Mattock Rangers in Leinster club GAA glory
THERE was quite a reaction to last week’s piece about the ‘Null & Void’ 1949 Louth Minor Championship and the accompanying team photograph of the Louth Minor panel from 70 years ago.
Old photographs, especially when they’re of good quality and contain the names, always provoke lots of nostalgic discussion and debate.
Several readers singled out Jim Conlon as a prodigious underage talent who was a younger brother of 1957 All-Ireland-winning full back Tom Conlon. Jim won a Senior Championship medal with Stabannon Parnells in 1949, but that season would prove to be his last playing Gaelic football. Similar to Fr Larry Caraher, he joined the priesthood later that year which unfortunately finished his playing days prematurely.
While there were plenty of comments about the 1949 Minor Championship and county minor team, most people who got in touch referred to the Leinster Senior Championship three-game semi-final trilogy with Meath. Those three epic encounters captured the imagination of not just Louth and Meath folk but the entire country.
During that deadlocked July the crowds swelled Croke Park to capacity as the saga continued. After finishing 1-5 apiece the first day, both teams were still deadlocked (2-9 to 3-6) after extra time in the replay. Paddy Connell’s late point was all that separated the teams in the third game, with Meath going on to beat Westmeath, Mayo and Cavan to claim their first-ever All-Ireland.
Louth gained revenge the following year when beating their rivals in the Leinster final 3-5 to 0-13 courtesy of a late Nicky Roe free kick, after the first game finished in another draw.
The Louth team in the first of those 1949 games is listed below and interestingly contains the name of a then 20-year-old Frank Stockwell. The legendary Galway forward played one season with Dundalk Young Irelands and Louth after he moved to Dundalk in 1948 when taking up employment in Paddy Quinn’s drapery shop in Church Street. Stockwell, along with his Tuam Stars clubmate Sean Purcell, went on to terrorise defences at club and county level for over a decade.
The 1949 team was T McArdle, J Bell, J Malone, T Mulligan, S Boyle, P Markey, P McArdle, J Regan, N Roe, F Stockwell, J McDonnell, S White, P Smith, R Mooney & M Reynolds.
Light was also thrown on the other two ‘Null & Void’ entries on the Louth Minor Championship Roll of Honour. The Civil War in Ireland raged from June 1922 to May 1923 which obviously accounted for the 1922 postponement.
Black Scab Potato Disease was prevalent in Co Louth during the summer of 1929, which resulted in restricted movement and an obvious knock-on effect on sporting competitions.
That same Louth Meath rivalry was again to the fore in Navan on Sunday as Louth emerged from Pairc Tailteann with a 1-9 to 0-10 O’Byrne Cup victory, both teams finishing with 14 men. Sam Mulroy’s second-half penalty gave Louth the edge in a game that featured plenty of new faces on both sides.
Mattock Rangers recovered from a slow start against Mullinavat to claim the Leinster Intermediate Club crown at a wet and windy Drogheda on Saturday.
With the elements in their favour the Kilkenny champions raced into a 0-7 to 0-2 lead after 20 minutes, but the Collon men recovered their composure as the half wore on to lead by a single point at the break.
Mattock always had enough in reserve to see off the visitors and deservedly secured the club’s first provincial title.
Magheracloone of Monaghan await them in the All Ireland semi-final in the New Year.
Incidentally, the Kilkenny team featured three sons of 1983 and 1992 All-Ireland Hurling-winning captain Liam Fennelly.