Killarney ‘87 was his Lusail, Tipperary’s deliverance in the replay win over Cork.
Nicky English. Nicky would do. A name woven in Munster Championship lore and now embossed in the provincial Hall of Fame.
The ‘Maradona goal’, the spin and snapshot in Killarney, countless economically lofted points, hundreds of dashing runs. All that elegant trucking ever before Tipp’s famine ended.
“It’s very nice to be remembered. Though it’s a little bit of a reminder that you’re in that age bracket, to qualify for this kind of award. A stark reminder that all these matches we talk about are a long time ago, unfortunately.”
He has half a century invested.
“It’s a lifetime really of being fascinated by the Munster Championship. Football and hurling. I can remember being very upset in 1971 that my father wouldn’t bring me to Killarney because it was a very wet day. I’d have been eight. I remember being at the Munster final in '73.
“My father would have brought me to any kind of Munster Championship match that was in Thurles or Limerick once I was 11 or 12. But I never saw Tipperary win.”
Eventually, he’d see wins and losses from every angle — supporter, player, manager, co-commentator, columnist.
And linesman.
“I did the line in the Munster senior hurling final in ‘79. Cork v Limerick in Thurles. I was 16. George Ryan was the referee from Lattin-Cullen. Eamonn Buckley, former treasurer of the Tipp county board was the other linesman.”
A reliable hand on the flag? “I can’t remember anyone going to kill me, as they might do that time. Being linesman wasn’t as safe a job as it is now. I don’t think anyone took that much notice that I was a young lad. It wouldn’t happen now anyway.”
Injury kept him further from the bearpit the year after — the Munster minor final of 1980.
“I had played in the semi-final but broke a metatarsal — a bone in the foot it was called that time. My own teammate Ian Conroy hit me against Cork. I think he missed Tony O’Sullivan.”
Fox and English would become one of the great double acts, riffing around the Viking Bonnar as straight man. To Nicky, Pat Fox led the way.
“Pat was playing senior in ‘80 and ‘81 and he was our idol really as underage players. He was a step better than the rest of us and he made the U21s and the seniors before the rest of his age group. Tipp won the U21 for the third time in a row in ‘81. I was part of that and more or less everyone was parachuted up into the senior team.”
Despite decorating the championship — and collecting the first three of six All Stars — he was far from finished with hardship.
“We played Cork in ‘82 and got a pretty good hiding. They really were the kingpins. We learned the hard way then in ‘84 and ‘85.”
The centenary defeat was the killer, the late Seanie O'Leary central to a heist steeped in Corkness.
“There wasn’t a whole lot of expectation around the team. Tipperary-Cork matches can take on a life of their own on any day and on that day Tipperary played well enough to win. I didn’t play very well, but I still remember Noel O’Dwyer scoring the point and thinking, this could be it…
“But it all went fairly wrong from there. It was a huge disappointment. Several great players — Jim Keogh, Noel, Seamus Power, that kind of generation from the 70s, who had worked unbelievably hard, had a lot of heartache, never got over the line like we did in ‘87.
MARADONA: Nicky English of Tipperary kicks the ball, after losing his hurl, during the Munster Senior Hurling Championship Final between Tipperary and Cork at Semple Stadium in Thurles, 1987. Photo by Ray McManus/Sportsfile
Killarney ‘87 was his Lusail, Tipperary’s deliverance in the replay win over Cork. The times and the joys.
“No doubt the best day was Killarney. The match itself, the standard mightn’t have been the greatest ever. But I don’t think any victory really matched that in terms of the emotion of the whole thing.”
He can still hear Fox’s shot ping unrewarded off Fitzgerald Stadium’s unique stanchions.
“And then at the other end, Tony O'Sullivan was definitely not in the square, one of his only goals for Cork. That’s sport, what goes around comes around to an extent. We had luck but great desire on the day and the emotion of that day is unsurpassed for me.”
The landmark Tipp victories stir something deep, same as ever.
“I’d probably put the Wexford semi-final that the lads won in ‘19 up with it. And I’d throw in the Munster football final in 2020. I’d put that in the same category.”
He wrote in his Irish Times column that it was the first time he’d cried after a match.
“Well, I had a lot of underage involvement with Tipp football. I remember some of the great Kerry players coming to Clonmel for matches.
“And I remember great men like Hugh Kennedy, Pat Moroney and Petey Savage were getting the underage scene going in Tipperary. And one of my biggest disappointments was getting beaten by Kerry in the minor in 1980. We were well on top but Michael McAuliffe scored a goal very late in the game."
4-8 to 3-9. Liam Kearns bagged a hat-trick that he repaid Tipp for later.
“Looking back now, there are much more disappointments than victories, but that one stands out.”
He actually played football for Tipp in '87 too. Against Clare in Kilsheelan. National League promotion on the line. More disappointment.
"It was my only senior football match. I came on as a sub. And funnily enough, I think I was marking Noel Roche, who got the football Hall of Fame award. He was close enough to me anyway.”
He saw Munster and All-Ireland glory from the line, in 2001, before another delay could reach famine levels.
“It was totally different. It’s hard to beat the satisfaction as a player, I don’t think you can ever replicate it. It’s more relief as a manager. There’s a lot to do. The margins are tight. A manager can be too easily a hero, but more often take too much of the flak. I was lucky, a great group of lads, backboned by the minor winning team of '96.
“You’re more likely to remember the on the field activity. For me anyway, I remember the playing days easier.”
The great appeal of his media duties is his place of work. “I enjoy going to matches. The quality of hurling now, particularly from Limerick, is phenomenal. The quality of control, first touch. The game has changed dramatically. More possession. It was very spontaneous when we played. There was much greater chance of getting injured, getting a slap. Everyone was pulling, overhead, pulling on the ground. It was expected. The cheers from the stand were as much for balls that were pulled on and out over the sideline. The game could have done with being less spontaneous. Today’s game is a game I'd like to be playing.”
Might a few of those over-the-shoulder efforts from the sideline be discouraged? Would he be asked to recycle for higher percentage?
“There was much less high percentage hurling in my day. A lot of it was fairly low percentage stuff.
“We used marvel at the teams in the ‘60s with their hurleys looking like hockey sticks. Our bas was bigger but only marginally bigger. We should have been going to the larger head, the bigger sweet spot.
“And the hurleys were much more random. You’d go back to the same fella but you’d never get the same hurley twice.
“One of the biggest changes in my time was the advent of the hurling grip. It made a huge difference. For most of my time, we used zinc oxide plaster, which made it sticky. Or a towelling grip. But there wasn’t the tennis racket grip. The last couple of years I played, it made a big difference with the ability to control the ball.”
He has seen Tipp lose enough to take current predicaments in his stride.
“I was involved in UCD when the current Limerick team were coming through in the Fitzgibbon and they were untouchable at their own age group. They were a league apart at U21.
“They’re by no means done but it doesn’t last forever. Tipp have had decent success underage in the last few years. With a minor tacked on to a number of 21s, That eventually comes through. When we were underage, it was ourselves and Galway and Cork and that’s eventually how it played out at senior.
“It takes a while. It’s hard to see how Tipp can come with a young team now and be physically prepared enough to take on the Limericks and Galways.
“There’s a little road ahead maybe, but the players are there. Time is what it needs.
“Time and patience.”
Munster GAA chairman Ger Ryan presents Nicky English with the Munster GAA Hall of Fame award.
