Sligo Gaa History Goalkeeper

GAA: O'Neill hits right note for London's history-makers

By Tony Tighe

All-Ireland SFC qualifier

LONDON 0-15 FERMANAGH 0-9

IN a west London pub on Saturday night, packed to the rafters with boisterous Gaels, London attacker Eoin O’Neill was beckoned onto the stage for a song.

The Galway native chose a number from his fellow county men, The Saw Doctors, and, with the help of his teammates, he brought the house down with a rendition of To Win Just Once.

It was a fitting end to a historic day for those involved with London GAA. There hasn’t been much to cheer about over the last 34 years, the odd near miss a rarity amongst the countless heavy beatings. But when Fermanagh were pulled out of the hat in the qualifiers, the hosts sensed the opportunity to rewrite the history books — and how they did.

The Exiles’ six-point victory at Ruislip wasn’t a true reflection on the game. Such was the home side’s dominance, the winning margin could have been double that. From the throw-in they pressed and harassed their lethargic opponents, building a substantial lead they wouldn’t let slip. Unlike their Connacht championship meeting with Mayo, there wouldn’t be any nail-biting moments in the closing stages. The game had already been put to bed.

London manager Paul Coggins didn’t downplay the significance of the day. He revealed: “There are feelings of great elation and happiness.

“We worked very hard to achieve something and we achieved it. We’ve a great bunch of players and they put everything in there today, absolutely everything.

“Fermanagh came here to win the game and we never gave them a second. The performance was immense, and everything the coaches and I have spoken about, we put it together today and it’s great. We are going to enjoy it.”

Having achieved great success on the London club scene with Tir Chonaill Gaels, Coggins is now working his magic at inter-county level. He learnt the lessons from the heartbreaking loss to Mayo. By switching Mark Gottsche to midfield, the Roscommon native was able to deploy the colossal Paul Geraghty on the edge of the square.

It proved an inspired move. With the wind at their backs in the opening half London went direct, pulling their half-forwards into midfield and firing first-time ball to the full-forward line. Geraghty proved just as capable as a target man as he is around centre field, breaking ball down for O’Neill, Kevin O’Leary and Pádraig McGoldrick.

Luke Morrissey had an outstanding GAA career | Irish Free Press

ST. MULLINS lost one of its greatest gaels on Friday with the sudden passing of Luke Morrissey.

As a hurler of note – he would have been part of Carlow’s All-Ireland Junior and Intermediate winning sides of the early 60s, but for the fact the employment brought him outside the county – Luke is probably best remembered for a real tour de force in 1965 Carlow SHC final replay when his beloved St Mullins beat Carlow Town.

However Luke was proud of the fact that as a mere chap of 14, he started out as a goalkeeper with the fabled six-in-a-row St Mullins side of 1949-1954.

Another source of pride was that his goalkeeping exploits with the pioneering Carlow minor hurling team of the early 1950s were compared to Tony Reddan, subsequently selected as goalkeeper on the Hurling team of the Century.

Also on that Carlow minor hurling team was Luke’s brother Mick, who later won three All-Ireland senior hurling medals with Wexford, the only native of County Carlow to have attained such high honours.

The Morrisseys, of course, were a famous hurling family, with six brothers starring with St Mullins and the youngest, Moling, winning All-Ireland honours with Carlow as well as playing with Laois.

Luke, too, hurled with Carlow’s flagship team and rare for a St Mullins man also lined out with the Carlow footballers in the Leinster Senior Football Championship. He also played with the Kilkenny footballers during his time with Danesfort, with whom he won championship honours.

After his playing days were over Luke became deeply involved with St Mullins, serving as Secretary for many years and, ironically, during his stint with the pen, the biggest controversy was the 1970 SHC final in which Erin’s Own were eventually awarded the title after St Mullins cited injuries and holidays as inability to field.

Ironic in that Luke settled afterwards in Conway Park, Bagenalstown, in the heart of Erin’s Own country.

Luke became deeply involved in the local Bagenalstown community while his prowess as a song writer and collector of songs saw him publish a fantastic book a few years ago.

He was laid to rest in Bagenalstown on Monday. He was predeceased by his brothers Jimmy, Pat and Mick. He is sadly missed by his loving wife Helen, his children Breda, Claire, Michael, Pat, Sinead, Isobel, Ivan, Alan and their mother Lizzy, his brothers John, Eddie and Molling, sisters Breda and Mary, Helen’s family David and Sharon, and all of his loving grandchildren, relatives and friends.