A wonderful day to honour Jim Connors
Mighty hurling and great craic
CLUB and county comrades of the late Jim Connors did their dear friend’s memory very proud on Saturday afternoon when they played out an entertaining clash at Dunbur Park for the inaugural Jim Connors Memorial Match in aid of the Irish Motor Neurone Disease Association.
In beautiful sunshine and on a carpet-like pitch at the Wicklow town venue overlooking the Irish sea, St. Patrick’s and Wicklow players fought it out in an all-action hurling showdown that produced moments of magic, episodes of hilarity, flashes of complete awkwardness and apparent physical exhaustion among some of the former Garden County greats.
A decent crowd attended what is hoped will become an annual event, with Max Molloy taking charge of proceedings.
The Wicklow side, shooting towards the clubhouse in the opening half, started like a train with points from Wayne O’Gorman and Eamonn Kearns and goals from O’Gorman and Andy O’Brien as the forward unit caused the hosts all sorts of problems thanks to sublime deliveries from the likes of Nick Skelton, Seanie Kinsella, Michael Anthony O’Neill and Gary Byrne.
A tasty point from Andy O’Brien was met with a bit of a tongue-lashing from Wayne O’Gorman who was loitering with menace on the edge of the small square with the goal at his mercy.
The reason for the Glenealy man’s protests was an arrangement prior to throw-in that each goal scored in the game would earn a tenner from Eamonn Esmonde (if St. Pat’s scored) or Michael Anthony O’Neill (if Wicklow scored) while points would be worth a fiver from the same men, and all funds going to the Irish Motor Neurone Disease Association.
Christy Moorehouse was looking very sharp for Wicklow, and he added two fine scores either side of a move that had the crowd oohing their approval, but which ended with a superb save from the impressive Mick O’Brien in the St.
Patrick’s goal.
A moment of madness from Kiltegan and Wicklow legend Jeffrey Bermingham saw the corner-back flash a groundstroke to the back of his own net much to the disgust of his (former) friend Tom Finn, (some sources say it was an act of charity rather than an error, because it is said that ‘Ber’ doesn’t make mistakes) to give the St. Patrick’s side their opening score.
The home side had fine points from Gerry Connors and George ‘Bee’ O’Brien, but there was little they could do to stop goals from Christy Moorehouse and Andy O’Brien to leave it 4-6 to 1-4 at the break.
Some clever positional switches from John ‘Greengrass’ O’Brien and his management team resulted in St. Patrick’s roaring into life in the second half, bagging five unanswered points before they were knocked back with a goal from the evergreen Eugene Dunne.
Jeffrey Bermingham showed remarkable confidence when telling a comrade who was calling for a short sideline cut that he had every intention of putting it over the bar, which would have been a superb achievement considering he was about 25 yards out from his own goal. Needless to say, his plan failed, although it was a decent cut.
Wicklow sent in Bray’s Karl Lacey and the legendary Jimmy Kelly into the fray in the second half, while Mick O’Brien was shifted out of goals and dispatched into the full-forward line where he came close to scoring a goal but for a sneaky dip in the pitch that cause him to fall over in quite an embarrassing manner.
There is some confusion as to the final score, with Max Molloy’s official tally coming in at a grand total that earns a substantial sum from two very generous sponsors, Eamonn Esmonde and Michael Anthony O’Neill, but to be fair, it’s all going to an incredibly good cause.
The final whistle brought pure relief to the shocked hamstrings of the vast majority of hurlers on the field and allowed concerned relatives to finally relax their thumbs which had been hovering over the ‘ring’ button on their phone with the number of the emergency services keyed in.
Wicklow GAA Vice-Chairman Pat Dunne and President Jackie Napier were on hand to present the Jim Connors Memorial Shield to Wicklow captain Andy O’Brien, and with that a wonderful afternoon of fun and hurling came to a close on the field, with the large crowd heading for the clubhouse in Dunbur Park for an evening of chat, memories and hearty laughter.
Jim Connors wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.