Billy Morgan and Frank Cogan reflect on a lifetime in football.
HALF A CENTURY on and the memory is still burned into Billy Morgan’s mind.
On this day in 1973 @NemoRangersGAA legend Billy Morgan captained @OfficialCorkGAA to the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship title at @CrokePark. He became just the second Cork man to accept the Sam Maguire Cup and bring it back to Leeside #corkhurlinghistory pic.twitter.com/RpusWNc3QrThe precious cargo retrieved, Cork could fine-tune their last-minute preparations. The afternoon brought deliverance. The county’s first All-Ireland since 1945.Billy and Frank. Morgan and Cogan.
“Frank went on to the school teams straight away, even though he was a couple of years younger. Then in fifth class we won the U13 Sciath Na Scol and Frank was captain.There was no path mapped out for Billy Morgan to become an All-Ireland winning goalkeeper.Billy: “I was in college and my sister was going out with a fella who was in Dave Geaney’s class.
“The only thing was when the old handpass goal came in, you’d no chance against that. Mikey Sheehy said to me, he might have been plámásing, he felt embarrassed to go through and handpass it.” Billy Morgan keeping possession with short kick outs before Stephen Cluxton was born @sportsdes @MickFoley76 pic.twitter.com/53wQRTc1qXThe memories of the 1967 All-Ireland final loss to Meath still lingered.
Billy: “The players in ’72, we went back to Donie ourselves, went up to his house in Gardiner’s Hill. Asked him to come back, he did, and we won the All-Ireland.” Frank: “That was a good Offaly team. But Cork lost more All-Ireland semi-finals because after beating Kerry in a Munster final, it was very hard to get back up.”
Frank: “We’d been in about five semi-finals, got some desperate hammerings. I played 10 years senior before we won a county. It was a huge relief.” Billy: “You’d say a fella giving talks like that would run out of ideas, but every one he’d have something fresh.******Morgan Treacy / INPHO Jimmy Barry-Murphy Morgan Treacy / INPHO / INPHO
“John used to drink in a pub in town, Galvin’s, and he worked in Casey’s across the road. We used to meet him in there, he used to always say Jimmy didn’t want a fuss made.” Billy: “When he came into the dressing-room first, he had a tight haircut, the jeans and the Doc Martens on.Frank: “He was the most level-headed fella for a fella that had such fame. No airs and graces. Jimmy at 19, he had the experience of a fella that was 33. That’s the sign of a true star.
Frank: “I remember we walked in after a match one day and he says to me, ‘You were bad today.’ Straight out! Billy was mortified.” He was the Munster Council chairman, had previously been Cork chairman and full-back on the victorious Cork 1945 team. His son Con has since given years of unstinting service to Cork teams as their doctor.Frank: “When Weeshie was a selector and he came out of a meeting and avoided you, you were dropped. But if he came straight over, you were on the team. He never wanted to give anyone bad news. He was a lovely man.
Billy: “It’s all about the feeling as a player, anything else is just a poor substitute. Playing is the thing. ’73, that was our greatest moment.”Each of Cork’s three All-Ireland senior titles since has featured their input. Morgan the inspirational figurehead for the 1989-90 teams, Cogan a vital cog in the background.
Billy: “I used to use Frank when I was manager. He’d take the backs for me. I have rarely seen anybody speak more sensibly as regards tactics. Frank was very good at positional sense. I’d say just talk to the players and give them your ideas. He was a huge help to me.”
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