Down Memory Lane to Glinsk's glory year, 1971

By JIM CARNEY YOUNG, sports-mad, talented and carefree â€â€ 40 years ago. And now there's an opportunity for the victorious Glinsk Minor football team of 1971 to revive happy memories of the glory days of their youth. It was a year when they could do no wrong, for they also won the 1971 Roscommon U-21 Championship, affiliated as Creggs in that competition. That panel had 17 Glinsk lads togged out, and eight of the winning minor team duly completed the double. At the present time, Glinsk play their football in Galway and Creggs in Roscommon; Creggs had a great run in Junior this year but most of their players were born on the Galway side of the border, so as far as we can see it's impossible to understand how this whole situation arose or how it's been handled by Roscommon, but this is not the place to attempt a deep analysis and we don't know how the mystery could be solved. [private] Nor does Laurence Cunningham, the former well-known, highly respected Galway Football Board officer, and Glinsk man. Larry's only interest here is in marking the anniversary of their special year simply by highlighting it; there was no special function planned or anything like that. To his great credit, Larry passionately believes there's nothing as important as memories, especially of good times growing up. Because it came first, there was something really very special about that Minor Championship triumph for the historic parish of Glinsk-Kilbegnet. The team had grown in confidence as they claimed the scalps of St Brigid's (with Tom Timothy scoring three goals), St Aidan's, St Ronan's and Oran in the semi-finals (3-7 to 0-5) to qualify for the County final against a famous club, Castlerea St Kevin's. It would be Glinsk's first ever county final in the U-18 grade and all roads led to St Coman's Park, Roscommon town on Sunday November 14th, 1971. Under the inspirational guidance of team manager Michael Egan, the local National School teacher, Tom Dowd and Michael Killackey, Glinsk were very well prepared and highly motivated. Joy was unconfined when the final whistle blew to signal success for Glinsk on a scoreline of 2-4 to 1-4. It was level pegging in the exciting closing stages before right full-forward John Donlon hit the match-winning goal. Team: Séamus Conama; Kevin Costello, John Joe Cunningham, John Pettit; Padraic Conama, Mick Curley, Michael Egan; James Shevlin, Mick Lundy (0-1); Michael Collins (0-1), P. J. Shanagher, Luke Cunniffe (0-1); John Donlon (1-0), John Dowd, captain, A. Quinn (1-1). It was the icing on the cake when Glinsk did the double: U-21 Championship final 1971, with the official name of the team Creggs and a 2-7 to 0-7 win over Castlerea â€â€ against the odds as far as the local bookies were concerned as the town team were rated a star-studded combination that year. Earlier, the Glinsk-Creggs lads had eliminated Pádraig Pearse's, Athleague and Clan na nGael. In the County final at famed Knockcroghery (home village of the legendary Murray brothers of Roscommon All-Ireland fame in the 1940s), Frank Brandon â€â€ later a great rugby player with Creggs â€â€ scored the winners' first goal and the second was netted by Tommie Dowd, with two brilliant late points by centre half-back Marky Fitzmaurice also crucial scores. It was an especially pleasing win for inspirational captain Michael Kilcommons as he also helped considerably with the training and preparation of the U-21 team, alongside the wonderfully dedicated and committed local teacher Michael Egan, a Mayo county minor in his own youthful playing days. Remarkably, Michael Egan is not only alive and well but he drives around the parish in his car nearly every day of the week â€â€ at the great age of 98! Laurence Cunningham will never forget the semi-final at Ballyforan, against Clan. Frank Brandon missed that game (injured) but Larry himself hit two goals in the opening ten minutes.    Memories! Memories! The Mick Curley of those two teams is, of course, the man who went on to referee an All-Ireland Senior Football Championship final (1999). Mickey Lundy, a very good player, is the father of the current Corofin star forward Mícheál Lundy, and James Shevlin, a great GAA man, served as secretary of Glink for over three decades. The victorious U-21 team had four sets of brothers in the panel: the Lundy brothers Billy and Mickey; the Dowds Tommy and John; the Cunninghams Larry and John Joe, and the Quinn brothers, Jackie and Paddy. Both Castlerea teams were managed by Danny Burke, who has given a lifetime of service to Gaelic football in Roscommon. [/private]