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League of Ireland Horse Racing TV Listings GAA Fixtures The Video Review Sport meets news, current affairs, society & pop culture Rugby Weekly Extra Dive into all the news and analysis 3 times a week The Football Family Weekly insights from the week’s big talking points Advertisement More Stories Larry Tompkins with his GWA Gaelic Football Hall of Fame award.Piaras Ó Mídheach/SPORTSFILE FreeLooking Forward Larry Tompkins: 'A very rare cancer...please God now, we're going in the right direction' The Cork legend is feeling positive after a tough year. 6.31am, 28 Oct 2025 Share options IT IS 35 years since Larry Tompkins filled the role of leader as Cork reached the summit of Gaelic football. Tompkins’ role as captain in the 1990 side reinforced his football greatness, a key figure in the Cork side that retained their All-Ireland crown. It rounded off a period where Tompkins was integral to Cork’s four successive All-Ireland final appearances, their two Sam Maguire triumphs, and four Munster title wins. His three Allstar awards were recognition of his individual excellence and illustrated why he was deservedly inducted into the Gaelic Writers’ Association Football Hall of Fame, supported by Dalata Hotel Group, last Friday night. After the hard and gruelling past year Tompkins has experienced, an award like this is greatly appreciated. Illness has hit the legendary player hard, he spent the start of the year in hospital in Cork as he was diagnosed with cancer on the wall of his lung. A rare form of the disease – ‘one in five million’ – forced Tompkins to undergo 25 rounds of radian treatment. “I suppose it starts as little things, and that’s why people should always be wary of maybe a little bit of a niggle or a little bit of a pain somewhere,” outlines Tompkins. “I got a little bit of a pain in my ribs, it’s going on three years ago now, and it started off like a little annoying little pain and just developed. “Not seeing anyone, for the guts of nine or ten months, then I went to see a specialist. Numerous examinations were done on me, like the camera down the throat and stuff like that, because they were afraid I had worked in asbestos over the years, that my lungs could have been infested with that disease. But luckily enough that wasn’t the problem. “And then I was finally gave the all clear about a year and a half ago and then I wasn’t happy with it. “Went back then to the specialist again and he hospitalised me to see could he get to the bottom of it. Last November I went into hospital and they discovered then, that I had a tumour on the wall of my lung and that my lung was leaking, had a slight leak in it.. and it was full of fluid. “I was a bit annoyed that it wasn’t caught a bit sooner, I had to get another consultant then, I changed over to a thoracic person that he looked after me then, a Limerick man, a good GAA man. “So he had the bad news to tell me then in January that I had this cancer on the wall of the lung and it was a very rare cancer. Believe it or not, one in five million, I could be the only one in Ireland that might have it.” Tompkins was referred to the Brompton Hospital in London. When doctors there examined his medical reports, the advised that he not go for an operation due to the position of the tumour and the condition of his lung. “So I went on radian treatment, got 25 goes. Hard times and I spent three months in hospital. There were stages when I just felt that I wasn’t going to come through but look, the will and the fight, if you can just stay positive, you know, it’s a good thing. “I was in CUH (Cork University Hospital), I’m livijng near there, I could walk up the road to it, which is great. I came out in the end of March, beginning of April, so really I have been on this medication since. I’m on immunotherapy tablets now every day and some more tablets for pain relief. I take about eight or nine tablets a day.” Advertisement Cork representatives Larry Tompkins with his Gaelic Football Hall of Fame award, Juliet Murphy with her Ladies Football Hall of Fame award and Ger Canning with his Lifetime Achievement award ahead of the Gaelic Writers Association Awards.Piaras Ó Mídheach / SPORTSFILE Piaras Ó Mídheach / SPORTSFILE / SPORTSFILE As the year has progressed, Tompkins is grateful for signs of improvement. “They have been monitoring me every three months just to see is everything okay. The signs that are positive is that the tumour isn’t growing, it’s contained, also the positive sign is that the tumour hasn’t spread and it’s over three years now. “Even the top people in London, I was talking to (them) over on Zoom and they couldn’t believe like that my tumour hadn’t spread. They couldn’t believe that I’ve had it for so long and it stayed in one area and hopefully we can keep it contained, I’ll have to live with it and hopefully I can get another 20 years anyway, please God. “That’s the nuts and bolts really. I’m feeling not too bad. I’m able to do a little bit around the house here. Up to last week I wasn’t able to cut the lawn, but I was able to cut the lawn last week when the weather was fine, so that was my first time to cut it since I got sick. “Most important is that my tumour doesn’t spread or doesn’t grow. Unfortunately my left lung is, even though it’s there, it’s dead like. They’ve tried to revitalise it, they’ve done three operations on it to drain the fluid and they tried to see could they reinflate it, but my lung is dead, like it won’t reinflate. “I’m just operating off my right lung, so my breathing at times could be a little bit of a problem. I go walking, I do exercise most days, and I have to kind of stay on a flat surface rather than climbing the hills. “Please God now, we’re going in the right direction and please God I can continue.” As word filtered out about the hardship Tompkins faced, he was overwhelmed by the constant flow of support and goodwill that came his way. “I felt sorry that people were wanting to come in and see me, but when you’re so sick, the last thing you want is to try to be in good form when people come in. I wouldn’t have been able for it anyway, I was too bad at that stage. “But I had loads of incredible amount of cards, incredible amount of masses said for me and all over the country. It’s amazing like how people just come together and even outside of the country. I spent time in New York and the people that rang me from New York and Boston and San Francisco. They were just so concerned like. That was nice.” After he emerged from hospital, Tompkins immersed himself again in the sport he loves. After a decorated career as a player and coach, he has in recent years got involved again at the coalface of the sport with the teams his son Jack is playing, Bishopstown at club level and Presentation Brothers, a traiditional rugby stronghold, at schools level. “I went into Pres, I just tried to get the GAA going and get guys playing that might want to play. “We got to a Munster final last year and I know it was section three. It was a massive step. We were in the Munster semi-final the year before against Kenmare, who had I think five (Kerry) minors on the team. So look, there’s progression made there. “Jack (is in) his last year in Pres this year, so please God they can keep it going. There’s a good fella in there, Enda O’Regan, he’s vice-principal, he’s from West Cork and hopefully that he can drive it on. “We’ve had great runs there with the Bishopstown minor team. We won an U18 county a couple of years ago. We got to two semi-finals at P1 level and beaten by a point, last kick of the game on both occasions. When your buzz is in something like that, it’s hard to get away from it and it’s brilliant to go up there to those young lads. “They want to go out there and give it their all and they’re honest and they want to train and it’s brilliant to see the development. We’re just trying to get that culture into the like of Bishopstown and try and grow it. Brian Cuthbert done a great job, he brought in a load of young fellas there into that senior A team and it was a very progressive year.” Larry Tompkins lifts the Sam Maguire in 1990.© INPHO / James Meehan © INPHO / James Meehan / James Meehan On a wider level he has closely observed the evolution in Gaelic football this year, noting the vast improvement in the game as a spectacle. “It certainly has helped enormously. There could be a few more tweaks maybe. I know the goalkeeper is under fierce pressure, but let him kick it out past the 45-yard line rather than try to just go short on each corner as well with the arc. “And a lot of people get kind of still annoyed with a team being able to hold possession for quite a while. I think you’ve a referee there and you give a team a certain length of time and then that referee would blow the whistle, that means you must get rid of the ball. “There’s just still that little bit of a break where a team can kill a game off and hold possession and that’s probably the aggravating thing when you’re watching as a supporter. “But overall you would have to be happy. The two pointers suit the guys like, naturally David Clifford who can kick them all day. It’s an area that people are going to have to really work at because them two- pointers are crucial.” It is almost four decades since his life and sporting career changed dramatically when the Kildare native and New York resident found himself embarking on a new path in Cork. “Even though I didn’t come from Castlehaven, that’s why the club is more special because they just accepted me so well and the warmth of people down there is just incredible. I just fitted it in so well. “My playing days with them, I’ll never forget. Every day I just wore that jersey was such an honour and such a joy and to captain to their first county in ’89. They’re just a hell of a club. “I was very happy in New York, I was playing with Donegal. I had great friends. I was a carpenter by trade, I had the world at my feet. There’s no reason why I should be coming back to Ireland, the Collins’ just have a way of twisting your arm. I got good and friendly with them. “So we decided one year that they asked me would I go back with them in the summer of ’87 and play with Castlehaven and see would they win a county. Then the whole thing just turned around fairly rapid, so from just being asked up to a training session with Cork, then to be asked onto the panel and then to be playing with Cork. Believe it or not, I played with Cork before I played with Castlehaven. “I admired some great legends of Cork. You had the great Sonia O’Sullivan, I used to go down to the Mardyke of a Sunday and I’d see her running and often I jogged around with her on the track. She was like 13 or 14 at that stage, but little did I think I was running against a world champion and an Olympic champion. Then the likes of Roy Keane and Denis Irwin and all the rugby players that have made it, so you’re embracing Cork with incredible sportspeople. “Looking at the likes of Ray Cummins and Jimmy Barry Murphy and Denis Coughlan and these fellas that played in 1973. They were legends like and I felt really honoured to wear a jersey that they wore. I tried to do my best when I went out there and give it it all, so there were great moments, great memories, and I’ll certainly never forget them.” If there is an over-riding emotion nearing the end of 2025, it is appreciation for what he has. Moments like last Friday night where he was honoured at the Clayton Hotel in Ballsbridge are savoured. “In my head I never thought I’d end up someone telling me that I had cancer. I suppose I really appreciate of each day then that you get through and you enjoy things more. When you see so many people that I was around so sick and so many young people like and even to get this award, it’s brilliant. “I can remember back, the great days playing and that time the journalists were different, the access to players was, you just rang up a player and you got talking to him. You went in and you might have talked to six or seven inside in training. “Equally like you remember all those great friends and people that you played with, I suppose come thundering back to you. They were real special days and a special life and I was lucky to be part of a very successful team.” Fintan O'Toole View 3 comments Send Tip or Correction Embed this post To embed this post, copy the code below on your site Email “Larry Tompkins: 'A very rare cancer...please God now, we're going in the right direction'”. Recipient's Email Feedback on “Larry Tompkins: 'A very rare cancer...please God now, we're going in the right direction'”. Your Feedback Your Email (optional) Report a Comment Please select the reason for reporting this comment. Please give full details of the problem with the comment... This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic. Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy before taking part. Leave a Comment Submit a report Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines. Damaging the good reputation of someone, slander, or libel. 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