Trailblazers of 1973 got Castlehaven train moving

WHEN Castlehaven won the South West junior B football title in 1969, the question on most GAA followers’ lips was: who are Castlehaven and where do they come from?

By the time they won their fifth county senior title in 2013 there wasn’t a GAA fan in the whole of Ireland who needed to ask that question.

The amazing success of a small rural club in the heartland of West Cork is one of the greatest stories that unfolded over the past 50 years in the proud history of the GAA.

The beginning of that great march to glory was remembered and celebrated in style on a recent Saturday night in the West Cork Hotel in Skibbereen when the trailblazing players who began it all, gathered together to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the club’s first-ever South West junior A football title in 1973.

The gathering took place on the exact date of that final, in which they beat Carbery Rangers, September 9th, and it is worth noting that every single surviving member of the panel was present on the night.

Present at the function were the present officers of the club, Anthony Walsh (chairperson), Andy Whelton (secretary), Shane Nolan (treasurer) and Batt Maguire (PRO), as well as the players and members of their families. The families of the three deceased players were also present.

Tom Lyons, Southern Star GAA reporter, acted as MC for the event and he outlined the history of those early years of the club to the audience. Following the ground-breaking junior B win of 1969, led by captain Dan O’Callaghan, the team reached the semi-final in their very first year in junior A, 1971, losing to Dohenys. Having lost to the powerful Bantry team of Hunt and Barron in 1971, they again reached the semi-final in 1972 but fell to Clonakilty.

A dozen of the 1969 team was still in action in 1973 and luck was with the team when they were drawn in the easy side of the championship. Captaining the side was Morgan Courtney and whipping them into shape was the late, great Ned Cleary. The Mayo man had arrived as a Garda in Castletownshend in 1962 and had taken over the training of the team in ’69. It was a position he was to keep for two decades as he took the club from junior B to the summit of senior football in Cork. The Cleary dynasty was to become his great legacy to Castlehaven and the GAA.

The real Taoiseach, Jack Lynch, led Ireland into the EEC in January 1973 but was soon to be replaced by Liam Cosgrave as the National Coalition ousted Fianna Fáil in a general election. President Eamon deValera, 90 years of age, was replaced by Erskine Childers and Cork footballers won the All-Ireland, led by Billy Morgan. But for the people of Castlehaven, the world centred on their junior football team in 1973, as they won their way to their first-ever junior A final, beating Dohenys and Timoleague on the way.

The Castlehaven team that won the 1973 Carbery Junior A championship pictured at a celebration dinner to mark the 50th anniversary of their win.

Opponents in the final in Skibbereen on September 9th were Carbery Rangers, who had knocked out both favourites, Bandon and O’Donovan Rossa, and they were installed as hot favourites to lift the title. Their big star was the late, lamented Tony Murphy, a true legend of the game.

On a glorious day in Skibbereen, Castlehaven refused to listen to the experts and with Donie Hegarty giving a man-of-match performance, young Christy Collins majestic at midfield and Tim Joe O’Regan giving an exhibition of free-taking, the historic Little Norah Cup was won for the first time ever on a score of 0-15 to 1-10.

‘We thought we were in right trouble. Tony Murphy was the main Ross player, a class footballer but they had Thomasheen Hayes, the Calnans, Anthony, Kieran and Brian. I’d still be great friends with a lot of that Ross team. We could always match them underage so we definitely didn’t fear them that day in Skibbereen,’ Christy Collins says.

‘We trained Tuesday and Thursday nights for the final, we didn’t overdo it. Most teams only did that. One thing about it was the craic we used to have afterwards. We had some great singers on the team. There was great bonding. There was fierce spirit in the team and we had the spirit of the club and of the whole parish.’

Little wonder that the celebrations subsequently lasted a full week and the team was beaten in the county the following weekend by Douglas. It mattered little in the great scheme of things as the Castlehaven bandwagon was on the move, the next stop being the county junior title of 1976 with 16 of the 1973 panel involved. The great years were still ahead as the club forged its way to the very top of club football in Munster and produced some of the greatest footballers ever to wear the red shirt of Cork.

But it was the men of 1969-1973 who began it all, the trailblazers.

They all looked hale and hearty at the function, with the pride of Castlehaven clear in their eyes. Many have watched their sons and daughters playing starring roles in the club in the intervening years and now the grandchildren are also appearing in blue and white. Bernard O’Callaghan, in his fine club history book, has ensured the names of these players will never be forgotten or that their ground-breaking achievements will ever fade away. They deserve no less.

Three of the 1973 panel have passed to their eternal reward – Morgan Courtney, captain of the side, Padraig Burke, who trained the senior team that won the first county senior title in 1989, and midfielder John Richard O’Donovan. They were fondly remembered on the night as was the trainer Ned Cleary, and his assistant, John Joe Kelly of St Nicks’ fame.

Tom Lyons spoke on each player as they were presented with a framed photograph of the winning team by club chairperson Anthony Walsh, and the fine meal was followed by a great night of chat, reminiscence, ceoil, song and craic. And sitting proudly on the centre table was the now retired Little Norah Cup, a proud reminder of that great day in Skibbereen exactly fifty years ago.

The players who received presentations on the night included Tom O’Driscoll, Derry O’Donovan, Denty Collins, Brendan O’Neill, Donie Hegarty,  Jack Buckley, Christy Collins, Denis Minihane, Denis Crowley, Donal Collins, John Minihane, Danny Minihane, Bernard Collins, Tim Joe O’Regan, Ben Philpott, Francis Collins, Dan O’Callaghan, Jim Nolan, Bernard O’Callaghan and George Dennis. The deceased members were represented by Kathleen Cleary, Esther Burke, Peggy Courtney and Derry O’Donovan.