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It was September 1959. Congress had just passed a Bill authorising food stamps for America's poor, the Soviet Union landed Luna-2 on the moon, and France gave Algeria back to the indigenous people of that African country.
In Croke Park, Waterford drew with Kilkenny in the All-Ireland hurling final, the Deise's 1-17 levelling the Cats' 5-5. Until Sunday, it was the last final to finish all square.
Now, Brian Cody and his Kilkenny champions face a challenge like none other. They have three weeks to prepare for what will surely be another Galway onslaught in the September 30th replay.
In the wake of Sunday's final, Cody's demeanour reflected the feeling of anti-climax when 82,000 people exit a stadium on an occasion without the significant business taken care of.
“The plan was to win the game,” he said. “but you couldn't be satisfied with not winning, and you would be very dissatisfied with losing. It's just... It means we will start over again and that's it. It doesn't really matter if we are satisfied or dissatisfied.”
A drawn encounter always leaves both sides in a peculiar limbo, but Kilkenny will draw strength from the forcefulness of their comeback. After being out-thought in the Leinster final, the game was taking on a similar pattern here in the first half.
Galway were seven points clear of Kilkenny on the half hour, before Henry Shefflin overcame two uncharacteristic early wides to drill three frees over in two minutes and leave it a much more even contest before the interval.
The appetite shown by Kilkenny in the second half was almost enough on its own to wrestle the game back, but Cody felt it was the least they could do.
“You have to work hard, it's an All-Ireland final so you wouldn't be giving too much kudos for working hard, that's the nature of the game. It was a decent display in the second half after a first half in which Galway were certainly the better team. We put ourselves back into the frame to win the game, but they kept themselves in too.”
Only for Niall Burke's goal, Galway almost lost their composure entirely. Cody acknowledged it; “That goal was a massive score. That's it, that's the way it panned out and we have to start planning ahead.”
Anthony Cunningham has recent experience in this sort of thing. In an uncanny twist of fate, he brought Garrycastle's footballers to an All-Ireland replay against another side in black and amber stripes — Crossmaglen Rangers — back in March.
They fell to a heavy defeat in the replay, and he will take plenty of lessons into this refixture.
“Maybe we showed a slight lack of composure there in the finish,” Cunningham said.
“There’s huge learning and the team that takes on most learning points we feel that we’re advancing most and we’ll certainly be analysing the game with the guys and going through it. They’re a brilliant set of players — a panel of 33 players willing to learn and they’ll kick on from today. I’m so confident of that — they will kick on and we have a lot of experience as well in the backroom.”
Turning his praise on the two selectors — Mattie Kenny and Tom Helebert — that flank him any time he faces the media, he commented, “I’m extremely proud of the work that the two guys with me here have put in with the team — the coaching that we’ve done, and the mental preparation that Tom has put in with the team.
“We will concentrate on that. We will meet and go through it in detail.
“We’ll get a huge reception from the players, they’ll be receptive to improvement and they will kick on.”
For Cody, it was a bizarre scenario, but as he knows, there is still just a game of hurling to be played.
“I have obviously been involved in a few All-Ireland finals and we have won some, we've lost some, and we have never drawn one. So be it.
“Any time you are told you are in an All-Ireland final in three weeks time you would be fairly excited about that. If it was six months away you would be excited.
“It's worth being in it.”
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The GAA have announced that tickets for the All-Ireland replay will be available at reduced prices.
Tickets for the Hogan Stand, Canal End and Cusack Stand are down from €80 to €50, and terrace tickets are cut from €40 to €25.
A total of 5,000 juvenile tickets will be also made available for the designated areas of the ground, available for €10.
