Connie Buckley

Connie 'Sonny' Buckley

Personal information
Irish name	Conchuir Ó Buachalla
Sport	Hurling
Position	Half-forward
Born	24 November 1915(1915-11-24) Blackpool, Cork, Ireland
Died	27 January 2009(2009-01-27) (aged 93)
Nickname	Sonny
Occupation	Ford Motor Co. employee
Club(s)
Years	Club
1934-1942	Glen Rovers
Club Titles
Cork titles	8
Inter-county(ies)
Years	County	Apps (scores)
1934-1941	Cork	16 (1-4)
Inter-county titles
Munster titles	1
All Irelands	1
NHL	2

Connie 'Sonny' Buckley (24 November 1915 – 27 January 2009) was an Irish sportsperson. He played hurling with his local club Glen Rovers and was a member of the Cork senior inter-county team from 1936 until 1941. Buckley captained Cork to the All-Ireland title in 1941.

Biography

Connie ‘Sonny’ Buckley was born in Roman Street, Cork in 1915. The fourth child in a family of eleven born to Timothy and Elizabeth Buckley, he received his national school education at the nearby St. Vincent’s convent. He later attended the North Monastery where his talents at Gaelic games were brought to the fore. In 1934 Buckley was a key member of the college team that captured the Munster colleges’ title. When the ‘North Mon’ retained the famous Dr. Harty Cup title in 1935 Buckley was captain of the team. That same year he captured a Munster colleges’ title with the 'North Mon' football team. Together with his schoolmate Jack Lynch, He was also chosen on the Munster colleges’ inter-provincial hurling and football teams that year.^[1]

In 1942 Buckley was forced to emigrate to London where he found employment with the Ford Motor Company in Dagenham. He returned to Cork shortly afterwards. Buckley was married to Kitty Byrne and together they had seven children.^[2]

Playing career

Club

Buckley played his club hurling with Glen Rovers, one of the most famous club teams of all-time. His first major victory at club level was a minor football title with the Glen’s sister team, St. Nick's, in 1932. The following year Buckley captured a minor hurling title with Glen Rovers, thus beginning a great era of success. The Glen had joined the ranks of the senior county championship in the 1920s, and went on to win their first county title, with Buckley at midfield, in 1934. An unprecedented seven more consecutive county titles would follow between then and 1941. Buckley was the only player to figure in all eight successes and he was given the honour of captaining the side on the occasion of their so far unequalled eighth county victory in-a-row. His brother, Jack Buckley, joined the team in 1935, while another brother, Din Joe Buckley, became part of the set up in 1938. Buckley retired from club hurling in 1942 following the Glen’s defeat in the semi-final of the county championship. During his career he also won two county senior football medals with St. Nick's in 1938 and 1941.

Inter-county

Buckley played hurling with the Cork senior inter-county team for the first time in the 1935-36 National Hurling League. Unfortunately, it was an unusually barren period for the county following a great period of success in the 1920s, as Limerick were the standard bearers in Munster at the time.

All this changed in 1939 when Cork, with Buckley starring at midfield, captured the Munster title for the first time since 1931.^[3] The subsequent All-Ireland final against Kilkenny has gone down in history as the ‘thunder and lightning final’, with Cork losing out to their great rivals by a single point following a ferocious thunderstorm.^[4]

At the start of 1940 Buckley captured his first major national title when he won a National League medal.^[5] Cork later contested the Munster final, however, after a replay the great Limerick team of the era emerged as the victors.

Buckley won a second consecutive National League medal in 1941, but that year's hurling championship was severely hampered due to an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in Munster and Leinster. As a result of this Tipperary and Kilkenny, the two counties that were affected the most, were not allowed to participate and it was decided that Cork would represent Munster in the All-Ireland final. The game against Dublin turned into a rout thanks to contributing goals from Johnny Quirke and Ted O'Sullivan. At the full-time whistle Cork had won by 5-11 to 0-6.^[6] It was one of the most one-sided championship deciders of all-time, however, it did give Buckley a coveted All-Ireland medal, as well as the honour of collecting the Liam McCarthy Cup on behalf of Cork.

Buckley’s emigration in 1942 brought his inter-county hurling career to a premature end. He returned in 1943, however, a young Cork team were attempting to capture a third All-Ireland title in-a-row. There was no place for Buckley on this team.

Inter-provincial

Buckley also lined out with Munster in the inter-provincial hurling championship where he played alongside his championship rivals from other Munster hurling counties. He played in the Railway Cup final of 1941, however, Munster were defeated by Leinster on that occasion.^[7]

Death

Buckley died in Cork on 27 January 2009. At the time of his death he was the oldest surviving All-Ireland senior hurling captain.^[8]

References

1. ^ "Death of former Rebel captain Connie Buckley". Irish Examiner. 2009-01-30. http://www.examiner.ie/irishexaminer/pages/story.aspx-qqqg=sport-qqqm=GAA-qqqa=sport-qqqid=83212-qqqx=1.asp. Retrieved 2009-01-30. 
2. ^ "Connie Buckley". Irish Times. 2009-02-28. http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/obituaries/2009/0228/1224241983557.html. Retrieved 2009-03-24. 
3. ^ "Senior Hurling - Munster Final Winning Teams (1887-2007)". Munster GAA. http://munster.gaa.ie/teams/seniorhurling.html. Retrieved 2009-03-10. ^{[dead link]}
4. ^ Corry, Eoghan (2005). The GAA Book of Lists. Hodder Headline Ireland. p. 348. 
5. ^ "Cork Hurling Profile". www.hoganstand.com. http://www.hoganstand.com/Cork/Profile.aspx. Retrieved 2009-03-10. 
6. ^ The GAA Book of Lists p. 349
7. ^ "Munster Railway Cup Hurling Teams". Munster GAA. http://munster.gaa.ie/teams/railwaycuphurling.html. Retrieved 2009-01-30. ^{[dead link]}
8. ^ "A farewell to the writer and the Rebel". Irish Examiner. 2009-01-30. http://michaelmoynihan.wordpress.com/2009/01/30/irish-examiner-sports-column-30-january-2009/. Retrieved 2009-01-30. 

Sporting positions
Preceded by Jack Lynch	Cork Senior Hurling Captain 1941	Succeeded by Jack Lynch
Achievements
Preceded by Mick Mackey (Limerick)	All-Ireland Senior Hurling winning captain 1941	Succeeded by Jack Lynch (Cork)

Teams

Persondata
Name	Buckley, Connie
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1915-11-24
Place of birth	Blackpool, Cork
Date of death	2009-01-27
Place of death