The 1987 Munster Senior Hurling Championship Final was a hurling match played on 12 July 1987 at Semple Stadium, Thurles, County Tipperary. It was contested by Tipperary and Cork. The final finished in a draw with a scoreline of 1-18 each.
Tipperary captained by Richard Stakelum and managed by Bab's Keating won the replay by 4-22 to 1-22 after extra time a week later in Killarney to claim their first Munster Senior title since 1971.[1][2]
The first drawn game is notable as the game that Nicky English kicked the ball to the net soccer style after dropping his hurley.[3]
In the replay Michael Doyle was the hero coming on as a substitute to score two goals.[4][5]
On accepting the cup at the end of the game, captain Richard Stakelum gave his famous the famine is over speech.[6]
Nicky English speaking in 2012 still rates the victory as his greatest victory, saying "The reason it was so special was that a number of us had been on the team for a long time, I was there since 1982. We had already had our disappointments in Munster finals in 1984 and 1985 and that Cork side still had the remnants of the three-in-a-row side and for us to get over Cork was a major thing for us and a major progression really".[7]
Highlights of both games were shown as part of The Sunday Game programme on RTÉ 2 on the Sunday night. The programmes were presented by Michael Lyster with commentary by Ger Canning.
