While virtually all hurling folk can agree that the dismissal of Dublin’s Ryan O’Dwyer was harsh in the extreme at Croke Park on Sunday last, it’s difficult not to gush a little over Jimmy Barry Murphy’s latest hurling achievement.
Alongside Nicky English, JBM was the supreme hurling entertainer of the 1980s, and had, in the previous decade also proven his footballing brilliance when he was in the full flush of youth.
Irrespective of one’s allegiance, Jimmy Barry Murphy has, and one suspects always shall be, a figure of universal admiration within the GAA world. And should his second coming as Cork senior hurling manager yield another MacCarthy Cup for a hurling power that’s been in the doldrums in recent history, his legend shall grow even further.
While he’ll be the first to point out that Cork have won nothing yet this summer, the manner in which this side has flourished during this Championship campaign has underlined JBM’s all-round genius.
And on Sunday last, for the second successive outing, the old Rebel swagger, the unbridled confidence that has for so long come with the wearing of the famous red jersey, has returned with a vengeance.
In the wake of Waterford’s minor semi-final victory, this column was able to sit back and luxuriate in the white-hot atmosphere for last Sunday’s main event at Croker.
