|
|
 |
You are > Home > Recalling the thrills of 1992
|
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Recalling the thrills of 1992
It’s amazing how a chance discovery can trigger off memories of bygone years.
During the week I was trying to put some order on my vast collection of books when I came across the Roscommon GAA Yearbook 1993 – A look back at 1992.
Needless to say, the tidying up was put on the back burner as I eagerly leafed through my discovery. The year 1992 was an interesting one in Roscommon GAA.
The senior footballers had been Connacht champions for the previous two years. Sadly, Mayo ended the dream of three-in-a-row when they defeated the champions in the final in Hyde Park.
That defeat marked the retirement of some great servants of the game in the county.
Team manager Marty McDermott retired after five years in charge of the senior team. The Oran man achieved a lot, as Roscommon County Board Chairman Tommy Kenoy wrote in his introduction.
“Marty McDermott spent five years as our senior team manager and presided over a period during which Roscommon football rose from the despair of 1987 to a position of national prominence as one of the top three or four teams in the country. Marty was a great servant of Roscommon football, an excellent ambassador and deserves our very deep gratitude.”
Marty was replaced in 1992 by the legendary Dermot Earley.
Now Lieut. General Dermot Earley, Chief of Staff of the Defence Forces, the great midfielder needs no introduction to GAA. followers in Roscommon and throughout the country.
That year also marked the retirement of Tony McManus, one of the county’s greatest ever forwards.
I couldn’t pay him any greater tribute than to quote Tommy Kenoy again.
“What can be said about the great ‘Tony Mac’ that has not already been repeated many times. Over a period of almost 20 years he thrilled the fans, frustrated opposing defences and left us with a host of treasured memories. Perhaps, the greatest tribute to Tony is the fact that he soldiered on during the frustrations of the 80s when Roscommon were suffering from a severe 1980 hangover. It would probably have been easy to pack it in and concentrate on his beloved Clann, who were then threatening to capture national honours. But he was there for the younger players during the team building process leading up to the 1990/'91 successes and as a leader on the field during those two exciting years.”
It is now 18 years since Tony retired and it would be true to say that we haven’t had a forward of his class since.
I certainly missed him when he retired and I never really felt confident watching Roscommon forward lines without his class, flare, deceptive side-step and scoring ability.
I think we can only dream of glory again when we can unearth a few forwards of Tony’s calibre.
Two other great servants of the county also called it a day, Des Newton and Pádraig McNeill.
Both can look back with pride on the contributions they made during their distinguished playing careers.
Des, who also played senior football with Donegal and Ulster, won an All-Ireland U-21 medal in 1978.
Tony McManus was left-corner forward on that team. Pádraig was right-half back on the U-21 team that lost the 1982 All-Ireland final in 1982. Both players later made a significant contribution to the senior team.
Des was outstanding at right-corner back on the senior team that narrowly lost the 1991 All-Ireland semi-final to Meath. Paul Hickey also hung up his boots after the 1991 campaign.
The Kilbride man was a classy left-half back who won two Connacht medals in 1990 and 1991.
Minor title
The Roscommon minor team won the Connacht title in 1992. At the start of the year few gave this team a chance of success. Like the All-Ireland victory in 2006, that made the Connacht title all the sweeter.
The campaign started with a hard earned 2-11 to 3-7 victory over Leitrim in Hyde Park. Midfielder Rossa O’Callaghan suffered a serious hand injury after the Leitrim game and missed the final against Mayo.
The final in McHale Park, Castlebar, was another close affair and Roscommon eventually held on to win by a single point, 0-10 to 0-9.
The Roscommon team that brought the title back to the county was: Ray Lannon, Pádraic Kelly, Richard Glover, Pádraic Mullally, Kevin Keegan, Mark McGovern, Ciaran Grogan, Adrian Doory, Ciaran Duignan, Keith Murphy, Frank Farrell, Dermot Washington, Liam Murray, Gary McLoughlin, Seán Casey.
Sub: Conor Conneally for Mark McGovern.
The team was boosted for the semi-final against Armagh by the return of the injured Rossa O’Callaghan. Roscommon started well and, with Adrian Doory and Rossa O’Callaghan dominating midfield and Dermot Washington playing havoc in the Armagh defence, led by 0-8 to 1-3 after 20 minutes.
The last ten minutes of the half turned out to be a big disappointment as Armagh turned a two-point deficit into a four-point lead by half time.
Armagh turned on the style in the second-half and eventually ran out easy winners by 3-12 to 0-13.
I will always remember that game for the outstanding display of Roscommon’s Dermot Washington.
The Kilglass Gaels star gave one of the finest performances from a minor forward seen in Croke Park for many a year before or since.
Dermot had scored 1-5 against Leitrim and 0-3 in the Connacht final against Mayo. He scored a fantastic 0-8 against Armagh.
The colourful Seán Bán Breathnach still recalls that display when he meets me.
The ‘Cake’
The Yearbook featured an interesting ‘Player Focus’ on a young Shane Curran. Shane made his senior debut for Roscommon in a National League game against Down in 1991.
It might surprise many people to learn that his favourite position was full-forward.
Those of us who saw him playing for Castlerea and the county in the number 14 jersey would not be surprised at that. As you would expect from Shane he gave some colourful answers to certain questions.
Question: Any good sporting yarns? “Two Castlerea players playing on the same wing, unfortunately they were near sighted and when the ball appeared on that wing one player, (I cannot name them) gained possession only to be tackled by the other who said he had seen the ball first.”
Question: “Shane Curran and the headlines often went hand in hand. Tell us about the penalty incident in the Connacht minor final of 1989?”
Answer: “When you’re 18, 20,000 people watching the game and you’re a bit of a header, stupid things run through your head, an intelligent person wouldn’t do the stupid thing, but not being exactly bright I did. Looking back I caused a lot of hassle for a lot of people who didn’t deserve it, not least the referee John Cosgrove and the Roscommon County Board who were fantastic at the time. That said, I’m glad it finished in the back of the net.”
I think Shane was a bit hard on himself in this reply. Question: “The game against Galway was replayed and you went on to win."
Answer: “Due to a sporting gesture from the Galway County Board the game was replayed. Even though I played poorly on the night every one of the lads had a great willingness to win and we had a late goal from Eddie Ennis. The Roscommon support that night was unbelievable when at least 5,000 of them made their way to Castlebar. So far it would be one of the best sporting nights of my life.”
The replay again ended level at full time, Roscommon 1-9, Galway 0-12, and extra time was played. Roscommon edged ahead in extra time and won by a single point, 2-11 to 0-15.
Roscommon played Derry in the semi-final and lost heavily on a score of 4-16 to 1-7 after leading at half-time by 1-5 to 0-7.
For the record, the Roscommon team that lost to Derry was: Damien Craven, Pádraig Raftery, Seán Staunton, Leo Shiels, Paul Owens, Paddy Kelly, Martin Costello, Fergal O’Donnell, Lorcan Dowd, Stephen Drury, Shane Curran, Derek Duggan, Paul Carty, Colm Kelly, Peadar Glennon.
Subs: Frank McNamara, Eddie Ennis, Seán Costello. Derry beat Offaly by 3-9 to 1-6 in the All-Ireland final. Stars of that Derry team later to star at senior level were Anthony Tohill, Gary Coleman and Damien Bateson.
Main News Page |
Previous Page
|
|
|
|
Facebook
Twitter
