Ballinagar grieves a great GAA and community foot soldier

LAST December in the bowels of the Pairc Tailteann stand in Navan, I had the pleasure of meeting a handful of great Ballinagar gaels as they soaked up the atmosphere and met friends before the Leinster Club Junior Football Championship final between Ballinagar and Dunsaney.

Experiencing events they never dared dream about, a roller coaster ride as Ballinagar continued their fairytale footballing journey, the group were positively buzzing, beaming as they enjoyed a coffee and spoke with trepidation but infectious excitement about the coming game.

It was a great afternoon as Ballinagar put Dunsaney to the sword, playing some exceptional football as they won by 2-9 to 0-8. The whole occasion transcended football as it showed what the GAA means to so many small areas and communities in Ireland. Every man, woman and child from Ballinagar seemed to be there on that never to be forgotten day and among that group of old friends that I conversed with that day, two of them are no longer with us.

Pat Geoghegan, a former club player in the 1970s and early 1980s died suddenly at his Kilbeggan home last April and devastatingly, he has been followed into a premature grave by another, Martin Brophy, who was also taken way too soon in his early 60s, after being diagnosed with one of the cancers that no one wants to get just a short few months ago.

The two men grew up beside each other in a group of cottages just on the Geashill road out of Ballinagar. While Pat Geoghegan set up his family home in Kilbeggan, he remained entrenched in the Ballinagar area. Martin Brophy, just a short few years younger in his early sixties, lived in Ballinagar all his life and oozed Ballinagar blood.

The chat that day in Navan was lovely and easy going; a bit of banter and fun but also deadly serious with the nerves almost palpable. It was mainly football and wondering what Dunsaney were like, how would a young Ballinagar team cope with them. The group included two more veteran Ballinagar “old timers” Iggy Daly and Liam Kirley and the ease that they had with each other can only come from lifelong bonds.

Pat Geoghegan was on one of the most cherished teams in Killeigh parish, the St Mary's side that won the Minor Football Championship in 1974. An older brother of Martin Brophy's, well known builder Joe was a teak tough, highly rated defensive stalwart on that fine side – people from that era long argued that Joe was county standard but he didn't have a long footballing career.

Geoghegan played for Ballinagar as they reached the Junior Football Championship final in 1981, losing out to Kilcormac – the side included another brother of Martin Brophy, Pat at full back with Martin too young at that stage but it was not long before he was an automatic alongside Pat on the full back line.

With another neighbour from those cottages on the Geashill road, Mick Dunne behind them in the goals and his brother Martin at centre half back or midfield, that Ballinagar defence did not suffer fools gladly and raiding attackers got nothing soft. If you got by one, you then faced another bigger problem though it took some time for Ballinagar to fulfil their potential.

Playing senior with Raheen delayed their ascent – Mick and Martin Dunne, Dermot Cunningham and Enda Daly started on the side that was desperately unlucky to lose out to Edenderry in the 1985 senior football final. Johnny Dunne came on as a sub, Mickey O'Meara should have featured, having played in a number of games that year and the decision to replace him for the final raged in Ballinagar long after it was all over. John Malone and Damien Cunningham were also on the panel.

By 1988, those players were focusing on Ballinagar and they won their first ever adult title, the Junior Football Championship, edging out Mucklagh in a final that was not for the faint hearted. Martin and Pat Brophy formed two thirds of a rock solid full back line with another neighbour from a brisk 200 metres sprint up the road, Dermot Cunningham, known by most as Dan, completing the trio.

They laid a powerful foundation for Ballinagar that year, keeping scores down – Mucklagh only scored 1-6 in that final, though Ballinagar's 1-8 tally would win very few games in the modern era. That was the start of Ballinagar's first great era. They reached the Intermediate Football Championship final in 1989 but a young Vinny Claffey ran riot as Doon got away for an easy enough win.

They returned to the semi-final in 1990 and 1991 but St Brigid's proved to be their bugbear and then the inevitable decline set in as some of their most inspirational characters headed into the 30s and on towards 40. Martin and Pat Brophy went the full distance in their playing careers before Fr Time caught up on them.

Above: Trainer Padraig Gowran giving instructions to Dinny Dolan, Donal Cunningham, Pat Dolan, Martin Brophy and Damien Cunningham in 1988.

That 1988 win provided the impetus for Ballinagar to end their long life as a nomad and purchase their own playing pitch, getting a parcel off a well known Tullamore business man and local resident, Noel O'Brien. The purchase of that land led to a bit of a dispute in the club with the late referee, Eddie Dunne resigning as chairman along with his secretary, a young Paurig Gallagher, just out of secondary school at that stage.

Martin Dunne immediately took over as chairman with Martin Brophy stepping in as secretary. They oversaw the conclusion of the land purchase and its development over the following few years with the playing pitch prepared, dressing rooms built and car parking facilities provided on their impressive ground out the Daingean road from the village.

The leadership and drive of Martin Dunne and Martin Brophy, along with their treasurer, Seamus Black, was central to the development being speedily brought to fruition, inspiring many others to put their shoulder to the wheel and culminating in an official opening by GAA Director General, Liam Mulvihill in 19993.

By that stage, Martin Brophy had stepped aside as secretary, opting out at the 1991 Annual General Meeting but he remained very much hands on – one of the many locals willing to get their hands dirty and provide their expertise free gratis.

His passion for the club was inspirational and he led by example, never asking anyone to do something he wasn't willing to do himself. When he stepped down as secretary, he remained one of the most reliable go-to men whenever a job needed to be done – whether marking the pitch, stewarding at a game or any of the other myriad of jobs that crop up.

He was a very committed player. Martin Brophy never had to deal with a call from a county manager but he epitomised all that makes the GAA such a powerful organisation. He loved playing and he was extremely committed. He trained hard and was always willing to call out those who shied away from that – he played hard but fairly. He was tough and would hit hard, sometimes early, but he wasn't dirty. He trained and played the same way and he always knew that his first job as a corner back was to stop his corner forward for scoring – he was tight, tenacious, niggly and he frustrated a lot of very good forwards.

A smaller man that Pat, he moved across to full back when Pat retired in the early 1990s and was very solid, efficient in this role. As he approached the 40 mark himself and his legs slowed up, he went down a route taken by many, not always successfully. and had a brief sojourn in the forward line before eventually retiring.

He remained on the committee for several years, occasionally as assistant secretary but always there in the background, willing to work, obliging and helping.

When his neighbour, friend and long time team mate Mick Dunne took over as manager around the 1999-2000 mark, Martin Brophy went in as sole selector. The team was not going well at the time. Unhealthily dependant on their best player, David Gorry – father of current defender Jack Gorry -, it did not go well or end well. There were a few flash points during the year, mainly over team selection, and it erupted spectacularly at a game in Ballinamere.

With Ballinagar heading to a poor defeat, Martin Brophy wanted to introduce a survivor from the 1988 junior champions, Damien Cunningham. In chaotic scenes, Mick didn't want the change to be made, Damien ended up going in and it all finished with Mick stepping aside and Martin serving as manager for the remainder of the season.

It was a serious clash, a serious, public, fall out but it is a measure of the strength and character of both men that there was no lasting damage to their relationship and friendship and fences were in fact mended almost within the blink of an eye. They remained cordial, never stopped talking at that time and remained great friends throughout their lives with Mick one of the many people who rallied around Martin once news of his illness became public.

Both did what they had to do at that time and the Ballinamere eruption was merely a symptom of underlying tension around the team that went far beyond both men. Mick knew that his position was untenable, that Ballinagar would be best served by him leaving the manager's role. Martin knew that once that happened, the show had to stay on the road and that the right thing was for him to see out that season as manager and let a new man come in then. Both men knew that it was only football, they got on with it and most importantly, they still got on.

The GAA was a big part of Martin's life but it was of course only one element, and a peripheral one in ways. He was a tremendous GAA supporter, a great man to travel to Ballinagar and Offaly games but also club ones in general. He was very honest but fair minded when it came to talking about games and players and these qualities were his essence – the way he lived life.

A devoted father, brother, son and friend, he was fiercely proud of his family and he was dedicated to his craft. A fitter by trade, he worked in Coughlan Engineering in Tullamore for all his working life and was the recipient of a special presentation only last year for 40 years of service. He was a committed, hard worker and very good at his job – he expected others to do their job and didn't have a lot of tolerance for people who didn't possess a decent work ethic, believing in getting the job done well and in a timely fashion.

Martin was great, personable company, an engaging conversationalist. He never put himself about or pushed in on people but he didn't need to as people naturally gravitated to him, enjoying the chat and his viewpoints.

He enjoyed Ballinagar trips away, buses to big games in Croke Park and elsewhere from the 1980s onwards, occasional holidays – he went on one of the Offaly 1971/1972 All-Ireland senior football champions reunion trips to Spain's Costa del Sol in the late 1990s, taking in a day to Gibraltar on that holiday.

He was a social, controlled drinker, enjoying the pub scene and the conviviality of them but he did not drink to excess.

He had a temper and this was expressed rarely in his GAA and work worlds but he possessed a deep sense of humanity and minding and looking out for people. He was a great, obliging neighbour and friend and did things for people that few ever knew about.

He also had a great passion for farming. He had a lifelong bond with two farming relatives, George and Larry Hackett and after their death some years ago, he moved into their house and took over their farm – he had initially built his own house just a few hundred metres up the Geashill road from his home of origin. He loved the land, animals and farming life, combining this with his job as a fitter – in many ways, farming was a hobby for him. He had a quiet, endearing sense of humour and was genuinely pleasant company.

Apart from the GAA, he immersed himself in other community activities in Ballinagar. He fundraised and supported events when the local Church was burned down in the 1990s, he was a great backer of the provision of a local cemetery beside the GAA pitch in that decade.

Decent, principled, straightforward, honourable, reliable, solid, dependable, his word was his bond, he was one good man and he was so proud as Ballinagar won the Junior and Intermediate Football Championship titles in 2022 and 2024, culminating in that Leinster junior win last year. His illness meant he couldn't get to many games this year but he knew of their progress and that they had reached the Senior “B” Football Championship final, losing to Clara just a couple of weeks ago.

Ironically, his death comes at a time when there is a bit of background turbulence going on in his beloved Ballinagar GAA club – club chairman Ciaran Darcy, secretary Jimmy Dolan and treasurer Ger Craven told the committee this week that they are stepping down from their roles, resulting in the AGM being pushed back from this Friday to Friday, November 21^st.

That is at least partly a symptom of some friction between players and club officers and as in all these cases, there is two sides, if not three, to every story. There possibly are things that the club could or should be doing to help Ballinagar improve and succeed in their dream of reaching the top flight for the first time since the 1890s - there may be a need to start preparing like a senior club as Ballinagar's window of opportunity may be a brief one and this golden generation won't last for ever.

There have also been requests by some players that just could not be granted by any club, would open up a hornet's nest and it is all a bit messy there at the moment, which is a great shame considering how well the football and the club is going – they are in the process of providing a new all weather pitch there.

The example set by Martin Brophy is one that every club member could live by. There is certainly a need for people to remain calm and grounded, to remember that things are transient, that officers and players come and go but that the club will remain and will continue to be the main social outlet for so many people in the area for generations to come.

Just over twelve months ago, Pat Geoghegan and Martin Brophy were bubbling with pride as Ballinagar took to the field for the Leinster final, now their journey has ended prematurely. I can almost hear what Martin Brophy would say to the people now – it would be on the lines of keep your heads, stay calm, keep moving forward and be kind. He would tell them that in decades to come, you will pay money for the memories that are being created now and not to be blind-sided by other stuff.

The Ballinagar achievements have touched all these people in a very powerful way, brought joy to the lives of men and women they don't know.

Their death is a true tragedy and Martin Brophy's funeral is certain to be a huge one. He has lived well, contributed powerfully and leaves a treasure chest of great memories.

May he rest in peace.

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He is sadly missed by his loving daughter Florrie and her mother Helen, brothers Joe, Johnny, Pat and Brendan, sisters Catherine, Nuala and Teresa, uncle Tony, brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, nieces, nephews, work colleagues, neighbours and many friends.

He is Reposing at his residence (eircode R35 RT68) on Sunday from 1pm with Rosary at 7pm. Removal on Monday morning at 10:20am arriving St Joseph's Church Ballinagar for Requiem Mass at 11am. Funeral afterwards to St Joseph's Cemetery Ballinagar.

There will be a Shuttle Bus will be in operation from Ballinagar GAA Carpark (R35 YV74) on Sunday from 1pm.