Askamore honour the champions from 1969
Kilrush-Askamore club honour Junior hurling heroes
THE CELEBRATIONS were well timed by the Kilrush-Askamore G.A.A. club when its members and supporters turned out in force recently to pay tribute to the players responsible for a significant breakthrough success more than half a century ago.
Bunclody Golf and Fishing Club was the venue for a well-attended social gathering to honour the Askamore Junior hurling squad of 1969, winners of the first-ever adult county title to return to the parish.
And with the initial Covid-19 related restrictions on social gatherings imposed a mere five days later, there was relief that the event had been able to proceed without a hitch.
Frank Doyle, the club Chairman, welcomed the large attendance, while Cathal Byrne expressed his delight at being asked to represent the County Board.
Three members of the team have since passed to their eternal rewards – corner-back Dan Kennedy, midfielder Tom Kenny, and corner-forward Eamonn O’Neill – and they were foremost in everyone’s thoughts.
Two of the sadly departed mentors, Pat Kinsella and Martin O’Connor, were also remembered with affection on a night when the happy memories flowed freely.
The late Tom Kenny combined his playing duties with sterling service as club Secretary in 1969, and his son, Joe, was on hand with the minutes book from the year, with the day-to-day activities recorded in meticulous form.
Anyone who had the privilege of witnessing Tom in action at County Board meetings – and I’m glad to say I can count myself among that cohort – won’t be in the least bit surprised to learn that he showed such attention to detail in that arduous position.
His well thought out contributions were always a highlight of those monthly gatherings in Murphy-Flood’s Hotel in Enniscorthy, and I admired him for the courage of his convictions.
Sometimes Tom found himself out on a limb with his views and may have lacked general support, but that never stopped him from articulating the wishes of his beloved club with honesty and an innate decency. He was a powerhouse of the G.A.A., and his contribution to club and county will never be forgotten.
He was assisted on the administrative side of Kilrush-Askamore in 1969 by Fr. Felix O’Byrne, C.C. (Chairman), John Kinsella (Vice-Chairman), and Pat Kinsella (Treasurer).
And his records show that five general meetings of the club officials were held during that memorable year, along with 16 gatherings of the finance committee who had a lot of funds to raise as the triumphant campaign didn’t finish until December 7, with training taking place in a field kindly donated by John McCrea of Knocknalour.
Pat Kinsella chaired that finance committee, and he was assisted by
Tom Kenny, Michael Murphy, Pat Fox, Jim Ronan and Sam Brickley.
One of the main money-making ventures was the annual card drive on March 25, with the prize money amounting to a princely £12! The main winners of £3 apiece were K. Milne from Ballymorgan and T. Cowman of Ballyandrew.
Prizes of £2 were won by J. Foxton from Clohamon and S. Carton of Bree, with £1 each going to T. Kavanagh from Brideswell and N. Connors of Kildavin.
One of the special guests at the celebrations in Bunclody was Robbie Jacob, who knew exactly what was required to win a Junior hurling championship crown after featuring with his native Oulart-The Ballagh in their own success in the grade just two years earlier in 1967.
Robbie had been training Askamore from the beginning of 1969 and, at a general meeting on August 14, he was given the additional role of team manager, replacing Mylie O’Connor who was unable to continue his duties for personal and family reasons.
In order to get some appreciation for the significance of the team’s triumph, it’s important to delve back into the history of the G.A.A. in the parish beforehand.
The first club to be formed in the area went under the banner of Brideswell, and their focus was on football.
They contested the county Junior final of 1916 on May 6, 1917, in Bellefield, losing to Trinity Stars from Taghmon on a 1-0 to 0-2 scoreline.
The following year’s competition wasn’t played due to the political turmoil in the country at the time, but Brideswell were crowned Junior champions for 1918 in Wexford Park on October 26 of the following year when they accounted for Gusserane by 1-6 to 2-1.
The team wore dark green jerseys with a red sash, and the star player was Dublin-born Bill Hodgins who won two All-Ireland Senior football medals with Wexford in 1917 and 1918.
He had arrived in the parish as a small boy to be reared by his relations, the Byrnes of Brideswell, but tragedy struck in 1920.
Bill played in Croke Park on June 13 of that year in a 2-6 to 1-2 Leinster championship defeat to Kildare. He was injured in the game and was detained in hospital in Dublin, where he appeared to be making good progress.
He was in great form on the Wedneday when visited by his good friend, Greg Kirwan of Ballyconran, and he made it known to his next of kin that he expected to be going home on the Friday.
However, complications arose in his treatment, and the gifted Bill Hodgins – a footballer who could hold his own with the best in the land – died on the Thursday night. His resting place is in Deansgrange cemetery in Dublin.
His untimely loss had a traumatic effect on the Brideswell club, and it disbanded shortly afterwards.
Efforts were made to resurrect a team from 1934 to 1937, but it is widely believed that they played for four years without scoring until they managed to register a point in their final game – with that achieved, they decided to quit and disband!
The roots of the club as we know it today may be traced back to 1944 when Kilrush came into being to cater for football only, with the organisation entrusted to Mylie Moore (Chairman), Jim White (Secretary) and Aidan Daly (Treasurer).
It wasn’t until the early 1950s that a hurling side was added to the mix when the county was gripped by the emergence and progress of the great Wexford team of that decade.
However, it would naturally take time for Askamore to flourish, but the men of 1969 paved the way for the club to subsequently enjoy two separate periods in the Senior ranks - from 1977 to 1980, and in 2010 and 2011.
The first real taste of success had arrived in 1966 when the schoolboys of the parish won the Rackard League football title for the first time, beating Bree in the final in Bellefield by 1-3 to 0-4.
Three names in particular stand out from that triumphant team: midfielder Ger Bolger, who went on to play with Wexford in the Leinster Under-21 championship final of 1974 against Dublin; corner-forward Pat Boggan, who represented the county as a defender in Senior hurling in 1979 and 1980; and corner-back Tom Rath, whose death while assisting Askamore in a game 20 years later was the single biggest tragedy to hit the club.
The man from Drummond was only 31 years of age when he was cruelly taken from his family and clubmates. He had played at corner-back on the Intermediate-winning team of 1976 which secured Senior hurling for the parish for the first time, and he died while playing the game he loved.
It seems appropriate to end the first part of this special feature with the beautiful words opposite written by Davy Donohoe, goalkeeper in 1969 and 1976, which I have re-produced from the programme to mark the official opening of the club’s Ballyroebuck grounds on August 31, 1986 – just three months after Tom’s tragic death.