OSCAR Daly reckons Bere Island’s men’s success at the All-Islands Football Tournament was the pinnacle. It won’t get much better, he insists. Why? Because the West Cork island triumphed away from home – and that matters.
‘When we won the competition at home in 2022, that was fantastic, but winning it away is what you want to do because it is a lot harder. You’re away from home. Not every player can travel. Also, factor in the travel,’ he says, with the satisfaction of a man who feels he has scaled his own football Everest. Home and away, he has helped his island win the big prize. Box ticked.
Two Bere Island football teams – men’s and women’s – made the journey to Inis Oírr off the Galway coast on the last weekend of May for this annual islands’ football tournament. This date was marked in the calendar from a long way out: the All Islands is the big one. This is the ‘real All-Ireland’, Oscar quips.
It’s been on the go since 1998. Nine islands from along the western seaboard come together for an annual weekend of football and fun – Bere Island and Whiddy Island fly the West Cork flag, joined by Arranmore, Inis Mór, Inish Meáin, Inis Oírr, Inishbofin, Inishturk and Clare Island. It’s blitz style – the men’s competition is 11-a-side, ten minutes per half and on a full-size pitch, the women’s is a seven-a-side format played across the pitch.
Brendan and Joanne Sullivan with the cup on Bere Island.
‘It has to be the most successful event to bring the islands together – it’s been going for almost 30 years,’ says Oscar, who is a full-time resident on Bere Island since 2018. He lives there with his partner Jenny O’Neill, and their three kids, Isla, Quinlan and Lily. Oscar’s link to the island goes back to when his parents moved to Bere Island when he was just 11 years old. Island life is in veins now. Look at his job: he works as a development worker for Bere, Dursey and Whiddy islands.
‘I went to my first All-Islands in 2003 in Inis Oírr,’ he says, ‘I am still friends with people I met that weekend. Twenty-two years on I am meeting the same people. I know people from all the islands. In one way we have grown up together – we have families now, kids, so a lot has changed. When we meet up on the Friday night of the All-Islands, before the football starts on the Saturday, it’s all reminiscing and just sharing stories about island life. Every year you look forward to this weekend.’
The All-Islands is about pride of place, too. Just ask Barry Murphy. He was born and raised on Bere Island. Played football with the island for as long as he could. Barry was 19 years old when he left to start college, and lives in Cork city now, but the connection to home is always present.
‘The island has always been a lure,’ he says, and the evening he chats to The Southern Star, he’s back on Bere Island, loving the change of pace.
‘When I come down to the island it puts life into perspective – it’s a different world, the hustle and the bustle of the city vanishes.’
Lawrence and Aoife Walsh celebrate with the cup.
So earlier this year when Oscar Daly asked Barry to join him and William O'Sullivan on Bere Island’s management team for the All-Islands, Barry couldn’t say no. He has experience here too – he previously played with Bishopstown, won a Sigerson Cup with UCC in 1988, and is now involved with Ballincollig as selector with the juniors As and in the backroom team with the seniors. There is serious football knowledge to be tapped into.
‘It was nice to get involved and to be part of the story this year, but these are good footballers and are fairly self-sufficient,’ Barry says.
‘The All-Islands is a great outlet for fellas to play for Bere Island. They are also an incentive to play. When I was growing up we were a junior A team, a serious outfit in the 1980s, but then the club declined, down to junior B and then to junior C – we have one game a year now to keep the club alive. Most of our lads are playing with Castletownbere and a few with Urhan, so the All-Islands is a chance to represent Bere Island.’
The class of 2025 reunited to put Bere Island on the map again. Both the men’s and women’s teams went all the way to their finals. There was disappointment for the ladies, as Inisbofin held on for their first-ever victory in All-Islands. The men’s team went one step further – having lost the last two finals, Bere Island beat Inis Mór in the decider for their second success in four years. They beat Inish Meáin and Inishbofin at the group stage. Defeated Arranmore in the semi-final. And then survived a comeback in the final.
‘Winning for Bere Island is always sweet,’ Oscar Daly smiles.
‘We had lost the last two finals by a point, but you could see the mentality of the lads this year – there was no way we were leaving Inis Oírr without the cup.’
The decision to refresh the Bere Island team in 2022, ahead of the home hosting of the All-Islands, has worked a treat.
‘It has brought a whole new freshness and introduced a new generation to it – I think the oldest player between our men’s and women’s teams this year was 26,’ Oscar says. Barry adds: ‘Go back to the Friday night years ago and fellas were having pints, but these lads were drinking energy drinks and were in bed early’.
The Bere Island radio team kept all the islands up to date throughout the tournament.
Dominic Hallahan of Bere Island Community Radio agrees that the injection of youth has lifted the All-Islands again. He has a front-row seat as the station has broadcast all the competitions since it was held on Bere Island in 2022 – Hallahan has seen the interest levels trend upwards, both with the islands and listeners to their coverage.
‘Post Covid, the competition has taken on a new lease of life with the young generation embracing it and their heritage,’ he says. There was darkness before this new dawn: the disappointing turn-out at 2019 All-Islands on Bere Island sparked a serious conversation that has seen the tournament enjoy a new lease of life since its return in 2022, again on Bere Island.
‘We covered both the ladies and men’s games for a full 13 hours of broadcast that year,’ Hallahan says, with fans able to tune in online.
‘The radio coverage was a big success as islanders home and abroad listened online in community halls, hotels, bars, etc., and for the first time were able to follow their team through the commentary. We’ve covered every All-Island since then. Bere Island Community Radio is now part of the All-Islands. The last weekend of May is locked-in now on the islands’ calendar. No communions, weddings, stags or hens!’
There was a party on Bere Island the weekend after they won the men’s competition at this year’s All-Islands. It was time to celebrate at home. And they did. The ripple effect will be felt for some time.
Now six years old, Oscar Daly’s son Quinlan won’t take off his Bere Island jersey – and there’s always a football in his hands.
There are more and more people wearing Bere Island club gear. Scoil Mhichil Naofa, the island’s national school, lined out in the West Cork Sciath na Scol this year, and won a game – these are all important signposts that football is moving towards a healthier position.
Quinlan Daly with the cup.
‘The kids really got into training for the Sciath na Scol,’ Oscar says.
‘It was great to see the progress of some of the lads who hadn’t played before. Once the kids got into it, they were playing football at lunchtime. My young fella was coming home talking about football. Then we won the All-Islands and they went football-mad!’ he adds, hopeful that football on the island will continue to survive despite the constant challenges that all the islands share.
Moments like Bere Island’s success on Inis Oírr will endure. They are memories that last. It’s why from the first ferry on the Friday of the All-Islands to the last ferry to the mainland on the Sunday, nothing else matters to the islanders than football and their communities coming together.
