Veteran Seamus Harnedy still has the warrior spirit that Cork need
Once, RTE ran a poll to find Ireland’s greatest sporting icon. Three of the top four were from Cork . They all had that drive, that hunger to succeed that is so uniquely Cork.
THEY don’t call it the People’s Republic for nothing. Trace the history of Cork sport and it becomes clear that it’s a story with many unlikely heroes.
"There is a bit of the `in your face' thing in Cork but I think it all comes down to tradition and a genuine love of sport," reasoned former international scrum-half coach Michael Bradley.
Once, RTE ran a poll to find Ireland’s greatest sporting icon. Three of the top four were from Cork — Roy Keane, Christy Ring and Sonia O’Sullivan. Think about it. Ireland’s greatest footballer, hurler and athlete all came from the same place.
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They all had that drive, that hunger to succeed that is so uniquely Cork.
Perhaps the greatest of Cork writers, Sean O Faolain, summed it up best of all when turning his attention to his countymen.
"All Corkmen, you find it out sooner or later, have a hard streak in them. The gentlest are the most cruel. All are cynics. Smilers are the worst,’’ he wrote.
“There is steel in Cork. There is flint and the spark of fire.”
Consider the case of Seamus Harnedy. Think of the roar when he was replaced on Sunday after 66 minutes.
He looked utterly spent. No wonder, Harnedy had put in the performance of his life.
He turns 34 next week, but played like a man a decade younger. A ferocious, driven display that summed up Cork's defiance on the day.
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Harnedy was never a prodigy, someone who created a buzz from his teenage years.
Indeed, he was viewed as nothing special at underage level, and just squeezed on to Cork's extended panel in 2012.
Harnedy made his Championship debut against Limerick in 2013, and his selection by Jimmy Barry-Murphy led to a few raised eyebrows.
On the day of that game, Sean Og O hAilpin was quoted in a Sunday newspaper, and his words carried weight.
"There's guys there being called in from places I've never even heard of,'' said O hAilpin.
This was generally assumed to be a reference to Harnedy, a product of St Ita's, the smallest hurling club in East Cork.
In an interview at the end of that year, Harnedy made it clear that he knew many doubted him.
"Were expectations low enough? I’d be the first to say that,” he said.
“One of the locals down our way said, ‘we only came down to Limerick to see you play 40 or 50 minutes before you were taken off and they brought in the cavalry’.
“I didn’t get odd with him, either. I was expecting something similar myself.”
As things turned out, Harnedy scored 0-3 and picked up the man-of-the-match award.
The stick and ball game is in his genes, on both sides of the family.
His father, Sean, played for Waterford, and his mother Cathy won six All-Ireland camogie medals with Cork.
"I’ve a bit of catching up to do there,'' he said.
"I get a bit of slagging off lads that I’m not as good as the mother.
“She was centre-back for Cork for a few years. She’s from Killeagh (in east Cork) and my father Sean is from Waterford. He had an appearance or two for Waterford, but he wouldn’t be as distinguished as the mother. They met halfway."
With every passing season, Harnedy has become more and more important to the Cork cause.
No-one doubts Harnedy anymore. Clare will need a plan to keep him quiet in the All-Ireland final. Easier said than done.
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