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Some of Cornafean's Past Football Stars
John Joe O’Reilly Willie Young Tom ("Big Tom) O’Reilly Packie Phair Peadar Doyle
Cornafean Commemorates John Joe O'Reilly 1999
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[GAA Main
Page] |
Some of Cornafean's Past Football Stars
John Joe O’Reilly Willie Young Tom ("Big Tom) O’Reilly Packie Phair Peadar Doyle
Cornafean Commemorates John Joe O'Reilly 1999
The
tragic death of Commdt John Joe O’Reilly, at the Curragh Military Hospital on
21 November 1952, robbed Cavan, and indeed the nation, of one of its finest
sons.
John Joe was a native of the Derries, near Killeshandra and played his early football with Cornafean and in St. Patrick’s College where he played on the McRory Cup winning teams in 1935, ‘36 and ‘37. He played with Cornafean, with whom he won Senior County Championship medals in 1936 and 1937, until he moved to Kildare in 1937 to take up a career with the Defence Forces. Thereafter he was obliged to play with the Curragh team in Kildare and his loss in footballing terms to Cornafean throughout the 1940’s was immense.
John Joe is widely regarded as the greatest centre-half back in the history of Gaelic Football. He was a magnificent sportsman, with unique qualities of leadership. The late Raymond Smith in his book "The Football Immortals" paid tribute to John Joe as follows:
"John Joe became a legend in his lifetime…… I unhesitatingly pick John Joe O’Reilly as my ideal of the great footballing captain. The Polo Grounds in 1947 was his finest hour – leading Cavan to an historic win from the very jaws of defeat. You see his photograph in army uniform in homes in Cavan and this in a way is a salute to a player and a captain who stood apart".
He played with Cavan from 1937 until the early 1950’s and in six All-Ireland finals, between 1937 and 1949. He also captained the Ulster teams which won the Railway Cup in 1942 and 1943.
His greatest achievement was undoubtedly to captain the Cavan team which beat Kerry in the famed 1947 All Ireland Final, played in the Polo Grounds, New York. This game was transmitted live back to Ireland by Radio Eireann with commentary by Micheál O’Hehir, and has been fondly remembered by generations of followers as a milestone in GAA history.
Equally, the footballing skills and leadership qualities shown by John Joe have also remained in the collective folk memory of Gaelic Football throughout the decades. The late Fr. Dan Gallogly, in "Cavan’s Football Story" summed up the thoughts of many when he wrote of John Joe " No other person from Cavan in modern times has won such a permanent place in the memory of his own people. He is still remembered with pride and affection by Cavanmen everywhere and indeed by all patrons of gaelic football. He is still very much the ‘Gallant John Joe’, the lost leader of Cavan football.".
In 1999, John Joe was nominated at centre-half back in the An Post/GAA Team of the Millennium. As a result, special commemorative stamp was commissioned in his honour by An Post. Cornafean GFC marked the event by organising a special programme of celebrations in November 1999. Read more about this here - Cornafean Commemorates John Joe O'Reilly 1999
"The Gallant John Joe"
by Tommy Gilronan
In the month of November on a cold stormy day
I left my old home and to town made my way
I met with a young man on the road I did go
And he told me the news of the death of John Joe
John Joe O'Reilly has left us behind
He was called by the good Lord to his faithful and kind,
He brought him to Heaven, that proud land to show;
A true son of Breffni is the gallant John Joe.
Brave clann O'Reilly, oh proud is your name
You've reared many sons of great honour and fame
But not even the princes of long long ago
Could compare with our sportsman the Gallant John Joe
His record's a proud one without blemish or stain
Since he played his first football with famed Cornafean
Till he's laid in his cold grave where the wild flowers grow
A true son of Breffni is the gallant John Joe.
He led Cavan to victory on that memorable day
In the final against Kerry in New York far away
The next year in Croke Park when our boys beat Mayo
Once again they were led by the gallant John Joe
In each corner of Breifne there's sorrow and pain
Such a true-hearted sportsman we'll ne'er see again
New players may come and old players may go
But we'll ne'er have another like the gallant John Joe.
Lament for John Joe O’Reilly
God rest you John Joe Reilly ‘neath each cold November day
As the grey dust falls so quickly round the plains of old Kildare
God rest and keep you John Joe may your memory last in fame
Throughout each hill in Breifne and you own loved Cornafean
God rest you John Joe Reilly ‘neath each bright November star
Where his hero tales are told tonight by firesides near and far
Where by quiet lakes in Cavan men can hear the banshee wail
For the bravest heart in Breifne and the pride of the Gael.
They will grieve for him in Kerry throughout Mayo Louth and Cork
While his comrades go in mourning through the sidewalks of New York
Where the Yankees they did cheer him on the never forgotten day
When victory as found with high renown three thousand miles away.
God rest you John Joe Reilly that’s the prayer of Royal Meath
But his loss is felt most keenly on his native Ulster heath
Through the length and breadth of Breifne they are singing one refrain
God rest you John Joe Reilly you were the pride of Cornafean.
We bless and keep you in our prayers, may He count you with his own
While Ulster mourns your passing from the Ards to Inishowen
God rest and keep you John Joe and we pray for you today
When Cavan lost their bravest man on a cold November day
A native of Drumgoon, Willie Young is chiefly remembered as probably the greatest goalkeeper ever to play for either Cornafean and Cavan. He played in goals for Cavan on the Cavan team which won the 1933 and 1935 All Ireland Finals, and he played for much of his career for club and county as a forward.
He made his debut for Cornafean in 1917 and played on the club’s senior team until he retired twenty-three years later, in 1940. A year later, he won his first county Championship medal title, scored 1-1 in the final where Cornafean defeated Crosserlough. He was a regular of the Cornafean forward line thoroughout the 1920’s and he was a key player on the team which won the league & championship double in successive years in 1928 and 1929.
He made his debut for Cavan in 1918, and was full forward on the team which defeated Antrim in that year’s Ulster final, before losing to Louth in the All Ireland Semi Final. He was again in the full-forward position when Cavan contested their first All Ireland Senior final in 1928, losing by a point to Kildare. In 1930, he became Cavan’s regular goalkeeper and won two All Ireland Senior medals in this position in 1933 and 1935. He travelled to the USA with the Cavan team on three occasions in the 1930’s. By the time he retired from the inter-county scene in 1938, he had played for Cavan for 20 years, winning fourteen Ulster Senior medals during that time.
He was also a regular for Cornafean teams throughout the 1930’s, initially as a forward, and from 1932 onwards as goalkeeper. He retired following a knee injury in 1940. He won a total of eleven county championship medals with Cornafean during his career and served as Club Chairman from 1937 to 1941. He was closely involved in training the Cavan senior teams in the 1940’s and was also Cavan’s Ulster Council representative for a time. In December 1999 he has selected as goalkeeper on the Anglo Celt Cavan Team of the Century and his award was presented to his daughter Mrs. Sadie McGlade.
A brother of John Joe O’Reilly, Tom O’Reilly is widely remembered in his own right as one of one of the giants of the glory days of Cavan football and one of the finest footballers that Cornafean has ever produced.
A stalwart with Cornafean and Cavan from the early 1930’s until the mid-‘40’s, he was widely recognised as one of the country’s greatest midfielders for much of that period, and his footballing ability, allied to his imposing physical presence, earned him the name "Big Tom".
Big Tom first played for Cornafean on the club’s junior team which progressed to the Junior Championship semi-final in 1931. Although only sixteen years old, he quickly made a big impression and was at centrefield a year later on the senior team which defeated Bailieboro in the county final. He continued to star as a midfielder for Cornafean until he retired in 1948. He won a total of nine Senior Championship medals and it is a measure of his greatness that he captained Cornafean in no less than seven of those occasions.
However, it was to be his contribution to the Cavan county team that earned him enduring national renown. A star for the county minors and juniors in 1932, he made his debut for the Cavan seniors a year later, and played a key role at midfield when Cavan defeated Galway in the 1933 All Ireland Final. He won a second All Ireland medal two years later and played on the losing Cavan teams in the 1937, 1943 and 1945 finals. He captained the county side from 1937 to 1945 and was still on the Cavan panel when they won the famous 1947 All Ireland final in the Polo Grounds. He was also a regular on the Ulster Railway Cup teams of the 1940’s.
He served as Chairman of Cornafean GFC from 1942 to 1945 and was elected to Dail Eireann in 1944 as an Independent TD for the Cavan constituency. In later life, he enjoyed considerable success in the business.world.
A native of Killeshandra, Packie Phair was Cavan’s left half-back in their All Ireland victories in 1933 and 1935.
He first played football for Cornafean in 1930
and he soon made his mark at both club and county level. In 1931, he was
regarded as Cornafean's man of the match in a classic senior championship final
against Cavan Slashers, which the Slashers won by 3-4 to 0-8. Two weeks earlier,
he had been a substitute on the Cavan senior county team which lost narrowly to
Kildare in the All Ireland Semi-final. He starred in defence on the Cornafean
teams which won four senior Championship titles in a five-year
period between 1932 and 1936. This
was the “Golden Age” of football in Cornafean when Packie Phair, along with
others such as Packie Devlin, Big Tom O’Reilly, Josie Martin, Ned O’Reilly
and Mick Dinneny, brought football to new heights within the county.
However his greatest achievements were
undoubtedly as a defender on the Cavan senior
side which captured the county's first senior All-Ireland title in 1933, and
which repeated this feat in 1935. In 1933, he played alongside his clubmates
Willie Young, Mick Dinneny and Big Tom O'Reilly on the Cavan team which
dethroned the reigning four-in-a-row All Ireland champions Kerry in the All
Ireland semi-final in Breffni Park, and which proceeded to beat Galway in the
All Ireland Final. A year later he was on the Cavan team which lost a
controversial All Ireland semi-final to Galway, in the game remembered as
"the Tuam fiasco". The attendance of some 20,000 spectators was much
too high for the grounds and the game took more than two hours to finish due to
numerous stoppages due to pitch incursions
He
was once again a Breffni star in the 1935 All Ireland Final, where Cavan beat
Kildare. Writing of his
contribution to that success in his classic book “the Football Immortals”,
the famed GAA writer, the late Raymond Smith, paid tribute to him as follows: "On the left was Pat
Phair of Cornafean, reckoned by many of the best Cavan judges to have had
no equal in his position in his day and not surpassed in it by any other
man
wearing the Breifne colours.".
In November 1999, Packie attended the Mass and special function organised by Cornafean GFC in commemoration of his old colleague John Joe O’Reilly. A month later, he was honoured by his selection at left half-back in the Cavan Team of the Century. He died in April 2001, aged 90.At the time of his death, he was an honorary Vice-President of Cavan GAA County Board. His son, Fr. John ministered in Coronea from 1989 until the mid-1990's and played a very active role in GAA and other community activities in the locality during that time.
Packie
Phair died in April 2001, aged 90. May he rest in peace.
Those Derries Lakes are silent - their waters now so still
A silent hush came ore the Town - Killeshandra on the Hill
Their Greatest Son was called to rest - long held with high regard
He'll guard that half back line in Heaven on that Pitch owned by the Lord
A special Ode is to his Loyal Friend - Phil Reilly is the name
To
many he's the "Lavey Man" - in that winding lane
His
sorrow's so deep for Packie, though of him he talks so Airy
And of the
times they knelt in prayer to praise the Virgin Mary.
When Pat goes for judgement by St.Peter or Whoever
They will know of all the Rosaries those Great Men said together
Come inside -join your team mates - A victory you have won
We'll leave a place in waiting for your Friends who have to come
In St. Bridgets in Killeshandra - his silent body lies
Among those
gallant stalwarth men of Thirty Three and Thirty Five
As we read
about those glory days - everyone will say
Oh! What
we'd give to have men like them in Breffni Park today.
The old saying goes that Time or Tide don't wait for any man
Lets journey
on those years that's left and do the best we can
If we are
called to Heaven lets hope we make it there
We'll
receive Cead Mile Failte from that great man PACKIE PHAIR.
The entire area of Cornafean and the surrounding locality was shocked and saddened by the recent death of Peadar Doyle, one of the area's most illustrious and respected figures. Peadar died peacefully in the Esker Lodge Nursing Home, Cavan on Monday 25th November after a short illness. He was just a few months short of his 82nd birthday.
Peadar will be remembered as an immensely likeable, friendly and generous man, with a keen sense of humour and fun. He was a wonderfully colourful and often outspoken personality, who was never afraid to use his considerable oratorical skills to argue passionately for any cause he espoused. Over the years, he made many friends throughout the length and breadth of Ireland in his long career as a Gaelic footballer and later as a prominent GAA official. His generous, warm-hearted and kindly nature were well known to everyone he met
A man of immense religious faith and devotion, Peadar always practised his Christianity in a very modest and self-effacing manner. He was a lifetime member of the Pioneer Total Abstinence Association, and his practical temperance was always a shining example to others.
Peadar spent most of his working life as a Community Welfare Officer for theDepartment of Social Welfare, where his work involved attending to the needs of many of those less fortunate in society. He was well known for his firm but unyieldingly fair approach to his work and throughout his career he was always extremely modest and discreet in looking after the interests of those in need.
Of his many achievements, it is undoubtedly his contribution to the GAA, both as a player and as an administrator that many people will most immediately and fondly remember of Peadar Doyle.
It is no exaggeration to say that Peadar Doyle will be remembered as one of the "giants" of Cornafean GAA club, since its inception in 1908. A lifetime stalwart for Cornafean, Peadar ranks among the greatest of the players which backboned the mighty Cornafean football teams for much of the 20th century.
He first came into the Cornafean team in 1938 when he joined such stars as Big
Tom O'Reilly, Willie Young, Josie Martin and Mick Dinneny on the team that
defeated Gowna in that year's County Final. This victory came during the club's
"Golden era" when they won five county championship titles in
succession, and a total of eight titles in the nine years between 1932 and 1940.
In 1938, Peadar was also a member of the Cavan team which defeated Kerry in a thrilling All Ireland Minor Final. A free-scoring corner-forward on that team, Peadar scored 1-3 in Cavan's 3-3 to 0-8 win over the Kingdom in that final. A year later, he starred on the Cavan minor team that lost to Monaghan by a single point in the replayed Ulster final. He was also to the fore on the Cornafean teams that won county titles in 1939, '40 and '43.
During these years Peadar also made a major impact on the Cavan senior team, winning a Dr. McKenna Cup medal in 1943 and an Ulster Championship medal in 1945. He was a substitute on the team beaten by Cork in the 1945 All Ireland final. Peadar went to work in Co. Louth for a number of years in the late 1940's and he played with the "Wee County" for a period during this time, indeed on one occasion against his beloved Cavan in a National Football League fixture.
On his return to Cavan, Peadar rejoined the county Junior team, with whom he played in 1950 and a year later in 1951 he was right-half-forward on the Senior side beaten by Antrim in that year's Ulster Final. In retrospect, he must be deemed extremely unlucky not to have figured in the county's Senior All Ireland-winning panels in 1947, 1948 or 1952.
During these years, his contribution at club level to Cornafean, both on and off the field, was immense. One of the leading stars on successive Cornafean teams during the 1940's and 1950's, Peadar's finest hour as a footballer was probably in the 1956 County Final when he captained Cornafean to win their 20th Senior Championship title. His inspirational display at midfield in the second half of that final was the key to Cornafean's success over a fancied Bailieboro side.
The Anglo Celt described his display that day as follows:
"It was as a direct result of his tireless promptings that all of
Cornafean's scores came. His wonderful enthusiasm,his cool thinking head, his
great play, meant more to Cornafean in this year's final than an extra man on
the field. By word and example he set the headline."
After the game Peadar received the cup from County Chairman TP O'Reilly, a
unique event in itself as Peadar was Vice-Chairman of the County Board at the
time. His remarkable playing career continued into the 1960's during which time
he remained one of the leaders of the Cornafean senior team. It was not until
1972 that he played his last game for Cornafean, when, aged 51, he appeared in
goals for the Reds in that year's Drumkilly Tournament.
His remarkable career spanned five decades in total, and it
is a measure of Peadar's incredible service as a player to his beloved Cornafean
that he played his first game in the red jersey in 1938, the same year as De
Valera agreed terms with the British Government to end the Economic War, and his
last game for the club was thirty-four years later, in the year when the Irish
people voted to join the EEC.
His considerable accomplishments as a footballer were matched by a long career
of service and achievement as a GAA administrator and legislator, during which
he served both his club and his county with distinction. A County Board delegate
for Cornafean from 1943 to 1956, he served as Vice-Chairman of the Board from
1956 to 1963 and also as Registrar from 1965 to 1967. A gifted orator, he was a
fearless defender of his native club at County Board level and his colourful and
sparkling personality illuminated many a Board meeting during those years. He
also represented Cavan at Congress for many years during that era.
Peadar combined his responsibilities at county level with a deep involvement in the Cornafean club, serving in practically all officer positions for the club over a period of several decades. He first became club Secretary in 1942 and continued in the post until 1947, before returning as Secretary again in 1952. In 1961 he was elected club Chairman and he served in this position until 1965. He again served as Chairman of the club in 1974/75.
The highlight of Peadar's tenure as club Chairman was undoubtedly the acquisition, development and opening by the club of their present grounds in Cornafean, which were officially opened by Mr. Harry Carey, Ulster Council President, on 7th June 1964. The opening ceremony was followed by an intercounty challenge between Cavan and visitors Galway, who went on become All Ireland champions later that year.
The official opening of Pairc Naoimh Fionnain was the culmination of several years hard work by Peadar and his fellow officers, among them Fr. Brian McNamara, Tommy Brady, Tom McSeain and Willie McGibney, who collectively spearheaded a mammoth project of fundraising and developing the new grounds mainly through voluntary labour. The generations who have enjoyed the benefit of the fine facilities at Cornafean Park over the past 38 years owe a massive debt of gratitude to Peadar Doyle and his colleagues.
Throughout the 1960's and 1970's Peadar was also heavily involved as a manager,
coach and selector of many Cornafean teams and his dedication and never-say-die
attitude were invaluable to the club in the difficult years of the late 1970's
and early '80s when the club struggled to survive amidst a severe decline in the
population of its hinterland as a result of emigration and migration.
When the club's fortunes revived in the late 1980's Peadar
was once again to the fore, serving as team manager in the 1988 season, and
grooming an emerging side that was to go on and represent the club with
distinction over the following decade and beyond.
In later years, Peadar continued to be an avid Cornafean and Cavan supporter,
and he regularly attended both club and county fixtures until shortly before his
death. A gifted public speaker, he was a prominent and popular speaker at many
Cornafean GAA functions down through the years, not least in February 2001 when
was one of the guests of honour at the Presentation of the 2000 Junior
Championship medals to the victorious Cornafean team.
Peadar enjoyed wonderful good health in his old age and remained fully active
until the onset of his final illness a number of weeks ago. In recent years
Peadar travelled extensively both in Ireland and abroad with his wife Una.
Indeed only a few months ago, he attended this year's All Ireland Final between
Armagh and Kerry. He took great pride in the achievements of his own family in
all facets of life, not least in the footballing exploits of his sons Seamus,
Brian and Ciaran in the red jersey of Cornafean, since the early 1980's.
If it ever can be said that someone lived life to the full, that tribute
can surely be paid to the great Peadar Doyle.
We extend our deepest sympathy to Peadar's family on their
great loss, to his wife Una, daughters Grainne, Finola, and Eithne, sons
Seamus, Ciaran and Brian, sons in law Edward, Jim and Fergal, daughter in law
Geraldine and future daughter in law Trish, his grandchildren and other
relatives.
There were huge attendances at the Removal of his Remains to St. Patrick's
Church, Drumcor on Tuesday evening last and at the Funeral Mass on Wednesday,
with burial in the adjoining cemetery. After the burial service, his great
friend George Cartwright, Chairman of Cavan GAA County Board delivered a
graveside oration in his honour.
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