Paddy Barry (Sarsfield's)

Paddy Barry (1928–2000) was an Irish sportsperson. He played hurling with his local club Sarsfield's and with the Cork senior inter-county team from 1947 until 1964. Barry is regarded as one of Cork’s greatest-ever hurlers.

Barry’s status as one of Cork's all-time greats is self-evident. In a senior inter-county career that lasted across three decades he won three All-Ireland titles, four Munster titles, three National Hurling League titles and four Railway Cup titles with Munster. Barry was later honoured in 2000 when he was named, by popular opinion, in the right corner-forward position on the Cork Hurling Team of the Century.

Early life

Pat Barry was born in Glanmire, County Cork in 1928. He was born into a strong hurling family and his father, Jim Barry, was a founder-member of Carrigtwohill GAA club. Barry was educated locally and later attended University College Cork. Here he first came to prominence on the hurling field and he helped the college to win the Fitzgibbon Cup title in 1947.

Playing career

Club

Barry played his club hurling with his local Sarsfield's GAA club and he enjoyed much success. He won a senior county title with the club 1951. It was the Sar’s first senior triumph. Barry won a second county medal with Sarsfield’s in 1957. As a result of both victories he was rewarded with the captaincy of the Cork senior hurling team on each of the following years.

Inter-county

Barry first came to prominence on the inter-county scene with Cork in the 1947-48 National Hurling League. Cork reached the final of hurling’s secondary competition on that occasion where the team defeated Tipperary on a score line of 3-3 to 1-2. It was Barry’s first major title. For the next three years, however, Tipp beat Cork in the provincial championship and went on to take the All-Ireland title on each occasion. It was 1952 before Barry became a regular on the Cork team for the championship. In spite of it being his first year as a full member of the team he was personally honoured by being appointed captain. For the third year in-a-row Tipp faced Cork in the Munster final, however, on this occasion victory went to ‘the Rebels’. It was Barry’s first provincial medal. Dublin provided the opposition in the subsequent All-Ireland final, however 'the Dubs' were completely outclassed by Cork on that occasion and Barry, the captain, picked up his first All-Ireland medal.

In 1953 Barry handed the captaincy over to the legendary Christy Ring. The year began well with the Sarsfield's man collecting a second National League title and a second consecutive Munster medal. The subsequent All-Ireland final saw Galway take on Cork, however, 'the Rebels' were victorious and Barty added a second All-Ireland medal to his collection. The game, however, was clouded in controversy due to the injury to the Galway captain, Mick Burke. After the match at the Gresham Hotel in Dublin a fight broke out when another Galway player struck Christy Ring. The following morning another fight broke out when another member of the Galway panel attempted to hit Ring. The fights, however, ended just as quickly as they had started. In 1954 Barry won his third Munster medal. In his third full year on the team he line dout in his third All-Ireland championship decider, with Wexford providing the opposition. A record attendance of nearly 85,000 people packed into Croke Park to witness the Munster champions defeating the Leinster champions. Barry collected his third consecutive All-Ireland medal that day.

Cork lost their provincial crown in 1955, but 'the Rebels' were back in 1956 and faced Limerick in the Munster final. Limerick looked to be cruising to victory, however the last ten minutes of the game saw Christy Ring display his exceptional class by scoring three goals and a point to capture a fourth Munster title for Cork in four years. Wexford were Cork’s opponents in the All-Ireland final once again. The game has gone down in history as one of the all-time classic games and, once again, Barry was a fixture in the full-forward line for Cork. The game turned on one important incident as the Wexford goalkeeper, Art Foley, made a miraculous save from a Christy Ring shot and cleared the sliothar up the field to set up another attack. Wexford went on to win the game on a score line of 2-14 to 2-8.

Barry captained the Cork side once again for 1958, however, the team had little success. Cork’s hurling fortunes over the next few years took a severe downturn as Tipperary emerged as kingpins of the Munster Championship. Although he would play in several more Munster finals Barry never ended up on the winning side. He retired from inter-county hurling in 1961, however, he was recalled for the 1964 Munster final against Tipp, which Cork lost by a huge margin.

Provincial

Barry’s other honours include Railway Cup medals with Munster in 1953, 1957, 1958 and 1960.

Retirement

In retirement from playing Barry came to be regarded as one of the greatest forwards of his era and is particularly revered in east Cork where his legendary battles of fifty years ago with Tipperary's great corner back, John Doyle are still recalled with pride. In 2000 he was named in the left corner-forwrad position on both the Munster and Cork Hurling Teams of the Millennium.

Paddy Barry died on 18 December 2000.

Teams