Too Early to Book The Burlington?

28th Feb 2012

The giddy ball hops were flying around Pairc Uí Rinn at half time on Saturday night as the Rebels went into their dressing room having hit the hapless Deise for three goals in a blistering first half of fast and direct Cork hurling.

Interval small talk reported that a few people up the back of the covered stand might be on their mobiles booking the Mespel for “the Saturday night” and The Burlington for “the Sunday”.

Saturday the 8^th and Sunday the 9^th of September is All Ireland hurling final weekend of course and it appeared some had seen enough in the first thirty-five minutes of the first competitive game of the year to justify booking a hotel in Dublin.

Burlington ballhops: Don't you just hate it when you mix up a hat and a Cork's All Ireland silverware?

Other Rebels joked about tapping clubmen for tickets and calling ‘shotgun’ on lifts to Dublin. Who wouldn’t want to be there if Donal Óg goes up those steps in Croke Park?

Naturally nobody’s getting too carried away. Yet anyway. The half time ballhops were just that and our county’s humour at it’s finest – saying something arrogant and cocky about the stature of Cork hurlers that is meant as a joke but always, with a detectable hint of truth.

Young Darren Sweetman grabs one from the night sky

Wahfud were missing their star welder and even though Cork also fielded a few green horns, their equivalents from the east were so green they almost blended into the grass below us.

Although before the game the chatter was of the returns of both JBM to the banisteoir’s bib and Séan Óg to midfield, there were only two words on supporters leaving the ground afterwards: ‘Conor’ and ‘Lehane’. His first start for Cork and he bags seven points from play!

Boy Wonder: Lehane in action. No pressure fella.

A few voices were overheard discussing how cotton wool could be attached to every wall and sharp edge in his house below in Midleton and how finance might be arranged to provide a round-the-clock security team lest he be set upon by marauding female Cork fans besotted with his handy stick work and end up sidelined like injured football star Ciarán Sheehan last year.

Nobody’s getting carried away with Saturday’s victory though and Conor Lehane’s markers were looser than the women you’d find standing in the dark shadows around Connolly Hall on a week night.

Imagine the joy of vomiting all over a Burlington suite like this on the night of  Sunday September 9th.

But sure look, we might be levelled by the other four teams in the league and have another two strikes before the league is out but at least we have a few weeks where we are allowed to revel in the possibility of a return to the glory days.

The Dubs are up next in Croke Park at 2pm on Sunday March 11th. Wouldn’t be any harm in trying out a room in the Burlington to get a feel for where you’d like to stay on September 9th. Hupoudat!  

In JBM we trust.