100 Great GAA Moments by John Scally

Author:John Scally
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Black & White Publishing
Published: 2018-10-11T16:00:00+00:00

48

TETCHY MOMENTS

Cork vs Galway 1953

Sports journalism almost lost out on the great Mick Dunne when, like so many of his contemporaries at the time, he decided to enter the priesthood. After a year and a half in All Hallows, he decided that the clerical life was not for him. This was a time when there was a considerable stigma attached to being a ‘spoiled priest’, but his family, unlike many others in that situation, supported his decision fully.

Mick was born into a very political family known as the ‘Tailor Dunnes’, so called because of the number in the extended family who took up the tailoring profession, as well as distinguishing them from the many other Dunnes in the area. His father, Frank, went to America at an early age but during the War of Independence he was sent back by Liam Mellows with an important message for the ‘Big Fella’, Michael Collins. He stayed on to fight in the war and became second-in-command of the Fourth Battalion. He spent time in a number of prisons, and took part in a number of daring escapes. He was also very musical and enjoyed a great reputation as a Pipe Major. During the civil war he spent forty-four days on hunger strike in Mountjoy with Seán Lemass, who would go on to succeed Éamon de Valera as Taoiseach, and Sean Coughlan who subsequently became the GAA columnist with the Irish Press, writing under the pen name ‘Green Flag’. In its long history, the GAA has seen few more astute judges of hurling than Mick Dunne.

‘Without question the greatest player I ever saw was Christy Ring. He was probably the greatest player that ever laced a boot. He was the one I admired most, the man I was most happy to report upon and the man I was always pleased to talk with.

‘He was involved in a few controversies in his time. In 1953, Galway hurlers, powered by the great Josie Gallagher, had beaten Kilkenny in the semi-final and had qualified to play the Cork side led by Christy Ring in the All-Ireland final. Galway had the game for the winning, but failed to take off Mick Burke despite his obvious concussion. What made their inaction all the more inexplicable was that Burke was marking the great Christy Ring. The controversy ensued from the fact that a large section of the Galway crowd had booed Ring throughout the game, and that Galway appeared to have targeted the Cork legend for “special treatment”. The post-match celebration was affected by events on the field. So incensed were five or six of the Galway players by Burke’s injury that they had an altercation with Ring that evening at the official reception and returned to the Cork hotel at breakfast the next morning to again vent their displeasure, albeit only using verbal means on that occasion.’

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