Peileadóir’s top team
Keevans picked best from 1956 to 1982
WITH NO live sport to talk or write about, enthusiasts have been surviving on a diet of memories for a lot longer than they would like at this stage.
And sadly, with no immediate end in sight, it’s a situation that won’t be changing any time soon. Arguments will always rage about the best players and teams, and there’s never a definitive answer in that regard.
Some opinions are more universally held than others, though, and here’s one of my own that I don’t believe will be challenged: nobody, and I mean nobody, did more to promote Gaelic football in this county than the late Seamus Keevans, who truly was one of a kind.
Towards the end of 1982, my long-time work colleague, Seán Nolan, who was county G.A.A. P.R.O. at the time, was involved in compiling the Wexford yearbook.
And, as an eye-catching centrespread for the publication, he requested that Seamus select his best Wexford football team.
Given the interest in such debates at present, I am re-producing the words of the man who wrote under the nom de plume of ‘Peileadóir’ in this newspaper from 1966 onwards.
Seán also asked the late Martin Doyle from Enniscorthy – grandfather of current Senior star Kevin Foley – to pick his best Wexford hurling team, and I will run that piece next week.
For the moment, though, here’s the contribution made by Seamus Keevans in 1982:
‘When I agreed to a request from Seán Nolan to pick my best football team, little did I know what I was letting myself in for.
‘It is an impossible task to do satisfactorily, and you could pick a team one day and then sit down and pick a completely different one the next day.
‘After much deliberation I decided to confine my team from 1956 to the present day [1982]. It was in 1956 that I first joined the county Senior side and they qualified for the Leinster final – the last time a Wexford Senior side did so.
‘However, I did not include great players from that team, notably Paddy Kehoe, Nick Redmond or John Morris as that championship was their last appearance in the
Wexford Senior jersey and thus I was not seeing them at their best – though all contributed much to bring the team to the Leinster final that year.
‘Willie Goodison, who could not be omitted from any Wexford football team, had just retired from the inter-county scene immediately before the 1956 Leinster championship.
‘Picking a goalie I found most difficult, and while Jas Kirwan (Sarsfields), Fintan Campbell (Ballymitty), Jim O’Connor (Vols), Seán Kelly (New Ross) and Pat Leacy (St. Mary’s, Enniscorthy) were all first class netminders, I decided to make my choice between Brendan Duffin (Gusserane), who gave distinguished service to the county for seven years, and Pat Goff (Starlights).
‘It was not easy to choose between them, but on the basis that Goff gave some superb performances in important games, he edged in, and the dedicated Stars man could look back on sterling displays against some of the best teams in the country – Offaly, Armagh, Meath, etc.
‘At full-back I put Andy Doyle (Taghmon), who won a Leinster Railway Cup medal in that position, with two more men honoured by Railway Cup selectors – Tom Foley, on current team, and Seán Turner (Rosslare) – in the corners.
‘Two Castletown men, Andy Merrigan and Mick Carty, who also shone in the Leinster green, and Larry Larkin (Gusserane) whom I always rated very highly and who was a very skilled performer, make up my half-back line.
‘Andy Merrigan may be somewhat out of position, but Mick Carty won All-Ireland Club championship in the number six jersey (with U.C.D.) and was also picked for Leinster there.
‘Immediately I had my back line picked I thought about the great men I had omitted – full-backs of the calibre of Railway Cup man Pat Leacy (Ballyhogue), Jimmy Roche (Sarsfields), Liam Fardy (Gusserane), plus men like Denis Asple (Ballyhogue), Larry O’Shaughnessy (Castletown), Eddie Walsh (Ballyhogue), Mick Caulfield (Gusserane), John Wright (St. Fintan’s), Pat Murphy (Taghmon), Davy Rowe and Jim Berry (St. Anne’s), Eddie Mahon and John Cullen (Gusserane), and many more.
‘I had to deliberate for some time about midfield but came up with George O’Connor and Joe Foley, two magnificent footballers in their day who I believe would beat any pair.
‘Men who were strongly considered were Liam Quinn (St. Mary’s), Pat Neville (Stars), Watty French (Ballymitty), Ted Morrissey (St. Mary’s), Paddy Byrne (Kilmore) and Mick Foley (Ballyhogue).
‘Four of the forward line that I have chosen – Seamus Fitzhenry, Martin Quigley, Frank Morris and Ger Howlin – were honoured by Leinster Railway Cup selectors, and everyone knows that Jack Berry, a prolific scorer, and Richard Neville, whose absence from the Wexford team due to injury this past year is a severe blow to the team, were well worth their places on any county or Railway Cup side in the country.
‘Unlucky men to be left out here include Mickey Byrne (Ballyhogue), his nephew Garry Byrne, Watty French (Ballymitty), Paco Sheehan and Pete Crowley (Sars), Seán Sheridan (Castletown), John Dunphy (Gusserane), Francis Cullen (Ballymitty), Martin Og O’Neill (Ferns), who scored all Wexford’s total – 1-7 – in their 1961 Leinster semi-final clash with Dublin.
‘Thus my team which I believe would, if they could be assembled together now and playing at their best, easily win the All-Ireland championship.’
Pat Goff (Starlights)
Tom Foley (Geraldine O’Hanrahans)
Andy Doyle (Taghmon-Camross)
Seán Turner (Rosslare/Our Lady’s Island)
Andy Merrigan (Castletown)
Mick Carty (Castletown)
Larry Larkin (Gusserane)
Joe Foley (Ballyhogue)
George O’Connor (St. Martin’s)
Seamus Fitzhenry (Duffry Rovers)
Martin Quigley (Rathnure)
Frank Morris (Volunteers)
Jack Berry (St. Anne’s)
Ger Howlin (Dan O’Connell’s)
Richard Neville (Bannow-Ballymitty)