Death of an Offaly hurling folk hero

THE death took place last week of one of Offaly's most revered hurlers, Barney Moylan. While he did not win the All-Ireland or provincial county medals that later generations gathered, his name was written up in lights long after his playing career ended, his playing exploits remembered by all privileged to see him in action.

A member of a very popular Banagher family, Barney Moylan was an excellent Offaly hurler in the 1960s and 1970s. It is a measure of his quality that his name and that of Paddy Molloy were the two from that era who were most regularly spoken of in the same breath as the many household Offaly names that emerged in the 1980s and 1990s.

He was a very versatile performer, playing mainly in the attack for Offaly but also establishing himself in defence for seasons along with the occasional cameo at midfield.

Barney Moylan played 59 competitive senior championship and league matches for Offaly from his debut in 1964 and his last game in 1976. Ironically, his first and last game were in two innocuous, disappointing defeats as they lost to Wicklow in the National Hurling League in October 1964 and Westmeath evicted them from the Leinster Senior Hurling Championship in 1976.

However, he also played a starring role in several big and very important wins in the intervening years. Successes that gave a great lift to all in the county and helped sow the seeds for the great 1981-1981 breakthrough.

The importance of those wins all played a role in what was eventually to happen in the 1980s and 1990s as they gave confidence to those playing and promoting hurling, the belief that the big counties could be beaten and that Offaly were on the right road.

Barney Moylan played a leading role in three of the most important.

He was wing forward in the famous 1966 National Hurling League win over Tipperary – that was Offaly's first league win over their powerful neighbours, an absolutely huge result at that time and the first real evidence that something was happening and that the input of their manager, a Cork native, Br Denis Minehane was working.

Four years earlier, Tipperary had ate Offaly alive in the league, 10-10 to 2-4. That was in October 1962 and months earlier in the 1961/1962 league (the league was split into different years up to the 1990s), the scoreline had been similarly demoralising, 11-11 to 1-2.

Offaly's 3-13 to 2-7 win in 1966 represented an extraordinary turnaround and was a cause of great celebrations then.

In 1969, Offaly made another huge step forward, beating then All-Ireland champions, Wexford by 5-10 to 3-11 in the Leinster Senior Hurling Championship semi-final. They ran Kilkenny close in the Leinster final, losing by 3-9 to 0-16 in a game that the players looked back on with huge regret – Barney Moylan was wing back in both those games. While there was a chance for Offaly to win it, a few of that fine side were heading over the hill at that stage and some dark days were to return in the 1970s before the first Leinster was won in 1980, followed a year later by the All-Ireland – goalkeeper Damien Martin and star forward Johnny Flaherty were still there from that 1969 team.

In 1970, Offaly had a great 2-14 to 2-9 win over Kilkenny in the National Hurling League. Moylan was wing back and that was another big result at that time.

Offaly hurling changed irrevocably in the 1960s, even if people could not possibly have realised the enormity of what was happening at that stage.

Into the 1960s, Offaly hurling had been notoriously tough and violent. There were ferocious club rivalries, several brawls and ugly scenes in the decades before it. Coolderry and, especially Drumcullen, had been two of the main protagonists but were far from the only sinners and Offaly hurling had a reputation far outside its own borders for the wrong reasons.

Offaly had not been far away from winning a Leinster in the 1920s but emigration ended the prospects of that team. After that, the club scene was one of the factors that held Offaly hurling back – it was not always possible for players to knock lumps out of each other one week for their clubs and then become the best of team mates in a county jersey the following.

The wheel began to turn in the 1960s. Br Denis helped change the mindset of county players and the formation of St Rynagh's and their dominance of the Senior Hurling Championship over the next two decades plus, the re-emergence of a strong, skilful Kinnitty side changed the club environment.

In 1967, Barney Moylan played at wing forward in a notorious game, a championship defeat by Westmeath known forever afterwards as “the Battle of Birr”. With Offaly heading to a 5-10 to 4-8 defeat, a fierce brawl erupted near the end with players and spectators swinging hurls and fists in what was described as a “wild scene”. Killoughey's Willie Gorman and Johnny Flaherty were sent off along with Westmeath's Frank Jackson and Albert Colgan. The late Willie Gorman was later suspended “indefinitely” but got it reduced and the charismatic Blueball man played again in 1969 while another Killoughey man, Joe Murphy got an 18 month ban, reduced on appeal. Johnny Flaherty got a month but got that reduced as he caused consternation in the Dublin defence in a very narrow 2-10 to 2-9 defeat in the Leinster final weeks later.

Barney Moylan was one of Offaly's star figures in the 1960s and 1970s, earning a national reputation. He won a National Hurling League Division 2 medal in 1966 and was a regular on the Leinster Railway Cup team, winning medals at wing forward in 1972 and as a playing sub in 1973.

Regarded as a very skilful, fair hurler, Barney Moylan also gave fantastic service to St Rynagh's. Their formation in 1961 changed so much for Offaly hurling. They ended the dominance of Coolderry and Drumcullen, going on a spree of incredible dominance – in the years before the amalgamation, there had been a number of clubs in existence in the parish, including Banagher, Cloghan, Shannon Rovers, Shannon Harbour and Ballivor.

St Rynagh's won their first Senior Hurling Championship in 1965 and went onto win fifteen between then and 1993. Their dominance in the 1960s and 1970s was profound and Barney Moylan won nine medals. He was there for the first in 1965, the five in a row from 1972 to 1976 and he was top scorer in the 1972 and 1976 wins. He was a member of the St Rynagh's team that won the first Leinster Club Senior Hurling Championship in 1971 – he was full forward as St Rynagh's lost to Roscrea in the All-Ireland club final.

A fitter in Derrinlough Briquette factory, he was a very popular, highly regarded man, held in complete respect by all who knew him.

Offaly GAA chairman Michael Duignan said this week: “I was very sorry to hear Barney had died. I knew he was not well for some time. He was part of a huge GA family and was a huge St Rynagh's name. He played alongside Damien Martin and Padraig Horan in the Railway Cup when that competition was really at its pinnacle. Eddie Keher and Noel Skehan asked me about him when I met them at a golf event some time ago and that shows the huge regard he was held in. He had a reputation at the very top of the tree as one of the greatest.”

Living at Knocknahorna, Garbally, Birr, he will be sadly missed by his loving wife Margaret and his daughters Aisling (Bacon) and Máiréad (Moylan Egan), sons-in-law David and Paddy, his grandchildren; Eilidh, Saoirse-Jane, Tiernan and Lochlainn, his brothers; Séan, Pat, Matt, Micheál and Séamus, sisters Renee (Beegan) and Frances (Egan).

He was buried in St Rynagh's Cemetery, Banagher after Requiem Mass in the local Church.