Poc Fada: Cummins and Jackman victorious
By John Harrington
At some point on their journey up the N1 on Friday evening to the Carrickdale Hotel, Brendan Cummins and his wife Pam will share a good laugh.
It’ll be prompted by the recollection of the day early in their relationship when she went above and beyond the call of girlfriend duty by helping him prepare for the All-Ireland Poc Fada Championship.
Cummins reckoned a hike up to ‘The Vee’ pass in the Knockmealdown mountains would best replicate the conditions he’d face on Annaverna mountain in the Cooleys for the Poc Fada, and Pam was brought along to collect the sliotar as he pucked it.
“She was up there in there in her white top and pink track-suit bottoms, there's bushes, thistles, and forestry logs cut down, and I'm thinking this is what real girlfriends do,” recalls Cummins with a chuckle.
“I sent her off around 80 yards down the side of the mountain and immediately lost the ball. I realised then this isn't really something you can practice on the side of the mountain!
“Going up the road now the night before the Poc Fada All-Ireland to the Carrickdale Hotel we always have that laugh about the time we practiced together.
“What I'd do at home now would be to poc sixty balls up and down the pitch and walk after it. You see, with the course, it's five and a half kilometres long so it's as much endurance as hitting.
"Like, most lads will hit it farther than me in maybe two or three pucks. But can you do it over 40 or 50 pocs? That's the question. There's the endurance aspect to it too so that's what I do on the home pitch two nights before.”
James McInerney
Cummins’ dedication to the M. Donnelly All-Ireland Poc Fada has put him out on his own as the greatest competitor in its history.
He holds the record for the shortest number of pocs taken to complete the course – 48 – and on Saturday will bid to win the All-Ireland for an incredible 10th time (his current total of nine is already another record).
He was first invited to compete in the Cooley Mountains by sponsor Martin Donnelly in 2002 because he was the reigning All-Star goalkeeper, and was immediately bitten by the Poc Fada bug.
“Davy Fitz won it that year, and, like, we're all competitive beings, and I remember driving home in the car going, 'I can do better than that'," recalls Cummins.
"Plus, Davy beat me! He was like God going around the mountain, running the whole show and he was real Davy, real competitive, and I said, 'Jesus, you know, that's something I'd like to win'.
“Then once I'd won it once I said I'd see how many times we can win it now. Ger Cunningham had the record at eight and I suppose everybody who's playing would like to leave their mark no matter what game they're playing. I figured if I could get to eight that would be great, now my next thing is to see how far it can go to make sure that nobody else beats it.”
Davy Fitzgerald
Cummins’ attitude provides a window into just how seriously those who compete take the All-Ireland Poc Fada. It requires a lot of dedication to win the competition nine times, and his rivals will be desperate to stop his quest for 10 on Saturday.
“It’s gas, you'll see it, we'll all laugh and joke down the bottom of the mountain, we all kind of tog off in a tent, it's all great craic,” says Cummins. “Then when the fella is handed a hurling ball with his number on it, and you're responsible for getting that around the mountain in the fewest amount of pucks, and there's 12 lads there with you, you don't want to be last, you certainly want to try and win it.
“There's personal pride in it. I can see fellas' faces changing as soon as they stand on it, like, I've seen fellas tank on the first puck, they hit it maybe 30 yards, just passes the stones, like the ladies tee-box, because there's maybe 100 people around the start.
“Then it suddenly becomes real, it turns from the joke of having the laugh and the craic to a serious, serious competition. I think that's why the Poc Fada people are so passionate about it, that we want to get other people experience that. Because it is great, from the health point of view and all, walking around. You'll very seldom get as close to the players in competition as they do in the Poc Fada.”
Cummins has won the last five M. Donnelly All-Ireland Poc Fada titles in a row, but last year he came very close to losing his crown as King of the Cooley Mountains. Laois goalkeeper Eoin Reilly was in a position to beat him, but Cummins dug deep and snatched victory from the jaws of defeat.
“There's three scoring marks where you actually see the scoreboard,” explains Cummins. “The first point I'm normally maybe one ahead or behind. But across the back by the side of the mountain is 25 pocs or so and that's where the endurance part comes in. Normally by the end of that I'm two or three clear.
“Last year it wasn't the case. I miss-hit two over there and I was actually 80 yards behind. Eoin Reilly was ahead of me and I thought I was goosed to be honest with you. That famous ravine saved me. Because I was only 20 yards behind on the turn home and it's 11 to 12 pocs home.
“Word filtered back from further on that Eoin had gone into the ravine. And then I had one poc to clear the ravine and I knew then on the last six pocs I could do it.
“You ideally don't want to be standing on the side of the hill before the ravine thinking, 'I don't think I can make it, but I'll give it a flog anyway'. As the fella says, whatever move I made, whatever way I hit it, it cleared the ravine just about.
“It was a great feeling. To have that feeling off the end of the hurley and knowing on connection it's going to make it.
“You hear fellas talking about the feeling of Croke Park and winning big matches there. For me, that feeling for me now is knowing five or six pocs from the finish that I'm there or there abouts. The adrenalin starts flowing then and it's as close as I'm ever again going to get to being on that Croke Park pitch. Wherever I can go to get that buzz I'll go and take it.”
Video: Glory for Cummins at Poc Fada
Cummins’ dominance of the event is down to much more than simply the ability to drive the ball long distances. The All-Ireland Poc Fada is as much a test of endurance and tactics as it is strength. Sometimes it pays not to hit the ball as far as you possibly can because of the terrain you’re striking it into, and the really canny competitors will have an array of hurleys for different situations rather than one that simply hits it long.
“Your normal goalie, when they're pucking the ball, they'll take three or four steps of a run-up,” says Cummins. “But up on the mountain you might only have one step to hit it. And that's really been the trick for me. And then you have the ravine which is about seven pucks from the finish.
“There's been some great drama and tension above on the ravine. I was there one year with ‘Mousey’ McNamara and the two of us were on the same amount of pucks. He was slightly ahead of me which meant I should have went first.
“And above on the mountain in the middle of nowhere you could say where you think that nobody cared, I was down tying my lace trying to buy time, hoping he'd go for it. And in the finish, after about five or six minutes up on the mountain looking at each other, and we both had three or four of an entourage with us, we said 'I'm not hitting unless you're hitting'.
“So we agreed the two of us would just go for it and he went into the ravine and I cleared it and I won and he came second. It was amazing when I thought back on it afterwards. It means something, like. That's really what it flagged to me and it meant something to him too. It means something for everyone that wants to go up there and win it and I suppose beat me and all that and that's fair enough too.”
Such is Cummins’ passion for the sport that he’s keen to promote it as much as possible. He knows from his own experience that if you go even once it can become a vocation, and he’s confident if more people give it a chance then the competition will grow and grow.
Cummins wins his ninth Poc Fada title
“My own young fella Paulie is a case in point, he took part in the U-12 Poc Fada last year, he's seven,” says Cummins. “He got a medal. His medal is up ahead of my ones inside in the glass case. He's at home practising the last couple of weeks in case he's asked to play the U-12 again this year.
“I think that's the way it is in the GAA, we introduce them to it, we bring them and we give them a flavour of it so there's a responsibility on all of us to preach the gospel. I think the date will be fine no matter when we put it on the calendar.
“There's a busy schedule this time of the year and loads of people competing but look all we can do is keep shouting about it off the roof tops to our best and I know the product up there is good so I've no problem in the world endorsing it from that point of view.”
The All-Ireland Poc Fada finals will be held in the Cooley Mountains on Saturday July 30th. Competitions will be held at senior hurling and camogie level and also at u-16 in both codes. Proceedings will commence at 12.00pm.
