When the Rossies ruled the roost in 1943
INTERESTED SPECTATOR: Roscommon senior football manager, Davy Burke, with Roscommon GAA Chairperson, Brian Carroll, watching St. Brigid's demolition of North Roscommon in Strokestown on Saturday evening. Picture: Gerard O'Loughlin
Exactly 80 years ago on today’s date — Tuesday, September 26th — Roscommon played in the county’s first ever All-Ireland senior football final.
Cavan provided the opposition and the game was played in Croke Park. The game ended in a draw, 1-6 apiece.
The replay took place on Sunday, October 10th, and Roscommon won by 2-7 to 2-2 to bring the Sam Maguire Cup to the county for the first time.
Roscommon had won an All-Ireland minor title in 1939, a junior title in 1940 and another minor title in1941, so there was a wealth of good young talent in the county.
In 1939, Roscommon were graded solely junior with no senior team. They got to the All-Ireland junior final that year but lost out to Dublin in the final by 2-9 to 1-9. Roscommon were graded junior again in 1940, and this time with greater success as the team beat Westmeath in the All-Ireland final by 2-9 to 0-5.
It was back up to senior status again in 1941 and Roscommon beat Sligo by 1-9 to 0-5 in the Connacht semi-final. For the first time since 1931, a Roscommon senior team contested the Connacht final. The game was played in St. Coman’s Park and Galway provided the opposition. An experienced Galway team won by the narrowest of margins, 0-8 to 1-4.
Goalkeeper on that Galway team was Jimmy McGauran who was a native of Roscommon. He was a medical student in UCG at the time. Other well-known names on the Galway team were John Dunne, Bobby Beggs, Charlie Connolly and Eddie Mulholland.
Bobby Beggs was centre half-back on the Galway team that were beaten by Kerry in the 1941 All-Ireland final. He was right corner-back on the Dublin team that beat Galway in the 1942 All-Ireland final. He was a native of Dublin. That might be a question for Willie Hegarty’s Tuesday Teaser sometime.
In the 1942 Connacht Senior Football Championship, Roscommon beat Mayo in Tuam Stadium by 1-8 to 0-8 in the first round. Sligo provided the opposition in the Connacht semi-final. Roscommon won that game by 0-14 to 0-6. For the second successive year, Galway provided the opposition in the Connacht final. The game was played in Duggan Park, Ballinasloe, and Galway were victors once again by the narrowest of margins, 2-6 to 3-2.
Roscommon’s first game in the 1943 Connacht championship was against Leitrim. Leitrim had already beaten Sligo and were confident of causing an upset. Roscommon won easily, however, by 2-12 to 1-3. For the third year in a row, Galway provided the opposition in the Connacht final. The game was played in St. Coman’s Park on Sunday, July 18th. The game was regarded at the time as one of the greatest Connacht finals ever.
Roscommon led at half time by 1-3 to 0-4. Liam Gilmartin came on in the second half to partner Eamon Boland at midfield. Points by Phelim and Jimmy Murray and Jack McQuillan alongside a goal scored by Donal Keenan saw Roscommon winning by 2-6 to 0-8. It was the county’s first Connacht senior title since 1915.
Louth provided the opposition in the All-Ireland semi-final. The game was played in Croke Park on Sunday, August 8th. By all accounts, it was another thriller. Louth led by a single point at half-time, 3-3 to 2-5. Roscommon outscored Louth by 1-5 to 0-3 in the second half to win by 3-10 to 3-6. Frankie Kinlough scored two goals for Roscommon.
Jimmy Murray led the Roscommon team in the pre-match parade and Cavan were led by “Big Tom” O’Reilly. Roscommon wore the present style of jerseys for the first time to avoid a clash with Cavan’s all blue jerseys.
Cavan had the better of the first half and led by 1-4 to 0-3 at the break. Roscommon had the better of the second half and a goal by Jimmy Murray alongside points by Donal Keenan and Phelim Murray put them a point ahead before McGuire equalised for Cavan.
Donal Keenan edged Roscommon in front with a point but, with time running out, J.J. O’Reilly equalised for Cavan, leaving it 1-6 apiece at full time.
The replay took place two weeks later in Croke Park. Roscommon made one change from the drawn game when Owensie Hoare replaced Willie Heavey who had injured his arm in the drawn game.
Frankie Kinlough and Jack McQuillan scored goals for Roscommon and Joe Stafford scored a goal for Cavan. Phelim Murray scored two points for Roscommon and Boylan had a goal for Cavan. Roscommon led at half time by 2-2 to 2-0.
Donal Keenan pointed two frees for Roscommon early in the second half but Cavan replied with points from John Joe and Tom O’Reilly. Phelim Murray boxed over a point for Roscommon that was disputed by the Cavan players. The score stood and Roscommon ran out winners by 2-7 to 2-2. It was a great achievement for a team that had been playing junior football only three years earlier.
For the record, the Roscommon team was: Frank Glynn, Larry Cummins, J.P. O’Callaghan, Bill Jackson, Brendan Lynch, Bill Carlos, Owensie Hoare, Eamon Boland, Liam Gilmartin, Phelim Murray, Jimmy Murray (captain), Donal Keenan, Derry McDermott, Jack McQuillan, Frankie Kinlough.
The stage is now set for this year’s senior football championship semi-finals following the quarter-finals last weekend. Pádraig Pearses will play Boyle in one semi-final, and St. Brigid’s will play Roscommon Gaels in the other.
I was eagerly looking forward to the Boyle v Clann na nGael game in Enfield on Sunday last. Torrential rain fell up to an hour before the throw-in. Luckily it had cleared before the game but it was very blustery and a strong wind swept down the field from left to right as we looked out from the stand. Despite the heavy rain, the playing surface looked to be in good condition.
Boyle, despite playing against the wind, made the early running and had three points on the board by the 11th minute — a point from a free by Cian McKeon and one from a free and one from play by Donie Smith.
But Boyle failed to score for the remainder of the first half. Clann took over and scored 1-4 before half time — a point from a free by Ciarán Lennon, a goal by Josh Lennon and points by Emmet Kenny, David McManus, from a free, and Fearghus Lennon. Clann led by 1-4 to 0-3 at the interval.
Boyle completely dominated the play in the second half and played brilliant football, making good use of the strong wind. Last year’s finalists added 1-8 to their half-time score. The goal came at the end of the third quarter when Enda Smith brilliantly fielded a long delivery from Niall O’Donnell and slotted the ball past David Finneran. Clann only managed one score in the entire second half, a penalty scored by Ciarán Lennon in injury time.
Enda Smith showed his class with an outstanding display for Boyle. Cathal Feeley produced a brilliant display at centre half-forward, while Cian McKeon, Luke Glennon, Tadgh McKenna, Daire Cregg and Donie Smith were also prominent.
Best for a very disappointing Clann team were Dylan Sumner, David McManus, Kieran Connaughton, Ciarán Lennon, Emmet Kenny and Fearghal Lennon.
Elsewhere the game between Roscommon Gaels and Oran in Kiltoom went to penalties after the teams were deadlocked after extra time. By all accounts, it was a thrilling game despite the heavy rain. Oran 0-10, Roscommon Gaels 2-4 was the score at the end of normal time. The score at the end of extra time was Oran 0-16, Roscommon Gaels 3-7. Roscommon Gaels won 5-4 on penalties.
St. Brigid’s recorded a facile 7-16 to 0-7 win over North Roscommon and Pádraig Pearses had six points to spare over West Roscommon. The relegation game between Strokestown and Western Gaels was postponed due to the heavy rain.
As I was writing this piece about Cavan and Roscommon, an e-mail came in from Paraic Farrelly in Cavan. He had some very interesting suggestions on how Gaelic football should be re-structured to get a near perfect balance and how Dublin GAA can do differently for the better.
I haven’t the space to deal with Páraic’s email this week but I will include it next week. I am not sure if Páraic is a Roscommon man living in Cavan or if he is a native of Cavan, but he reads the Roscommon Herald every week.
I want to thank him sincerely for his e-mail.
Speaking about the role of the modern day county football manager, the former Mayo manager James Horan had this to say in the Irish Examiner.
“It is becoming a harder game that fewer want to take on. You are starting to see fewer people go into it and recycling of managers is such a tough gig with the pressure, expectation, scrutiny. There are a lot of counties now looking for someone with experience. That’s might be why I was contacted by a few.”
