Who Fears to Speak of '98?

[Bord na Mona man]

Who Fears to Speak of '98?

This Sunday evening at 7pm, RTÉ Radio 1's Documentary on One relives the excitement of 1998's dramatic hurling season. Who Fears to Speak of '98 follows the events of the most famous season in the history of hurling, where the summers' games became the national soap opera.

The documentary tells how Offaly lost the Leinster Final to Kilkenny and then embarked on an epic journey after their manager Babs Keating was sacked for calling them 'a heap of sheep'.

Clare and Waterford drew in the Munster Final. It rained just before the ball was thrown in for the replay. Willie Barrett, the referee, delayed the throw in while he spoke with officials on the sideline. The summer erupted. Two players were sent off and Colin Lynch - Clare midfielder - eventually got a lengthy ban. The following night, RTÉ Radio 1's programme, Sportscall was - to put it mildly - heated and Ger Loughnane gave a frank and controversial interview to Clare FM.

Following this, Clare met Offaly and the tense affair ended in a draw. Clare and Offaly met again and with Clare three points up, the referee ended the game three minutes early. The Offaly supporters sat down on the pitch in protest. The affair is named after the referee - Jimmy Cooney. Offaly defeated Kilkenny in the All Ireland Final.

Who fears to speak of '98 contains extraordinary archive interviews and recordings of the time. Interviews with Johnny Pilkington, Willie O'Connor, Paul Flynn, Fergie Touhey, Jimmy Cooney, Willie Barrett, Con Murphy, pieced together with extraordinary archive material and interviews going back to 1998 bring that summer back to life in its most detailed telling to date.
Exclusive unedited interviews with all the documentary interviewees will also be available online www.rte.ie/radio1/ from next week.

RTÉ Radio 1's Documentary on One: Who fears to speak of '98 is presented by Peter Woods and produced by Peter Woods and Liam O'Brien.

Listen back to the Documentary on One: Who fears to speak of '98? : http://www.rte.ie/radio1/doconone/

[Silky]

Good show. Those were the days. Unfortuantly things aren't nearly as interesting these days.

[TacadoirArdMhacha]

Following this, Clare met Offaly and the tense affair ended in a draw. Clare and Offaly met again and with Clare three points up, the referee ended the game three minutes early.

The one thing I've never understood about this affair is why Clare weren't allowed to start the second replay 3 points up. Surely it would have been the fairest way?

[seafoid]

such lovely words: 'defeated Kilkenny in an all Ireland final'.

For the real offaly deal it has to be the 94 final and the last 10 minutes. 98 was interesting but it wasn't a patch on that final overall.

Poor old Jimmy Cooney and his watch. There must be loads of 13 year olds who can't imagine what a decent offaly hurling team looks like. What an indictment of charlie mCreevy's infamous inflationary budgets from the turn of the millennium that is.     

[Bord na Mona man]

such lovely words: 'defeated Kilkenny in an all Ireland final'.

For the real offaly deal it has to be the 94 final and the last 10 minutes. 98 was interesting but it wasn't a patch on that final overall.

Poor old Jimmy Cooney and his watch. There must be loads of 13 year olds who can't imagine what a decent offaly hurling team looks like. What an indictment of charlie mCreevy's infamous inflationary budgets from the turn of the millennium that is.     

Good man Seafoid,
Great to hear from you again.
Unfortunately the glorious revolutionary days of the 80s and the 90s will take a while to replicate again.
We are left relying on Galway to provide a lift for the downtrodden.

[didlyi]

Good program, well researched and contained a lot of voice overs to capture the whole summer in 60 minutes. Was amazed the affect proceedings had on both refs, barrett and cooney. Also felt that Paul flynn hasnt fully recovereed and is still a bit bitter 10 years on. Sure ,those were the days!

[orangeman]

Well produced and well researched as said before - it sure brought back the memories - The Clare v Waterford match had everybody's pulses racing for sure.

[The Voice Of Reason]

Fantastic program to listen to. It captured the essence of that summer really well ... the Offaly and Clare stories, and of course Omagh too

[The Real Laoislad]

Enjoyed this tonight.I had it on while driving back up to Dublin,Certainly made the journey shorter

[passedit]

Enjoyed this tonight.I had it on while driving back up to Dublin,Certainly made the journey shorter

Shortened the journey back from Clones for me n'all. Was in England for the original controversy. Could anyone name 'the three priests'?

[Treasurer]

I had the misfortune to be sitting beside a particularly annoying Clare woman who was jeering when the protest started telling us to go down and have a good look at the pitch because we wouldn't be seeing it again for a while.  I was only sorry she wasn't beside me again in Thurles the next day

What a summer.

[didlyi]

Enjoyed this tonight.I had it on while driving back up to Dublin,Certainly made the journey shorter

Shortened the journey back from Clones for me n'all. Was in England for the original controversy. Could anyone name 'the three priests'?

Dont know biut I suspect they were Hackett, McGuire and Crilly!