This week GAANOW Rewind pays tribute to one of the true greats from our GAA Hall Of Fame in legendary footballer Larry Tompkins! Take a look here.
By John Harrington
A popular bar-stool conversation among GAA fans is, ‘what one player you’d like to transfer from another county’s team to yours if there was such a thing as a GAA transfer market?’
It’s hard to imagine any one fantasy transfer making as big an impact as one that did actually occur in reality – Larry Tompkins’ switch from his native Kildare to Cork.
Having lived in New York for some time and commuted home for Kildare championship matches, Tompkins eventually moved back to Ireland and settled in Castlehaven in Cork.
He was promptly called up to the Cork team in 1987 and became a key figure as the Rebels stepped out from Kerry’s shadow in Munster and became the dominant force in the province and beyond.
By the time Tompkins eventually hung up his boots in 1996, he had won two All-Irelands, six Munster titles, 1 National Football League and three All-Stars.
Former Cork footballer Larry Tompkins in attendance at the GAA Museum where he was inducted into the Hall of Fame during the GAA Museum Hall of Fame 2019 at Croke Park in Dublin.
Throughout that period, the centre-forward was Cork’s outstanding player thanks to his scoring ability from play and dead-balls.
“We had massive games,” recalls Tompkins. “To come out of Munster that time, we were playing against the great Kerry team.
“It was towards the end of Mick O'Dwyer's reign in charge of Kerry. When I came on the scene in 87 after coming from New York and joining Cork, I think it was two or three years before Micko retired from it.
“To have seen those great Kerry players play and then to have the opportunity of playing them in big games. Naturally I never envisaged myself playing in a Munster final. My life took a different twist and I ended up in Cork and transferred to Cork then.
“Just a massive privilege to play in those games and to play against the best. I always felt like playing against Kerry, you were playing against the best. I think it gave the team magnificent confidence going forward, to win those All-Irelands.
“Because Cork hadn't beaten Kerry...they were the whipping boys for a long number of years. I think Cork might have only won one in 15 years I think. So to beat them in ‘87 and to have the run we did against them, in ‘87, ‘88, ‘89, ‘90 we beat Kerry.
“They were massive Munster finals and people tend to forget there was no backdoor that time. It was one chance saloon and it gave the team great confidence to go forward. When we did get over that giant we had another giant along the way then with Meath.
“Meath and Cork became the two most dominant teams then in that era and the games then were playing ferociously, with an air of discontent in some ways. Both sets of players, there was a lot of aggro - players didn't get on.
“There was a lot of tension in those games. That kind of spilled from one game to the next and the more we met them it got worse.”
Cork players, Larry Tompkins, left, and John O'Driscoll, celebrate on the steps of the Hogan Stand after victory over Mayo in the 1989 All-Ireland SFC Final.
Meath defeated Cork in two very hard-hitting All-Ireland Finals in 1987 and 1988, so it’s perhaps understandable the Cork players weren’t too fond of their peers from the Royal County.
But, as spiky as the rivalry was, Tompkins had nothing but respect for Meath players he had tested himself against both as a Kildare and Cork footballer.
“I would have known a lot of those Meath fellas playing in Kildare,” he said. “I would have grown up playing against Meath, in a Leinster minor final in 1980, playing against the likes of Liam Hayes, McEntee and all these fellas.
“I would have known all these guys coming through playing them numerous times with Kildare at National League level. Then I played Railway Cup with Leinster for nearly five years and I played with Colm (O'Rourke), Mick Lyons, Martin O'Connell - I'd have played with every one of those Meath players so I knew them inside out.
“We used to go on holidays and at that time you weren't going on holidays to New Zealand or Australia, you were going to the Canaries - that's as far as we got. And both teams happened to end up there together and no talking.
“You'd be staying in the same holiday resort area and you'd be in the same hotels. You'd be coming down the elevator and there could be Colm Coyle, PJ Gillick or Colm O'Rourke (in there) with Cork fellas and no-one talking to each other! It was just incredible. But I suppose that was the tension that was there at the matches.
“I think Liam Hayes wrote a book and mentioned that they were coming and going and the only fella that was talking to them was myself. I just knew them and they were fine fellas. Look, they'd beaten us in 87 and 88 after a replay, and I suppose there was a lot of aggro on and off the field.
“There was a lot of words spoken and different things. We played them in a National League semi-final and there was a lot of aggro at that match.
“Every time we played them there was tension so that built into when the Cork fellas met them then, there was no give. So, there was no talk really, but I talked to them alright!”
Larry Tompkins lifts the Sam Maguire Cup after captaining Cork to victory over Meath in the 1990 All-Ireland SFC Final.
Tompkins enduring legacy as one of the greatest footballers of his or any era received due recognition last year when he was inducted into GAA Hall of Fame.
“You're just in awe of it, it's a massive honour,” says Tompkins.
“When you see all the great players who've come and gone, you look at the wall and you're up there...When I played I was part of a brilliant team.
“To be identified as being special is a massive honour, massive honour for my family. As everyone knows, there's low days as well as good days. My family were always there to pick me up on the low days.
“Very privileged to have received it.”
