CARLOW CHAMPIONS BID TO BRIDGE GAP TO THEIR GOLDEN YEARS
THIS afternoon’s Leinster club football final evokes memories of the past, when Éire Óg and Ballyboden St Enda’s last collided in a provincial championship setting in the winter of 1995. At midfield for the Dublin holders was the powerhouse figure of Paul Bealin; wearing number 11 was the fleet-footed Paul Curran, whose transfer from his native Thomas Davis brought a further subplot to an intriguing semi-final against a Carlow side who were serial winners in Leinster during the 1990s. Both players had finished the summer as All-Ireland winners, playing pivotal roles in finally getting Dublin over the line and ending the heartache of so many near misses.
But Éire Óg had the measure of them that November day in an intriguing match-up. Wearing six for the Carlow champions was Brendan Hayden, son of the legendary figure of the same name and whose brother Joe captained the team at full-forward, another brother Colm alongside him in the corner. He recalls the background to the game and the headline-grabbing nature of the build-up, particularly Curran’s move to another club.
‘I remember a lot of fuss about it alright. We tried to keep away from it because it would only be a distraction. If we got sucked into anything controversial, we could be losing our focus,’ said Brendan Hayden.
‘I remember them being a big, physical team. I rememity, ber talk about Bealin and his physical size. We were wary of him coming down the middle. The one thing about that Éire Óg team – we respected every team but we weren’t in awe of big names from Dublin or any other county.
‘They were really hey-days in the ’90s when we were contesting five out of 10 Leinster finals. The club from then set a standard of reaching Leinster finals, even though we haven’t done that in 20 years. It brings back great memories.’
Hayden himself has played his own significant part in the Carlow Rising success story in his longterm role as games development officer.
Pinned to the banner of the club’s website and social media accounts is that rich legacy of the 1990s: ‘Leinster Club Champions 1992, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1998’.
In that time they proudly boasted a record of meeting the various Dublin champions along the way – and winning all four encounters.
There was no fear factor when it came to any opposition, the fabled figure of the late Bobby Miller playing his own part in that story as manager.
‘It was one of the things Bobby Miller instilled in the team when he came in. I remember we played Erin’s Isle and they had the three Barrs [Keith, Johnny and Eddie], Charlie Redmond, Mick Deegan. As long as we could keep our county players playing their county players, we felt that we had better club players behind that than them.
‘We put in a savage effort in training. Had confidence in our own abilthat whatever happened, we wouldn’t be far away.’
And so that tradition has filtered down, the torch now being carried by a new generation who have reached the Leinster club final for the first time in 21 years since Éire Óg were last crowned kings, taking out Portlaoise in style in the semi-final. Hayden explains how the past has informed the present, the Hayden name continuing in the form of Brendan’s son Dean and Joe’s son Derek.
‘A lot of this team would have been children at the time. They would have been in and around the players.
‘And they had the belief that “once we take the field, we’re going to be very difficult to beat, that we’re as good as any club team out there.” That seems to have seeped through. Obviously 20 years have passed. I was talking to someone the other day and they were going on about that gap, as if we’re entitled to be there. We’re not.’
So how did that golden era for the club come to pass?
‘Like a lot of great teams, a special group came together at the one time. Look at Anthony Keating, probably the most prolific goalscorer in Leinster club history. We had Jody Morrissey at centre-field, Willie Quinlan with his pace and energy and a big midfield with Garvan [Ware] and Hughie [Brennan]. John Kearns in goal was exceptionally good as well. Colm Hayden and Joe Hayden in the forwards as well. I’d put it down to the hard work that went in as well. We were in a final in the ’80s, five in the ’90s, and we’re back again.
‘We’d always pride ourselves in Éire Óg that there will always be good footballers in the club, at every age group.’
After dominating Leinster, the two All-Ireland finals that Éire Óg appeared in proved a case of so near yet so far, losing to O’Donovan Rossa of Cork after a replay in 1993, and by the slenderest of margins, 1-7 to 0-8. And then going down to Laune Rangers of Kerry in 1996.
That all-elusive All-Ireland medal is the only thing missing, not that it weighs heavily with him.
‘People from the outside will say, “well you didn’t win the All-Ireland”. But if we won the first one, would we have won the five Leinsters? The great days out that we had?
‘The majority of players would be quite content to say we went on a journey outside of Carlow, somewhere in the region of 39 to 42 matches and were beaten in five. We gave the county a great lift. Set a standard. We don’t have an All-Ireland club medal at the end of it but look at the great times we had.’
In May of this year, his father passed away. Brendan Hayden senior was such a formative figure in the history of the county. He was a regular on Leinster Railway Cup panels from 1959 to 1966 and was someone who lived for the games and gave life-long service as a player, manager, referee, and administrator.
His finest hour? Arguably the 1961/62 National Football League final when Carlow came close to beating the iconic Down team that had won All-Ireland titles in 1960 and 1961.
‘It’s only now when people are talking about him, talking about what he did… to us, he was our da. He lived and breathed football. Never missed a match. I don’t remember him playing but listening to the stories, to his advice, he guided us along the way. Sometimes a bit too much at times in his after-match critiques!
‘Ah look, he was extremely proud of us. Maybe like fathers of his generation, he wouldn’t tell you, but he’d tell everybody else.’
In his development officer’s role, Brendan is well aware of the debate swirling around the county scene, about the imbalance at county level seeming to increase. But he doesn’t see the club scene following the same route, pointing to how the Carlow club champions in football and hurling have reached their respective Leinster finals.
‘Look at St Mullin’s, a little parish here, and they are able to compete with Cuala. I think the club will always be the club. I don’t think that will happen as much as it is with Kerry and the bigger counties. Because in my opinion, it’s the club players who decide these matches. If you have three good county players on each side, they kind of cancel each other out.
‘If I’m on a club player from Ballyboden, I’d be thinking, “can I get the better of him – neither of us are county players”. It’s a balance. And the Éire Óg team is very well balanced.’
Twenty-one years on, not a lot has changed.