Fond memories of Cloonacool’s Intermediate win in 1997
CLOONACOOL GAA Club - the smallest and less densely populated club in Co. Sligo - became Intermediate county football champions twenty years ago in 1997. Drawing players from a small pool of talent along the foothills of the scenic Ox mountain range, that stretches from the townlands of Carrentubber on its eastern borders to the southern shores of the famed Lough Easkey at its most western point. And from Sessuegilroy in the south-west to the townland of Loughill in the most northerly part of the club in south Sligo. The river Moy, the most famous salmon fishing river in Europe, begins life as a small stream close by, and flows through its first populated centre, the picturesque village of Cloonacool en route to the sea at Ballina twenty miles distant, in north Mayo. St. Michaels national school is the only school in the club area, where all footballers begin their education and it stands within walking distance of the village. The club, formed in that historic year of 1916 by the former county board chairman the late Jack Brennan, played in the Junior ranks from that year until it applied to move up a grade to Intermediate championship level in 1994.
An immediate team building programme was put in place during the following league campaigns. This policy bore fruit when reaching the championship semi-final in 1996, only to lose to their near neighbours and great rivals Coolaney/Mullinabreena after a draw and replay. The following season 1997, as the then club chairman, team manager, and current PRO Tom Towey recalls, started out as usual with pre season training in February with the league kicking off in early April. Tom recalled: “The championship was run on a knock-out basis back in those days, and we got a bye in the first round that put us into the quarter final against Eastern Harps, which we won on a 2-11 to 1-8 scoreline. In the semi-final we once again faced a strong Coolaney/Mullinabreena team, and in a ding-dong battle on a wet Sunday in Ballymote we came out the right side of an 0-8 to 0-7 finish.
“This victory put us through to the club’s first ever county final at adult level in its 81 year existence.
“In the final we faced the famed St. Patrick’s club of Skreen/Dromard, who had won several senior county championships over the preceding years with the mighty Mickey Kearins pulling the strings.”
On the 14th of September in the premier county grounds of Markievicz Park, after a blistering start while playing with the elements in the first half, the south Sligo side had to withstand a second half blitz from St. Pat’s who could not break their resolve, Cloonacool went on to win their first Intermediate county championship on a 1-11 to 1-4 scoreline.
Tom added: “This win meant that the club would be playing senior league and championship football for the first time in its long history in 1998. At the final whistle our hordes of gallant supporters could not be held back from invading the pitch to congratulate players, mentors, and the backroom team, with tears of joy in their eyes. This great squad of players gathered recently in Brennan’s lounge in the village to quietly reminisce, and recall those great days of the nineties, and the following ten years of the new millennium. With fond memories of great victories, narrow defeats, close shaves, poor refereeing decisions, and above all else, the great fun we had as a group on our trips abroad and within our own country. “The great characters of the team were always to the fore on and off the field. This great bond among these players still exists today, even though some of them are scattered all over the world at present and may not meet very often as a group. When they do meet this great unity is very much in evidence, this is what evolves from being in so many tight corners on the playing fields over the years, coming out the right side of the result, and bringing county silverware home, to the little village by the banks of the Moy,” Tom added. Memories to last a lifetime.