Offaly football hero celebrates 80th birthday in style

ONE of Offaly football's great heroes celebrated his 80^th birthday in style last Friday evening. Johnny Cooney, a native of Turraun in the Erin Rovers GAA catchment area, marked the milestone with family, friends and former team mates last Friday evening.

Johnny was joined by family for a meal in the Thatch, Crinkle earlier in the evening and was then given a big surprise when he arrived into Lawless's Pub at the Blueball where a large crowd of friends were waiting for him.

The affable and very popular Cooney is one of Offaly football's most cherished sons. He was a brilliant, teak tough, fearless forward on the Offaly team that won the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship in 1971 and 1972.

Cooey's direct, powerful running, his ability to give and take hits and his finishing ensured that he was one of the best forwards in the country during his long playing career. He won four Leinster senior football medals in 1969, 1971, '72 and '73 and was an All-Star winner in 1972 and 1973.

He won a Leinster minor football medal in the early 1960s and he was the star player on the Erin Rovers side that was agonisingly close to winning the Senior Football Championship in 1969, losing to a multi-talented Rhode side in a replayed final.

A former employee at Ferbane Power Station, he also operated a successful television, electrical business for a number of years and now in retirement, he gets great joy out of breeding Connemara ponies.

Now living near Boora, he wound down his playing career with Kilcormac, helping them to win a Junior Football Championship title in 1981. He always remained an Erin Rovers man at heart and he managed them at different stages over the years, getting great pleasure out of leading them to intermediate football success.

He was a very successful trainer of teams on the club circuit for years from the 1970s into the 2000s, leading several clubs to glory, inside and outside Offaly. He was an Offaly senior football selector in the early days under 1982 All-Ireland winning manager, Eugene McGee in the late 1970s but him, Martin Furlong, the late Noel McGee and the late Mick O'Rourke resigned after a furious row with the manager over the selection of a team at a tournament game in Ferbane in 1980.

He went onto serve on Offaly management teams later, including managing the U-21 footballers. A larger than life figure and a keen golfer, who has been a member at Moate Golf Club for several years, he remains a very passionate and engaged Offaly supporter.