Have you ever noticed how different years, or different sports seasons, can be defined by a series of similar feats or incidents?

Take the Premiership season just finished in Britain; it will be remembered – if it is remembered at all – as the season of mediocrity. The top teams kept losing points to the middling and poor teams. There was no epic struggle between Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal. It was a case of whichever team avoided defeat most often would win the league. In the end, Manchester United didn’t really win the title; it was more a case of no other team challenging them.

There have been other years like this. There have been years of the underdogs, years of the draws, years of bad summers and years of epic games. 1981 was a year of epic games. You had Borg v McEnroe, Manchester City and Spurs in the FA Cup, and England (or Ian Botham) v Australia in the Ashes. Another year came to my notice last week, that was 1941; the year of streaks.

At a quick glance, 1941 does not appear to be a memorable year. For a start most European sport had been abandoned because of World War II. Many of the competitions where teams or individuals can put a series of victories together were not played. There was no Tour de France, no FA Cup, no Oxford v Cambridge boat race, even the Derby was not really “The Derby” because the race was moved from Epsom to Newmarket.

Sport did go on in other parts of the world however. Here in Ireland the GAA, domestic soccer and racing continued albeit with some cutbacks that were mainly due to transport difficulties. The USA was not at war for most of 1941 so sporting life continued there as normal. In Australia, even thought they had many troops fighting with Britain in Europe and were also preparing for a possible invasion by Japan, the Victoria Football League (now the AFL) was still played.

It was an article by Hal Bodley on the Major League Baseball website on May 15^th last that drew my attention to 1941. The 15^th of May was the 70^th anniversary of the beginning of Joe DiMaggio’s never-to-be-equalled hitting streak. On that day, DiMaggio or “the Yankee Clipper” as he was known, hit the ball into play and made it safely to first base.

It is not unusual for a baseball batter to go two or three games without hitting the ball. Equally it is not unusual for a batter to hit the ball at least once a game for three or four games in a row. When DiMaggio made it a 10-game hitting streak on the 24^th of May nobody thought much about it except to note that he was in good form. By June 3^rd when he made 20 games in-a-row, people were watching. The streak hit 30 hits on June 17^th and 40 on June 28^th. At that stage the all-time record of 45 hitting games on the trot was in sight, and the whole country spoke of little else.

Joltin’ Joe equalled the 45-hit record on July 2^nd against the Boston Red Sox. He broke the record the next day against Philadelphia. By now the whole of the USA had stopped what it was doing and watched. The hitting streak ended on July 17^th, two months and two days after it began. Many mathematicians believe that because even the best batters can only hit a ball three times out of every 10 attempts, Joe DiMaggios record will be the most statistically enduring sporting record of all time.

While Joe DiMaggio was keeping the minds of America off the impending war with his feats in their summer game, down in Melbourne the Australian Football Rules club were shortening the Australian winter for their supporters by winning their third Victoria Football League title on the trot. It is a feat that had only been accomplished once before in the history of a competition that began in 1897. Carlton did it in 1906, ‘07 and ’08. Melbourne achieved another hat-trick in 1955-‘56-’57 but now that the competition has become the AFL and is played across the country, the feat will probably never be achieved again.

These great feats were being achieved around the world. Here in Cork there were several remarkable winning streaks finished or started in 1941. The first was the achievement of Cork United who won the league and cup double in the spring of 1941. Cork defeated Waterford in a thrilling replayed FAI Cup Final. The two sides were to meet again in a play-off to decide the winners of the league but some of the Waterford players refused to play because of a dispute over bonus payments. Cork United were awarded their league title. It was the beginning of a great run for Cork United. They won the league for the next two seasons. Altogether they won five out six titles between 1941 and 1946.

On the GAA front there were several great streaks. In Gaelic Football, many football supporters were looking forward to the first round clash of Clonakilty and Dromtariffe. The game was played on July 27^{th at} at Dunmanway. It turned out to be a dour affair that finished level. The replay took place a fortnight later in Macroom. This finished level too. As did  the second replay the following Sunday.

The fourth game was played on August 31^st again in Macroom. Just like Joe DiMaggio’s hitting streak in the States, the whole of Cork was now interested in Clonakilty and Dromtariffe. Four thousand people made their way by foot, bicycle, lorry and train to Macroom to see the game. The result; another draw.

The fifth game was played on September 7^th. The Cork County Board gave instructions that the game should continue until a winner emerged. This time Clonakilty finally broke the challenge of the Dromtariffe men and won out 3-5 to 0-5. The tie remains the only instance of a Cork county championship tie taking five games to find a winner.

Three weeks after Clonakilty advanced to the second round of the county championship, the Cork Senior hurlers defeated Dublin 5-11 to 0-6 in the All-Ireland senior hurling final. The win gave Christy Ring the first of his eight All-Ireland medals and it was the beginning of a four in-a-row sequence that stood unequalled until Kilkenny matched it in 2009.

Cork’s captain that day was Connie “Sonny” Buckley. He earned the right to be captain because his club Glen Rovers won the county championship in 1940. The Glen in fact, were champions every year since 1934. They won the senior county again in 1941 to complete eight titles in-a-row. Although the eight in-a-row has been equalled or bettered by clubs in several counties since, (Crossmaglen’s run of football titles in Armagh being the most notable) the achievement of Glen Rovers to hold on to the title in a competitive hurling environment like Cork and to have only one player, Sonny Buckley, to win all eight medals must be near to Joe DiMaggio’s hitting achievement in baseball.

History may show the 1941 was a year that was overshadowed by war, unemployment shortages and depression. But there was a sporting side to the year too. It was not a year  of mediocrity or classic games but it was one of tenacity and hard graft by teams and players who made 1941 the ‘Year of  the Winning Streaks’.