Liam was a most talented GAA writer

LIAM McGrath who died last week in Castleblayney, aged 92, was not only the most successful club managers in the history of Monaghan football, but one of the most talented writers on gaelic football ever to work in provincial journalism.

He guided his beloved Castleblayney Faughs over a 25 year period to a whopping 12 senior championships, and over much of that period and beyond he was a prolific writer on the Monaghan GAA scene for the ‘Argus’.

Then, unlike now, the ‘Argus’ was the biggest circulating newspaper in Monaghan, and Liam, writing under the nom de plume, ‘Liam Mac’, a name he selected himself, gave a weekly insight into gaelic football, that was never matched, before or since, in the coverage of the game in provincial journalism.

The ironic fact was however that Liam was not a journalist, never trained as one, and never wanted to be one.

He was, as most of Castleblayney and Monaghan knew, a valued legal clerk with an established law practice in the town, Corrigan, Coyle, Kennedy McCormack, and whose knowledge of the law, together with the manner in which he dealt with people, meant that his advice was much in demand.

A native of the town, and a former county player, Liam’s first success in football management came in 1958 when he guided the Faughs minor team to the county championship. The club retained the minor title the following two seasons under Liam’s guidance, and with the nucleus of those minor teams, Liam went on to take over the senior team, guiding the club to their first senior title in 17 years in 1963.

He went on to coach the Faughs to 12 senior titles, and a host of other honours as well as acting as Chairman of the club for a number of years, a position previously held by his father, Willie.

No surprise then that Liam was honoured by the Faughs in their centenary year as ‘ Clubman of the Century’.

His involvement with the ‘ Argus’ started in the early 1960’s under the editorship of W.G. Hussey when he penned local notes for the paper from the Castleblayney area. Later he progressed to writing about club football, and eventually rather reluctantly to covering the county teams.

Liam’s most memorable year covering the county team was clearly 1979 when they won the Ulster Senior championship for the first time in 41 years beating Donegal in the final.

His turn of phrase and knowledge of the game which distinguished his articles during that golden period for the game in Monaghan is still lovingly preserved in many households in the county and in the archives of this newspaper.

It is often said of some commentators that they possessed a golden tongue, well in ‘ Liam Mac’s’ case it was cultivated pen.

Not that the printers who had to transfer Liam’s eloquent prose from paper to type appreciated his talent, for his reports were written almost like a legal document, with single line spacing, making it impossible to identify the start and finish of a paragraph.

Frequently in the bowls of the ‘Argus’ printing works in Drogheda the arrival of Liam’s copy on a bus from Castleblayney would be greeted with a shower of expletives by the printer assigned the task of setting his copy.

But to the many, especially the knowledgeable who got to enjoy Liam’s reports in the pages of the ‘Argus’ he was a genius.

If another era, and with the exposure of a national publication, ‘Liam Mac’ would be viewed as a treasure.

To us in the ‘Argus’ who deeply appreciated his talent, go generously given, he was just that.

May his gentle soul rest in peace.