Where did this cup resurface after mysteriously vanishing in 1983?
'The only cup they had in ‘82 was the Munster Cup and in Kerry, quite frankly, there wouldn’t be much notice taken of it missing.'
It was, the Cork Examiner reported on August 31, 1983, “in a box wrapped in brown paper”.
Well, better late than never. Some six weeks after Tadhg Murphy scored the last gasp goal to deny Kerry a record nine-in-a-row in the Munster final, Cork would finally be presented with, or more accurately, given, the trophy that captain Christy Ryan ought to have hoisted in Páirc Uí Chaoimh on July 17.
John Egan had captained Kerry to their eighth provincial title on the spin 12 months earlier and so the cup was linked to him more than any other individual, but it was hardly his responsibility to trace its every movement. And come Munster final day in 1983, it was nowhere to be seen.
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A random trophy had to be sourced from the Páirc Uí Chaoimh board room and presented to Ryan to limit the embarrassment, but there was still great unease on Kerry’s part, particularly for Egan, who was a garda stationed in Kildorrery, Co Cork at the time.
Then, mysteriously, the cup materialised in that box on the doorstep of Egan’s parents’ house in Sneem on Sunday night, August 28.
“At first we thought the cup was left behind due to an oversight and while we cannot remain blameless, we didn’t realise at the time that it was missing,” commented then Kerry chairman Frank King.
“We’ve made every effort to track it down in the past few weeks and I’ve had some strong words with the people responsible for its safety.
“It’s degrading for the GAA for such a thing to happen and it’s certainly caused embarrassment. Also, it’s very hard on the captain of the winning team not to have the proper trophy at the presentation.”
So, what happened to the Munster Cup?
Sean Kelly, GAA president from 2003-06, was Kerry vice-chairman at the time and while he can’t give a definitive answer, he puts it down to indifference in the county towards a trophy by which their year is never measured. They had been denied the five-in-a-row the year before and the provincial cup, he believes, simply slipped through the cracks somewhere.
“That was the year of the depression in Kerry after losing the five-in-a-row,” said Kelly. “The only cup they had in ‘82 was the Munster Cup and in Kerry, quite frankly, there wouldn’t be much notice taken of it missing.
“I’d say it was probably left somewhere by mistake after some function or something and they forgot where it was and eventually I’d say it came up.”
But what about dumping it on the Egans’ doorstep and scarpering off into the night?
“They were probably too embarrassed. I’d say when they found it or realised they had it, rather than telling John Egan, they left it outside his door, I’d say.”
Indeed, the cup going missing, Kelly believes, was another unfortunate by-product of Seamus Darby’s sensational winner in the previous year’s All-Ireland final for Kerry.
“I’d say if Kerry won Sam Maguire, the Munster Cup would have been left in John Egan’s house and it’d stay there because the Sam Maguire was the one they wanted. Five-in-a-row would have been feted everywhere.”
And yet, Kerry had form, before and after, for mislaying trophies. Even the sacred canister itself.
In 1980, the Sam Maguire disappeared in New York amid wild claims that it had been swiped and defaced by a Roscommon supporter still struggling to come to terms with that September’s All-Ireland final defeat. Mercifully, after police involvement, it surfaced, much to captain Jimmy Deenihan’s relief.
Some years later the most treasured trophy within Kerry football, the Bishop Moynihan Cup that is presented to the senior county champions, vanished, and hasn’t been accounted for to this very day.
A replacement was sourced by King but once he became chairman shortly afterwards, Kelly moved to address the matter.
“When I became chairman I said the (replacement) cup wasn’t reflective of the status of the county championship. I went up to Kilkenny to the silversmith up there, who is still working by the way, by the name of Des Byrne and Des and I designed the Bishop Moynihan Cup.
“The following year Croke Park gave him the contract to produce the new Sam Maguire and I think he also did the new Liam MacCarthy, but it was after the Kerry county championship senior cup disappeared, never to be found again, that I decided that we should go and get a cup made rather than buying a cup.
“It’s a beautiful trophy and it’s there ever since and never gone missing!”
You could say that they learned the hard way.
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