County Roscommon club to mark 60th anniversary of its greatest day
The St. Faithleach's senior football team that won the club's only county senior championship title in 1965. The team will be honoured on the 60th anniversary of that triumph in Ballyleague during Friday evening's championship game against Pádraig Pearses.
As St. Faithleach’s prepare to take on a Pádraig Pearses side aiming to retain the Fahey Cup in the opening round of the senior football championship, the Ballyleague-based club will celebrate the achievements of its own county champions on Friday evening.
St. Faithleach’s will be commemorating the team of 1965 that claimed the club’s only county senior title at half time of Friday’s clash, while there will also be refreshments afterwards in the clubhouse.
For the club on the Longford/Roscommon border, the triumph over Shannon Gaels 60 years ago was its greatest day and came only three years after the founding of the club.
Former St. Faithleach’s and Roscommon footballer Derek Thompson told the Roscommon Herald that the title is still cherished around Ballyleague, Cloontuskert and its environs.
“It is the only county senior title we have, so it is a very important moment in the club’s history. To give a bit of history, in ’62, players were playing everywhere bar in Faithleach’s as it’s known now. Some played for Strokestown, Kilbride and even across in Rathcline.
“The club was formed in ’62 and from talking to people when we brought them all together in 2012 (to celebrate the club’s 50 year anniversary), the club was the main area and football was the main activity of the parish.
“Listening to stories, Phelim Henry saw the talent around the place and said, why can’t we put a team together? Because of the industry that was around, a lot of the lads were with Bord na Móna and ESB was just starting, so they were referred to as the Bog Men.
“They put their name on the map quickly. They brought in David Sheerin, who had only moved to the area, and he was seemingly a great coach. Because of Board na Móna, a guy called Paddy Best came from Sligo. Paddy was a fantastic trainer by all accounts. Between Davy Sheerin and Paddy Best, they had the best of mentors over them,” Thompson recalled.
The club claimed the county junior title in 1963, with that win giving St. Faithleach’s the belief to claim the top prize in Roscommon club football two years later.
With Frank Fallon serving as captain and Frank Beirne, who was part of the Roscommon U-21 panel that won the All-Ireland in ’66 as a midfield pairing, St. Faithleach’s edged past a tenacious Shannon Gaels side.
That victory served to inspire the next generation with Pat Lindsay, then aged 14, serving as a mascot for the 1965 team. Lindsay progressed to captain Roscommon to the 1979 Division One League title alongside winning five Connacht Championship medals.
Thompson praised the trailblazers of ’65, hoping that the presence of that great team can give a small measure of motivation to the current crop as they try and take down the reigning champions on Friday evening.
“There were many who went to the first meeting to found the club and they hit the ground running. The fact they hit the ground running, I’m sure, brought great times to the parish and the community back in ’65. That has fed down through the generations.
“My uncle Gerry (Thompson), who has since passed, did great work when we brought them together in 2012. He would have been a kid at the time but he remembered it and the excitement at the time. There are great memories for a lot of people around here about that team,” he concluded.
