Club competitions originated with a Sarsfields motion
THE CHRISTMAS preparations may be looming large, but there’s still a great deal of Gaelic games activity to be completed before the festive season arrives. And this is one of my favourite periods of the year, because the AIB Club championships are in full swing, giving small outfits all over the country ample opportunities to rub shoulders with bigger opponents and dream of potential outings in Croke Park.
These competitions are close to my heart, because my own club, Sarsfields, played a huge role in their official introduction to the G.A.A. calendar in 1970.
A motion to that effect was proposed by Seán Siggins, and seconded by Jas Kirwan, at the county Convention in late January.
The Talbot Hotel then hosted the Leinster Convention at the end of the following month, and this time Jim Berry of St. Anne’s and John Curtis (Ballyhogue) did the proposing and seconding on behalf of the County Board.
The Chairman, Jack Conroy of Laois, asked that the matter be left until after Convention, and this was agreed by 43 votes to 22.
There was a lot of feverish behind-the-scenes debate, but the motion still made the clár for Congress which took place in St. Mary’s College, Galway, on March 28 and 29, 1970.
Another Sarsfields clubman, Jimmy Roche, had been elected Co. Chairman just two months earlier, and he was one of the 305 delegates at the western venue along with Jas Kirwan.
Before the gathering, they had a long discussion with their Galway counterparts who had also tabled a motion calling for All-Ireland Club championships.
They had been pressing for this since 1961 when Bertie Coleman of the Dunmore MacHales club persuaded the Connacht Council to stage an unofficial football competition that was finally completed for the first time in 1964.
When the issue came to be discussed at Congress, it was moved by Coleman and seconded by Wexford.
A number of delegates - particularly from the west and south - were strongly in favour, but Cork were in opposition, with one of their delegates, Denis Conroy of Carrigtwohill, saying that it would need a two-thirds majority to be carried.
However, newly-elected President Pat Fanning of Waterford - grandfather of Páraic, the recent Wexford hurling mentor - ruled that a simple majority would suffice, and when the motion was duly passed by 92 votes to 74, Conroy left the room in protest!
That’s how the All-Ireland Club championships came about, and it’s important to give this account because the key Sarsfields and Wexford role in its implementation has been airbrushed out of G.A.A. history over the years, with Galway getting all the credit.
Castletown are another local outfit with a special interest in these competitions, because the Andy Merrigan Cup for the All-Ireland Senior football winners honours the memory of one of their favourite sons and most talented players who lost his life in a farming accident in 1973.
That connection ensures the north county men will always give everything in their quest to make progress outside the county, especially given that chances to do so don’t come around often.
I was assured by a prominent clubman that they had put a big effort into their recent first round clash away to Eire Og in Carlow and, while I wasn’t at the game, I know their early departure wasn’t for the want of trying.
In fact, I’ve now seen at close hand how strong the Barrowsiders are, because I popped up to Netwatch Cullen Park on Sunday to watch them record an impressive 1-12 to 0-9 win over another Sarsfields team, from Newbridge in Kildare, in the quarter-final.
Next Saturday the spotlight switches to the hurlers of St. Martin’s and Ballygarrett who face difficult assignments away to Ballyhale Shamrocks and Cullion respectively, while the Rathgarogue-Cushinstown footballers are enjoying a fabulous run and will have home advantage for their Leinster semi-final against Shannonbridge from Offaly on November 23.
These are wonderful competitions, and the vision of several Wexford Gaels helped to get them up and running.