Larry Tompkins will be a huge loss to Cork. But watch out Kerry if the Rebels beat Clare! The man from Eadestown has had a remarkable career - and there's more to come. "Our game plan centred around Larry, and when he was missing we had to change everything and it didn't work out" - Cork selector Gerard O'Sullivan in the wake of Cork's defeat by Kerry in last year's Munster Championship semi final. "Our game plan centred around Larry." Cork's game plan, Castlehaven's game plan, Kildare's game play of the early eighties, Eadestown's game plan of the same era, the Wicklow Vocational Schools and the Donegals club in New York. Their game plans have invariably centred around Larry Tompkins at various times during the past fourteen years. He will not be thirty until next month but he seems to have been around for an awful long time. And he has. Since the autumn of 1979 when, as a sixteen year old, he made his debut for the Lilywhites in the National Football League against Roscommon at Dr. Hyde Park. Sixteen years of age. Playing in the National League! He played well enough to retain his place and the rest is history, sometimes chequered but nevertheless history. Cork winning four successive Munster titles, two successive All-Irelands and Castlehaven winning the championship for the first time ever ... history. Summer arrived early on Leeside twelve months ago. Things were beginning to look good again for Larry following persistent and morale-shattering injuries. On the Sunday prior to the game against Kerry, he went jogging down the Mardyke. Dedicated as ever. It was a sunny afternoon, but breezy. After about half an hour's light exercise he decided to sit on the bank to watch a schools game. Off came the runners. Later that night his feet were sore. Sunburn. Nothing to worry about. Cream was applied on the Monday and he intended to train on Tuesday. A burst blister. An infection. Antibiotics on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. On Sunday morning Dr. Con Murphy ruled him out of the big match. After thirty minutes he entered the fray but by that stage, Cork's game plan had been sufficiently dismantled and Kerry won by ten points. "I shouldn't have played. The whole affair was a nightmare for me. It was one of those freak situations which looked simple enough at the start, but then flared up two days before the game." On Sunday next, Larry will be in Cusack Park in Ennis as Cork take another step on the road to a hoped-for return to the glory days of the late eighties. It is extremely doubtful if he will play any part. Six weeks ago in a challenge game against Wexford, he tore his cartilage, the latest in a series of depressing injuries. Micro-surgery was required and three quarters of the cartilage was removed. He is making a good recovery and is currently easing his way back to full fitness with bouts of light jogging. It is a situation with which he has become familiar over the past two and a half years. But familiarity is no antidote to frustration. He is however, hopeful of returning to action against Kerry in two weeks time at Killarney ... if Cork can beat Clare. And that, according to Larry, is a very big IF. He cannot be accused of over confidence in relation to Cork's prospects on Sunday. "At best they are fifty-fifty and Cork will have to play to their maximum potential to win. It is a daunting task to face Clare in Ennis, now that they have made the breakthrough." Because of his injuries and work commitments, he has not been able to attend as many training sessions as he would have liked and he feels that the club schedule has left the county team with insufficient time to prepare for a game as important as Sunday's. "Club training should be based around county training but that hasn't been the case. The clubs have a very big say in Cork." "I think of Larry Tompkins, who is starting his career over after two years of injuries. Larry I loved playing against. He is so good, so determined and so damned ambitious, he always brings out the best in you." - Liam Hayes, reflecting, somewhat ruefully on his own retirement, in the last Sunday Press of 1992. Think of the most skillful footballers in the country over the past decade or so. The most determined. The best. The name of Larry Tompkins will keep cropping up. And yet, we came so close to missing him at his best. Indeed, had it not been for a bunch of Castlehaven football devotees, working in New York in the mid eighties, he might never have become a household name (outside of Kildare) and Cork might not have won four Munster Championships and two All-Irelands. It is extremely doubtful if Castlehaven would have won their first and only Cork senior football championship in 1989. In early 1985, Larry finished serving his time as a carpenter in Dublin. Work was scarce and he was idle for eight weeks. An opportunity arose to play with the Donegal club in New York. The club had strong connections in the building trade and Larry was able to pick up temporary employment. He came home for Kildare's first round win over Wicklow. And for the second round match against Meath at Pairc Tailteann. It turned out to be his last in the Lilywhite jersey. Furious over his treatment by the Kildare County Board in elation to the expense involved in returning from New York, he decided that he'd had enough. "I was cheesed off with the set-up. It was badly run and I wasn't at all that surprised at my treatment. There was no encouragement, no incentive. The players were being kept down." Back in New York, Larry threw himself into Donegal's championship efforts. The club was well organised and successful too. Under Killybegs native Donal Gallagher they dominated the competition throughout the mid-eighties, winning four successive titles. "The New York experience was a huge benefit to me. The games were tough and ultra competitive. They toughened me up and my game improved one hundred per cent as a result." Larry socialised with some members of the Donegal club from Castlehaven in the deep south of county Cork. The man from Eadestown felt at home with them. They talked of football .... football .... and more football. They dreamed of Castlehaven winning the Cork championship. Martin Connolly, Martin Mahoney and the Collins, Vinnie and Anthony. They applied some not-so-gentle pressure on the Kildareman to help the dream come true. He realised how important it was to them and agreed. The Donegal club came to Ireland in May 1987. Billy Morgan knew of Castlehaven's new signing and he invited him onto the Cork panel. He had intended to return to New York once Castlehaven's championship hopes ended. An ageing Kerry team had completed three All-Irelands in a row in 1986. In the '87 Munster Final, Mikey Sheehy scored a last gasp goal to give Kerry a one point lead into injury time. Larry, under extreme pressure, scored the equalising point from a free. In the replay in Killarney, he starred again as Cork won by five points. His reputation was further enhanced with outstanding performances against Galway in the drawn and replayed All-Ireland semi final and few who witnessed it will forget his coolness under pressure when he earned Cork a second chance with a glorious pointed free in the first game. Larry Tompkins was being widely acclaimed as gaelic football's new superstar. Cork lost a commanding early lead in the final against Meath and Larry had no complaints about the defeat. But in 1988 "everything was right. Our preparation was great and we played really well against Meath. We should have won but didn't put our chances on the board." Meath snatched a late equaliser and won the replay. "The team showed great character by coming back to win the national league and the All-Ireland in 1989." And to cap a marvellous year, Castlehaven won the Cork championship. "That was a marvellous thrill. The population of Castlehaven is only about six hundred but they are football mad. Every man, woman and child. They simply live for football." The new county champions paid Larry the ultimate compliment when they nominated him as captain of the county team in 1990. Niall Cahalan and John Cleary were two "of their own" but the club was grateful for Larry's commitment to their cause, and were duly rewarded when he climbed the steps of the Hogan Stand in 1990 to receive the Sam Maguire Cup. It was a magnificent gesture by the club and one for which he is deeply appreciative. But the 1990 victory proved to be costly. During the game he sustained a bad knee injury, which ultimately kept him out of football for nine months. "I played on. We were down to fourteen men, I was the captain and it was Meath that we were playing against. It was all about willpower." He only just made it back for Cork's horrific performance against Kerry in 1991, but last year he was ready until the infection set in, during the countdown to the Kerry match. And he damaged his Achilles tendon in the club championship against St. Finbarrs last summer. No wonder then, that the injury sustained in the recent challenge against Wexford has depressed him ... but he is on the way back. There has been intense speculation in recent months (years) that the man from Eadestown will end his days in the Lilywhite jersey. The fact that his pub and guesthouse are up for sale has fuelled the speculation even further. But looking after a pub and a guesthouse has taken it's toll. "It's a very demanding occupation, especially when you're trying to fit in a training schedule as well. Castlehaven is sixty miles away and I'm also involved with the Waterford under 21s. I've been here for four years and have enjoyed it and I've an open mind about future business plans." It is understandable that he has a soft spot for Kildare football. And for Eadestown too. He was only seven years old when they won their only county championship, a remarkable achievement for a club that comes from "a bend on the Naas-Blessington Road". Ten years later he helped to bring them back up from junior B to senior level in successive years. "We had only about sixteen or seventeen players and I'd say that emigration cost us a senior title around 1984." Larry first played county football with Kildare under 14s and later, while attending Blessington Vocational School, he captained Wicklow to an All-Ireland final but they were beaten by Derry. "Schools football in Wicklow was very well organised and we had great team management with both Blessington and Wicklow. The principal, Mr Dempsey and Paddy Henrick were particularly influential." Incredibly, Larry was a senior inter county player when playing for Blessington VS. In the autumn of1979, as a sixteen year old, he was named on the Kildare panel for the National Football League game against Roscommon at Hyde Park. Tom Shaw, the selected corner forward, was unable to line out due to flu and young Tompkins was drafted in at corner forward. His brother Joe was at centre field and the youngster did well enough to earn a permanent place. For three years he played with the Lilywhite minors and he represented the county at under 21 level for six years, winning a Leinster Championship medal in 1983. He missed the All-Ireland semi final against Derry through injury. His skull had been fractured against neighbours Castledermot in the intermediate championship. Gerry McEntee was the doctor who helped him to a speedy recovery. At senior level, Kildare ran Dublin to just one point in the 1983 championship but the Lilywhite commitment was not of the same calibre as it is today. "But it's great to see John Crofton and Paddy O'Donohoe still involved with Kildare. They were always totally dedicated. I was a good trainer, but John and Paddy would always be there before me." There's no doubt that Larry Tompkins has still plenty to offer as a footballer. His achievements with Cork and Castlehaven have been remarkable. The very least he's entitled to at this stage is an injury free run. Skillful players are scarce. On Sunday, his Cork colleagues should remember his great contributions of the 1987-90 era. The owe it to him to beat Clare and in two weeks time we should see him back in action against Kerry. And the Kingdom jerseys invariably bring out the best in a fit Larry Tompkins. Taken from Hogan Stand magazine 28th May 1993 Tweet

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