Match report

At 3:15pm the Archbishop of Cashel, Most Rev. Dr. Kinane, threw in the sliothar and the game began in earnest. Galway were the first to attack as Jimmy Duggan sent a point straight between the posts as they played into the sun and into the canal end of the stadium. Shortly afterwards a great cheer went up from the Galway supporters as Mickey Burke, in his first clash of the day with Christy Ring, outmaneuvered the Cork captain and cleared the sliothar up the field. Ring was clearly shaken by the close nature in which he was being ‘policed’ as he uncharacteristically missed free shortly afterwards. The action quickly moved to the other end of the field as Galway goalkeeper Seánie Duggan fumbled a Willie John Daly shot on goal but somehow he managed to clear the sliothar down the field. Shortly after this save Duggan stopped two fine efforts on goal by Christy Ring, much to the delight of the Galway players and supporters. It took nine minutes before Cork registered their first score of the game, a point coming from Paddy Barry after he latched onto a pass from Christy Ring. Galway took the lead soon afterwards when midfielder Billy Duffy sent the sliothar straight between the posts. Soon after the puck-out Paddy Barry found himself bearing down on the Galway goal with the sliothar. He could have taken the point himself; however, he unselfishly passed the sliothar to Josie Hartnett who rifled it passed Seánie Duggan to record the first goal of the day. Galway’s early luck now seemed to disappear and, after a forward decided to cut a 30-yard free off the ground and miss hit a great chance of a point, the play quickly moved up the field again. Christy Ring was just in the right position to collect the falling sliothar and he lobbed the high ball all the way past the sun-blinded Seánie Duggan to record Cork’s second goal of the game. Galway immediately launched an all-out attack on Cork’s goal, however, a series of missed scoring chances proved costly. John Molloy did succeed in clawing one back for his team, however, Cork still led by 2-1 to 0-3 at half-time.

Immediately after the restart Galway emerged as the most effective team. Midfielder Joe Salmon tested the Cork defence with a series of excellent drives while Josie Gallagher narrowed the deficit once again when he sent a sideline cut straight over the bar. Galway really clicked into gear after these scores with Billy Duffy landing another point for the men from the West. It was all Galway now as Miko McInerney was most unlucky when his attempt for a point hit the upright from 40 yards out. John Molloy added a second point to his tally soon afterwards when his 70-yard free went sailing between the posts once again. Cork found it difficult to break Galway’s grip on the game and an upset looked likely as Hubert Gordon blazed over the equalizer from 50 yards out. Cork refused to panic and, during a break in play, the selectors moved Christy Ring to midfield to freshen up things and to break up the dominance of Joe Salmon and Billy Duffy at midfield. Seconds after this move Mickey Burke conceded a free which Ring pointed with ease to give Cork the lead once again. The rest of the half had a stop-start nature to it due to the dogged nature of play and the many stoppages for injuries. Shortly after Ring’s pointed free Willie John Daly, who had discarded his boots in the heat, scored a left-handed point to give Cork a two-point cushion before testing Seánie Duggan’s goalkeeping skills once again. Galway reduced Cork’s lead to the bare minimum when John Killeen sent over his teams eight point of the day. In all nine minutes of ‘lost’ time were played at the end of the normal sixty minutes and Cork lasted the pace much better. The destination of the All-Ireland title was finally decided with the last score of the day when Tom O'Sullivan went through for the crowning goal that gave Cork a 3-3 to 0-8 lead. With that the final whistle was blown and Cork were the All-Ireland champions for the second year in-a-row.

Post-match incidents

Although the most unsporting All-Ireland final had been decided the ill-feeling didn’t stop there. That night both teams were treated to a meal at the Gresham Hotel. Some of the Galway players were not satisfied with the result and decided to have their revenge on Christy Ring. As he was walking up the steps out of the ballroom he was struck in the face and fell backwards. The Galway man who struck Ring got away and the Cork team had to leave by the store entrance in case of another flare up on the street. There was another incident the following morning as the Cork players ate their breakfast at Barry’s Hotel where both teams were staying. Once again a Galway man entered the dining room an struck Ring, however, on this occasion he was surrounded by his Glen Rovers club mates who gave chase. The Galway players escaped and that was the end of the post-match scuffles.

tatistics

footballbox
date=1953-09-07
15:15 BST
team1=Cork
score=3-3 – 0-8
team2=Galway
report=
goals1=C. Ring (1-1)
J. Hartnett (1-0)
T. O’Sullivan (1-0)
P. Barry (0-1)
W.J. Daly (0-1)
goals2=B. Duffy (0-2)
J. Molloy (0-2)
J. Duggan (0-1)
J. Gallagher (0-1)
H. Gordon (0-1)
J. Killeen (0-1)
stadium=Croke Park, Dublin
attendance=71,195
referee= P. Connell (Offaly)

References

* Corry, Eoghan, "The GAA Book of Lists" (Hodder Headline Ireland, 2005).
* Donegan, Des, "The Complete Handbook of Gaelic Games" (DBA Publications Limited, 2005).
* Horgan, Tim, "Christy Ring: Hurling's Greatest" (The Collins Press, 2007).
* Nolan, Pat, "Flashbacks: A Half Century of Cork Hurling" (The Collins Press, 2000).
* Sweeney, Éamonn, "Munster HUrling Legends" (The O'Brien Press, 2002).

ee also