????? SPORTING MEMORIES -M.up Final:????? SPORTING MEMORIES -M.up 26/10/2011 13:15 Page 1 MY GREAT SPORTING MEMORIES from Local Club to Olympic Games As told by 72 Sportspersons and Sports Journalists ????? SPORTING MEMORIES -M.up Final:????? SPORTING MEMORIES -M.up 26/10/2011 13:15 Page 2 Published by Lorcán O’Rourke Droichead Nua Contae Chill Dara First published 2011 Copyright © Lorcán O’Rourke 2011 All rights reserved All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 978-0-9570599-0-0 Every effort has been made to trace holders of copyright material used in this book but if any infringement of copyright has inadvertently occurred, the publishers ask the copyright holders to contact them immediately. Printed in Ireland by Print Procedure Ltd. ????? SPORTING MEMORIES -M.up Final:????? SPORTING MEMORIES -M.up 26/10/2011 13:15 Page 3 MY GREAT SPORTING MEMORIES DEDICATION This book is dedicated to Our Lady of Russia, to the people of Belarus who have suffered so much because of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, to Chernobyl Children International and to the many Irish volunteers and families who care for Belarusian children. iii ????? SPORTING MEMORIES -M.up Final:????? SPORTING MEMORIES -M.up 26/10/2011 13:15 Page 4 CONTENTS Paul Brady – I was determined to become world handball champion 1 Martin Breheny – Sunday 27 September 1964; Galway 0-15 Kerry 0-10 4 Trevor Brennan – Alone, all alone on Lansdowne Road pitch 7 Philip Browne – Why are they smiling? 9 Joanne Cantwell – My father, my hero 11 Brian Carthy – Dermot Earley - A personal memory 14 Brian Cody – Club is the cornerstone 20 Colm Cooper – My dream came true - ten years later 23 Lar Corbett – The Queen and I 26 Michael Corcoran – Pride in the performance 29 Eamonn Cregan – JP McManus and the 1973 All-Ireland hurling final 32 Eimear Cregan – Italia ’90 focused my mind on sport 35 Paddy Cullen – The pub and the silver medal 38 John Delaney – Goals to savour 41 Ronnie Delany – From boxing to Olympic Games history 44 Tony Doran – Magical memories of Wexford hurling 47 Mick Dowling – There’s no place like home 50 Angela Downey – Singing and dancing in the rain 53 Johnny Doyle – Joy unbridled on winning Kildare and Leinster titles 55 Páraic Duffy – Forty-one years, a long time to wait 59 Bernard Dunne – Hard work pays off at 02 title fight 62 Adrian Eames – Two Sundays, two summers 66 Dermot Earley – Watch the breaking ball 69 Dessie Farrell – Sport matters 72 Bernard Flynn – Winning is great... but look after your body 77 Cliona Foley – Swifter, stronger, higher 80 Eddie Harty – My special Grand National 83 Liam Hayes – Meeting Thomas ‘Hit Man’ Hearns 86 Jamie Heaslip – Into the Lions’ den 89 Jacqui Hurley – O’Gara and Dunne land blows for Ireland 92 Bernard Jackman – Heineken Cup glory in Edinburgh 95 Jimmy Keaveney – When the Dubs came back to the Hill 98 Eddie Keher – It all started on the village square 101 Eoin Kennedy – I still smile about my first All-Ireland win 104 John Kenny – Swimming and motoring... it’s just not cricket 107 Joe Kernan – Lesson learnt and applied 110 Noel King – Born to manage 113 Joe Lennon – Producing a video of Gaelic football skills 116 iv ????? SPORTING MEMORIES -M.up Final:????? SPORTING MEMORIES -M.up 26/10/2011 13:15 Page 5 MY GREAT SPORTING MEMORIES Olive Loughnane – World silver in Berlin... but my daughter kept me grounded 120 Steven McDonnell – When Sam came to the Orchard County 123 Eugene McGee – Waistcoat not enough to stop Kerry in All-Ireland final 126 Jim McKeever – Beginnings and endings 129 Catherina McKiernan – Cathy Freeman’s 400 metre final at Sydney Olympics 133 Joey Maher – When ‘Opportunity Knocks’ take the ball on the hop 136 Darragh Maloney – Offaly versus Kerry, 19 September 1982 139 Valerie Mulcahy – When I realised my dream 142 Con Murphy – That goal, English fans and a round of drinks 145 Conor Niland – The taxi driver and the Israel Open 148 Christy O’Connor – Rising fog heralds sunny day for St Joseph’s Doora-Barefield 151 Jamesie O’Connor – For club, county and province 154 Mary O’Connor – Teamwork is the key to flying in unison 158 Walter O’Connor – I’m not losing tonight 161 John O’Mahony – Making memories for life 164 Colm O’Rourke – All things come to those who wait long enough! 167 Jim O’Sullivan – International Rules Series – nobody said it would be easy! 170 Sue Ramsbottom – In victory or defeat do not get carried away! 174 Trevor Ringland – Play together and live together 177 Dan Shanahan – The club is everything to me 179 Fiona Shannon – It takes a great loser to be a great winner 182 Jack Sheedy – Enjoy yourself and do the best you can 185 Liam Sheedy – Tipp trip to Croke Park 2010 189 Mikey Sheehy – The training was horrific... but worth it all 194 Henry Shefflin – Pub talk matters in Ballyhale 197 Cora Staunton – From local club to the summit of Everest 200 Joe Stack – Anyone there for the five-in-a-row t-shirts? 203 Ronan Sweeney – Let’s win it for the two Dermots 206 Katie Taylor – Roll on London 2012 209 Gearóid Towey – A tough stint in Oz rescued my career 212 John Treacy – Sonia’s Olympic silver - an outstanding achievement 215 Tommy Walsh – Bonfires blazed for Tullaroan Féile na nGael victory 218 Tony Ward – Alone it stands 222 Dermot Weld – The 1993 Melbourne Cup – A Vintage Crop 226 v ????? SPORTING MEMORIES -M.up Final:????? SPORTING MEMORIES -M.up 26/10/2011 13:15 Page 6 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wish to thank all the players, athletes, administrators and journalists who penned their sporting memories: their generous contributions made it possible to compile a wonderful collection of inspirational stories. Well over one hundred people have helped to bring this publication to fruition; their cooperation is greatly appreciated. I thank all those who provided contacts for the authors, especially GAA County Secretaries, Marc Howard of the Irish Sports Council, John Foley of the Athletics Association of Ireland, Fran Whearty (FAI), Karl Richardson (IRFU) and the staffs of GAA Handball Ireland, the Camogie Association and Cumann Peil Gael na mBan. My thanks to Ray McManus of Sportsfile and the RTÉ sports library for providing the images for the book. I am especially grateful to Brian Carthy, RTÉ Gaelic Games Correspondent, and Liam Hayes for their advice and support in developing the project. My particular thanks to Páraic Duffy, GAA Director General, for his encouragement. Thanks to Rossa Moore of Print Procedure who took charge of the production and printing process in a very professional way, to Mick Lynam for formatting the book and to Liam Kenny who lent his considerable expertise to the editing process. Sincere thanks are due to the following sponsors of Great Sporting Memories: Central and Provincial GAA Councils, Martin Donnelly & Co, Newbridge Credit Union, Envirogreen Building Services, GAA Handball Ireland, Cumann Camógaíochta na nGael, Cumann Peil Gael na mBan, Michael Murphy EZ Living (Newbridge and New Ross), Kingswood Plant and Ballybrittas Motors. Without their financial support it would not have been possible to undertake such a major task. I also appreciate the help I received from Miriam Forde and Jayne Davies of Chernobyl Children International from concept stage to finished product. Finally, my thanks to my wife, Phil, and our family Ciarán, Aoife and Enda. Lorcán O’Rourke November 2011 vi ????? SPORTING MEMORIES -M.up Final:????? SPORTING MEMORIES -M.up 26/10/2011 13:15 Page 7 MY GREAT SPORTING MEMORIES vii ????? SPORTING MEMORIES -M.up Final:????? SPORTING MEMORIES -M.up 26/10/2011 13:15 Page 8 FOREWORD The purpose of this collection of My Great Sporting Memories is to raise funds for Chernobyl Children International (CCI) to mark the 25th anniversary of the disaster that shocked the world and destroyed people’s lives, and those of generations yet unborn. In addition, it offers the reader an opportunity to appreciate some of the emotions, the hardships, and the highs and lows experienced by sportspersons or witnessed by sports journalists. Organised sport has played a major role in the social and cultural life of Ireland since the late nineteenth century and every year throws up new and iconic players and athletes who are ‘swifter, stronger, higher’. I hope the fruits of the stories of the colour, emotion and excitement the 72 writers experienced will add threads of many colours to the tapestry of the lives of Chernobyl children and help to make them healthier, stronger and happier. Lorcán O’Rourke viii ????? SPORTING MEMORIES -M.up Final:????? SPORTING MEMORIES -M.up 26/10/2011 13:15 Page 9 MY GREAT SPORTING MEMORIES PAUL BRADY I was determined to become world handball champion AUL BRADY from Mullahoran, County Cavan, is the only player in the history of handball to win the Men’s World POpen Singles title on three occasions – 2003, 2006 and 2009. He was the first Ulsterman to win an All-Ireland 40x20 title and achieved this in singles, and in doubles, with Michael Finnegan from Kingscourt, in 2003. Paul holds 14 All-Ireland senior titles – eight singles and six doubles – six US Open Nationals Singles titles and US National and World Open Doubles titles. He won a Cavan senior football medal with Mullahoran in 2006 and has been on the county panel since 2002.