The unstoppable power of a close community
A group of eight men look out from the photo that appeared in the Wicklow People on March 24, 1989. They are at a major juncture in a long journey. Behind them sits the brand new Coolboy Handball and Sports Centre that cost €40,000 to construct on the site of the old open four wall alley and ahead of them lies a road down which none of them probably truly understand the joy and successes that await.
Des O’Mahony, Tom Gregan, Mick Lennon, Paddy Barnes, Richard Willoughby, Joe Lennon, Pat Doyle and John Kilbride are the men in the photo that was taken days before the grand opening of the new complex, performed by Joe Lynch, the then retiring President of the Handball Association of Ireland.
The article explains how the club won All-Ireland novice championships in 1979 when represented by Dick Doyler, John Doyle, Joe Lennon and Richard Willougby; and national league titles for the county with Dick and Jack Doyle and Richard Willoughby. It also states that they won the ladies All-Ireland in 1974 when represented by cousins Margaret and Kily Kilbride.
‘There is a long history of handball playing in Coolboy and the building of a proper alley was something we dreamed of for years,’ stated Mick Lennon, chairman of the Sports Complex
Building Committee.
‘In recent years handball had been at a low ebb because the old alley was derelict, he said. ‘We felt it was time to do something about it,’ he added.
The article reveals that fiundraising for the project kicked off when local man Hughie Mulhall ‘lit the flame’ with a donation of £1,000 and from there the plan took off.
‘Everyone is delighted with the new sports complex,’ said Mick Lennon, ‘there is nothing but praise for it. The tradition of handball in Coolboy, which was so strong in the past, has taken on a new life and hopefully in the not to distant future we will be burning the victory tyres in Coolboy once more,’ he added.
How right he was!