Mogue’s fighting spirit has passed to this generation
I’M REMINDED on a regular basis that I’m getting old, because week after week I find myself reporting on games and realising that I vividly remember the exploits of so many of the players’ fathers during their own club careers.
Everything occurs in cycles, and I have seen strong teams come and go over three decades of filling notebooks. The vast majority of parishes have enjoyed days in the sun that I had the pleasure of covering, some more so than others.
And if the G.A.A. scene in Wexford has taught me one lesson, it’s to always expect the unexpected and be prepared for anything to happen on the club front.
Still, some things remain constant, passed down from one generation to the next and guaranteed never to change.
In that regard, I couldn’t help thinking of the ground-breaking Fethard teams of the eighties and nineties last Saturday as I listened to Garrett Foley, son of Georgie, one of the stalwarts from that era, making his acceptance speech.
The St. Mogue’s men would make an absolute fortune if they could somehow bottle that insatiable spirit of theirs and sell it to less successful contenders who struggle to get over the finish line.
That has always been the way, and something tells me it will never change. I have fierce admiration for their fighting spirit, and the best compliment I can pay the current crop of players is to note that they are markedly similar to the teams responsible for those initial big breakthroughs to Senior ranks.
If you thought it was cold in the main county ground last Saturday, let me tell you it was mild compared to the truly baltic breeze that blew at the same venue on December 3, 1994, when Fethard first captured the Intermediate hurling title.
I’m shivering here at the mere recollection of that famous day when the teams emerged from the long tunnel that linked the old dressing-rooms at the Clonard end to the playing field.
Their final opponents were Marshalstown (five years before they added Castledockrell to their name), and the extremely poor underfoot conditions meant that it was a survival of the fittest.
Just to put Fethard’s rise in its proper context, they had only won the delayed Junior title of 1992 on the last day of January ’93, pipping the Buffers Alley second string by one point.
They had beaten another reserve team of a strong Senior club, Oulart-The Ballagh, in that semi-final by four points, and it was a similar story in their second Intermediate campaign as they made it to the decider thanks to a 2-15 to 1-2 dismissal of Rapparees.
Incredibly, just four years after that ’94 success, they would meet the Enniscorthy club’s firsts in their sole Senior semi-final, losing by 2-19 to 1-10 in New Ross. Now that’s what I call progress!
Marshalstown had been beaten by 0-8 to 0-5 on that bitter December day, and one of the things I will always remember is the passionate and rousing speech given by Fethard captain, Willie Dunphy, one of the greatest servants the club has ever known.
The New Ross native had won a Leinster Minor medal in 1970, followed by provincial and All-Ireland Junior honours with Wexford as a staunch corner-back in 1985.
He was on the wrong side of 40 on the day that breakthrough was made, playing at full-forward with his son, Seán, on his left for company.
Seán was one of the youngest members of the team, along with stylish centre-back Jim Byrne who had won a Fitzgibbon Cup medal with U.C.D. in 1993.
The man of the match in that final, Jim was joined on the team by two brothers, Martin and Tom.
It’s interesting to note that two of the scorers that day, ex-county footballers John Banville and Garret Dunne, are now stalwarts of the Shelmaliers club. John is the father of young dual star, Ross, while Garret was a selector on their triumphant football team.
Big Greg Waters, another key man in ’94, also gave sterling service to Wexford in football, while Paul Barden, wing-back 24 years ago, was a selector last Saturday. They, along with many others, were responsible for starting something special that has manifested itself again in another wonderful win.