Rebels

Rebels Synopsis

In Rebels: Cork GAA Since 1950, Michael Moynihan chronicles the great red-and-white occasions:

It is the most successful unit in the GAA, with more All-Ireland titles accumulated than any other county. The hurlers and footballers of Cork include some of the greatest players ever to take the field, and over the decades they have won - and lost - some of the most dramatic games ever played.

In Rebels: Cork GAA Since 1950, Michael Moynihan chronicles the great red-and-white occasions: the great three-in-a-row team of 1952-4, and the ensuing twelve-year drought. Billy Morgan's 1973 football All-Ireland, the hurling three-in-a-row side of 1976-8, the Centenary All-Ireland and the unique double; the romance of the 1999 hurling win and the irresistible combination of 2004-5.

But there are also questions to be answered and controversies to revisit: why did Cork go twelve years without an All-Ireland in the middle of the century? Why didn't the 1973 team push on for more All-Irelands - and why isn't Cork football more successful generally? What exactly happened in the 'three stripes affair' of the seventies?

Who exactly is Frank Murphy, the county secretary for over three decades and widely regarded as one of the most powerful men in Irish sport? And who were the winners and losers from the strikes and stand-offs between players and administrators in recent years?

Michael Moynihan has conducted fresh interviews to shed light on these fascinating questions for this new book, which covers the highs and lows of GAA life on Leeside.