The richness of tradition
KILLINAN END
A wise man and Tipperary supporter remarked after the All-Ireland Final on the historical significance of the 2025 All-Ireland win exactly a century after the 1925 victory. He harked back to 2016 which likewise was achieved on the centenary of another All-Ireland win for the Premier County. He also raised a hopeful eyebrow towards 2030 and the prospect of commemorating the centenary of the Triple Crown win of that year as well. Fanciful talk in its own way but certainly reflecting the richness of the tradition and awareness of the country's history that always lurks beneath the surface of the grittier “Tipp Tipp Tipp” façade.
Through the lens of history, it's always difficult to decide if a century is in fact a long time or not. In the grand scheme of historical sweep it is but a nanosecond. Consider that the lifespans of three 90 year-olds back-to-back takes you beyond not only the Famine but even past the heyday of Wolfe Tone, the French Revolution, and long before many European counties became the entities we now know. By those standards 1925 is very recent indeed. On the other hand, the changes since then have been remarkable. A century ago, Ireland was a violent society with plenty of guns floating about after the revolutionary years. As contemporary newspaper reports confirm they were still handy enough with pikes and forks little over a hundred years on from 1798. A long way indeed from the social backdrop experienced by the present All-Ireland champions.
One definite trump card the men of 1925 can play is the claim but whatever came before or since in the county’s long and winding story this group was the first to bring the Liam MacCarthy cup to the county. Captain Johnny Leahy might be the county’s most famous, and along with Mikey Maher, Tom Semple, and Jimmy Doyle, makes a highly illustrious group as the only Tipp men to captain two All-Ireland Senior winning teams. Of course, Tony Wall did receive the silverware twice but only once as captain. And Tubberadora’s Mikey Maher did so three times.
Not all that long ago there was a belief that one of the great disadvantages in the championship was being on the long side of the draw in Munster. This forced a team to play three matches to win the Munster championship and progress to Croke Park. It all seems rather quaint looking back now considering that the Munster championship is like the twelve labours of Heracles these days. But back in the day for teams aiming to hit the championship at a good and sustainable pace it was considered a great disadvantage. Such was the concern with hitting the right pitch 25 years ago that Jamesie O’Connor explained away Clare’s eight-point loss to Tipp in the 2000 Munster semi-final by suggesting Clare had peaked a few weeks earlier in a challenge against Offaly. The players who have six days to prepare for a Munster Championship game these days would be allowed a smile.
The men of 1925 had to go the long way too but like Clare’s 1997 team had a rather straightforward fixture with Kerry to negotiate in the first round. The Munster semi-final was quite another matter when they met Cork. Despite a thirteen-point lead at half-time the second half was a nail-biter with Tipp prevailing by just two points. It was a watershed moment for Cork hurling. At the end of 1925 the county had won just one All-Ireland title in the previous 22 years. They would win four of the next six with a team which included iconic names like Eudie Coughlan, Séan Óg Murphy, Dinny Barry Murphy, Gah and Balty Ahearne. In the context of Cork’s hurling history this is a significant team in bridging the gap between eras and keeping Cork’s tradition vibrant. Posterity commends them as a significant scalp for Tipp.
The 1925 Munster Final was a runaway win for Tipp over Waterford, a rare visitor to the big provincial dance. This county was a late arrival at hurling’s top table in just the county’s second Munster Final. The previous one had been reached via a win over Kerry in the semi-final in a kind draw in 1903. A win over Clare gave them their shot this time but it would be another thirteen years before a win over the Banner County gave them a first Munster title.
Teams with long waits before or after them seemed to be a theme of Tipp’s year. Antrim were overcome in the semi-final by Tipp while Galway beat Kilkenny to reach the final for the third successive year. The Tribesmen’s 1923 win became a famous landmark in retrospect when Joe Connolly raised the MacCarthy Cup to the heavens 57 years later. This was also the first All-Ireland Final with a significant input from North Tipperary. Lorrha’s Tom Duffy pinched a couple of goals, and Borrisokane’s Mick D’Arcy stood out at midfield in a thirteen-point win. Ten of this Tipp team had been beaten in the previous year’s semi-final against Galway, so they did not emerge from the back of the field like their counterparts a century on. Remarkably only those two great forwards, Martin Kennedy and Phil Cahill, survived to start Tipp’s next win in 1930. Even in those days the ‘peak’ could slip through the fingers quickly.