| Notes |
- 1915 Births Registered in the District of No 4 Urban in the Union of Cork in the County of Cork.
No. 460.
Date and Place of Birth - 1915 November Twenty Fourth, 10 Roman Street.
Name (if any) - Cornelius, Sex - M.
Name and Surname and Dwelling Place of Father - Timothy Buckley, 10 Roman Street.
Name and Surname and Maiden Surname of Mother - Lizzie Buckley formerly Falvey
Rank or Profession of Father - Shop Keeper.
Signature, Qualification, and Residence of Informant - Mary Cronin, Present at Birth, 7 Currys Rock.
When Registered - December Sixth 1915
Signature of Registrar - W J Heron
Image 1BirthCerts>Buckley downloaded but not assigned a Source No. (B1915BuckleyCorneliusSCFull.pdf)
Connie 'Sonny' Buckley (24 November, 1915 - 27 January, 2009) was an Irish sportsman. 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.
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,
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.
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.
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. 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.
At the start of 1940 Buckley captured his first major national title when he won a National League medal. 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.
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.
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.
Buckley died in Cork on 27 January, 2009. At the time of his death he was the oldest surviving All-Ireland senior hurling captain.
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Saturday, February 28, 2009
Connie Buckley
Legendary hurler from four-in-a-row All-Ireland winning team
CONNIE "SONNY" Buckley, a legendary Cork hurler, who has died aged 93, was the oldest surviving All-Ireland-winning hurling captain.
A native of Blackpool, on the north side of the Lee and the quintessential heart of Cork hurling in his day, he played with his local club Glen Rovers and also with the Cork senior team throughout the 1930s and 1940s, hurling alongside Christy Ring and former taoiseach Jack Lynch.
Educated at the North Monastery, he first tasted success as captain of the school's Harty Cup winning team and won his first county title with Glen Rovers in 1934, going on to be the only player that featured in the club's remarkable achievement of eight wins in a row, from 1934 to 1941.
He grew up in Roman Street and married a local girl, Catherine Buckley, who played camogie with Glen Rovers.
With Tipperary and Kilkenny barred from playing due to an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease, Cork found themselves in an All-Ireland final after playing only one game in the 1941 championship. Aged just 25, Connie captained the team on the first Sunday in September, recording a 5-11 to 0-6 victory over Dublin, the start of a record-breaking run, with his younger brother, Din Joe, playing in all four-in-a-row winning teams. His brother Jack also won an All Ireland medal in 1942.
A veteran of the famous 1939 thunder-and-lightning final, when Kilkenny beat Cork with a last minute point on the day Hitler invaded Poland, Connie later had the honour of captaining Cork in 1941 when Glen Rovers won their sixth of eight county titles on the trot.
His answer to Kilkenny's current dominance of the game was ground hurling. "Kilkenny have always been good hurlers, always and ever," he said in an Irish Times interview in 2006. "But the way to beat them is to get low hard ball into your forwards because if you play it in high, they'll just pick it out of the air."
Critical of the modern game, he deplored the change from first-time pulling to a more controlled running, passing game. "Yerra, there's too much picking the ball nowadays - if you went to pick it long 'go, 'twould be whipped off you," he said.
"You had to strike the ball first time. There was no such thing as twisting or turning: you hit the ball - you had to hit the ball or you'd be hit."
Connie retired from club hurling in 1942.During his career he also won two county senior football medals with St Nicks.
Predeceased by his wife Catherine, he is survived by sons, Tadhg, Jack, Donal, Terry, Paul and Fergus, daughter, Enda, brothers, Din Joe, Mick, and sisters Eileen and Phil.
Connie "Sonny" Buckley: born November 24th, 1915; died January 27th, 2009
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Connie Buckley, better known as Sonny, of Glen Rovers and Cork, was 92.
He captained Cork to the All-Ireland hurling title of 1941, when he scored the Leesiders' 11th and last point from centre-forward in a comprehensive defeat of Dublin.
That year he had also picked up his eighth consecutive county senior hurling championship medal with his club, and though his intercounty career ended with that '41 triumph, his brother Jack picked up a Celtic cross in 1942, and the third brother, Din Joe, collected four All-Irelands from 1941 to 1944, and added a fifth in 1946.
Before his death he was the oldest surviving All-Ireland senior hurling captain, which was hardly a surprise.
He hardly seemed to age in the 20 or so years in which he was a familiar figure to this column, out strolling with his dog through Ballyvolane and Dublin Hill, a quiet man with a cap, dressed just as formally as you would expect from someone who came of age in the 1930s.
Given the toxicity of the atmosphere these days in Cork, this column was half-inclined to leave this to one side as a topic.
The relentless parsing of comments that have marked the last few months meant we hesitated a little in case anything might be construed in the wrong way.
A comment on Sonny Buckley's career or achievements might be misinterpreted or twisted to suit an agenda, and the last thing we wanted was to poke open a can of controversy where it wasn't needed; there's quite enough of that to go around these days in Cork.
Then we thought it would be unfair not to mark his passing. The GAA is 125 years old this year, and its legend was built on men like Sonny Buckley and thousands like him - men who came from farms and little villages to Croke Park and led their colleagues out of the dressing-room and into immortality.
I only knew him as an elderly gent, but even in his 80s there were traces of the clear-eyed captain looking out over the heads of the photographers in a picture taken before the All-Ireland final 68 years ago: the hair short and tousled, the jaw set, game face on. Ready to score that 11th point, to watch the sliotar change as he strikes it: sphere, star, speck. Then the cup, and the long journey home.
We might even venture to say that a mention of his passing at tomorrow night's all-singing, all-dancing celebration ahead of Dublin versus Tyrone would strike a chord in a way that, say, half a million euro worth of fireworks wouldn't.
By the way, Sonny shared a pithiness of expression with John Updike, if not Ted Williams.
Some years ago he was looking down on a club match which featured all the skills of the modern game. Stirred to comment, he simply murmured: "What happened to standing into your man?"
Then he nudged his trusty dog and they headed off down towards Spring Lane and Blackpool.
Well, it wasn't quite Updike. But it wasn't bad either.
Ar dheis De go raibh a anam uasal dilis.
The death has occurred of Cornelius (Sonny) BUCKLEY of Mt. Farran, Assumption Road, Cork City, Cork
Late Dunlops, Glen Rovers and St. Nicks H&F Clubs, Pres. Blackpool Harriers. Reposing at O'Connor Bros. Funeral Home, North Gate Bridge. Removal tomorrow, Friday, at 7pm to the Church of the Annunciation, Blackpool. Requiem Mass on Saturday at 12 noon. Funeral afterwards to Rathcooney Cemetery. Fresh flowers only, by request.
Date published: Thursday, January 29, 2009 - Date of death: Tuesday, January 27, 2009
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1915 - 2009 (93 years)
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