Legendary Offaly GAA figurehead celebrated in poignant centenary ceremony

A LEGENDARY Offaly GAA figurehead was celebrated in a poignant and powerful ceremony in O'Connor Park, Tullamore last Wednesday evening.

A centenary after his term as Offaly GAA chairman ended in 1925, several of his grandchildren and descendants gathered to present a specially framed picture of Drumcullen man, Lar Molloy to the County Board.

Officers of the board and members of Drumcullen GAA Club were present for the ceremony, including one of Offaly hurling's most cherished figures, Mick Spain, who is one of the few people still alive who met Lar Molloy and retains memories of him.

A particular highlight of the short event was a stunningly powerful airing of the Offaly Rover by his Birr grandson, John Molloy, a famous bass-baritone opera singer and Grammy nominee.

Lar Molloy was a hurler of note in his youth, winning medals with Eglish and Drumcullen in the 1900s and 1910s before immersing himself in administration and serving as Offaly GAA chairman from 1920 to 1925.

He died young in 1941 at just 52 years of age and left a real treasure to Offaly GAA – his son Paddy was one of Offaly's greatest ever hurlers, the county's star man from the mid 1950s through to the early 1970s. A prolific scorer who was teak tough and was very much a hurler of his time, his exploits stood the test of time. He played in the unlucky 1969 Leinster senior hurling final defeat to Kilkenny, scoring seven points – his peak years were spent in defence and he re-invented himself as a superbly effective forward as he moved towards the veteran ranks. Offaly were in the doldrums for a lot of his career but it is a sign of his brilliance that he had national fame – unfortunately Molloy and a couple of others were heading down the wrong side of the hill when the '69 Leinster final took place but that close run against Kilkenny along victories in the 1960s over Tipperary and Wexford, were important stepping stones on the road to the big 1980 breakthrough.

Lar was married to a Kilcormac woman, Kathleen (Kate) Troy and their children were: Michael, Fr Sean, Paddy, Madge Bracken and Tessie Gath.

Sadly Lar Molloy did not live to see his son become such a superb hurler and his family grow up and rear grandchildren etc but his contribution to Offaly GAA was profound in its own right. The 1920s was a very turbulent time as the War of Independence was followed by a hugely divisive civil war and he was chairman when all of this was at its most volatile.

While very much a sporting body, the GAA had a very nationalist undertone and the fall out from the civil war had a particularly hard impact on the organisation. Lar Molloy was a strong nationalist himself and he had to steer the Offaly GAA ship through a period when people were killed or maimed, feelings hurt and the GAA had a mixture of all shades of opinion – it included strong opponents of violent resistance, passionate adherents of the gun and most tellingly, hugely influential individuals on both sides of the Civil War divide, anti and pro-treaty.

All of that created ructions at County Board level in a variety of ways and Lar Molloy did very well to keep them from pulling each other apart. He was chairman in 1924 when Offaly won their first All-Ireland title, the 1923 junior hurling. This showed the impact of the Civil War in all its glory as Offaly initially accepted a walkover when Cork refused to play as their chairman and other figures were in jail.

This acceptance polarised County Board opinion and Lar Molloy led the charge against and ultimate rejection of taking the title via a walkover.

Before becoming chairman, he had successfully proposed a motion at Offaly GAA Convention in 1914, supporting the formation of a national volunteer corps. In 1916, he left no one in any doubt about which way he was leaning when he called for a tournament to be staged for the benefit of families of men jailed for their part in an affray in Tullamore – some people involved liked to claim that these were the first shots fired in the build up to the 1916 Easter Rising. A decision was initially deferred after opposition was led by the Kinnitty delegate who said the prisoners had “brought it on themselves”, though Tullamore GAA did later stage such a tournament.

As chairman, he strongly supported a 1923 Offaly GAA resolution calling for the release of all republican prisoners, including County Board officers, Sean Robbins and Lar Langton. Birr native and a later Tullamore GAA member, Stephen Cloonan was secretary during most of his term as chairman and him and Molloy were occasionally at loggerheads – possibly with different opinions on the politics of the time, though it is impossible to know now what was behind the undercurrent between both men.

High up in the pantheon of Offaly GAA's great officers, Stephen Cloonan was the grandfather of current Tullamore business man Brian Cloonan and him and him and Molloy guided Offaly GAA through the fallout from the initial decision to take a walkover from Cork for not playing that 1923 final.

The County Board meeting where Offaly refused to accept the title in the boardroom was an incredibly fractious affair with Molloy saying they had to protect the “honour of the county” and lambasting anyone who felt otherwise, stating that they had brought shame to Offaly.

He only went back as chairman for his final year in 1925 after a row over his nomination papers not being signed in Irish. Stephen Cloonan had stepped in as chair for the election with future chairman Sean Robbins also proposed. He initially refused to accept Molloy's nomination as the papers were not signed as Gaelige. Molloy complained at the issue being raised at this stage, noting that it had never been a problem before and Leinster Council had to step in to chair a second Convention before Molloy was elected.

A comment by Cloonan gives a hint of what may have been going on in the background as he argued that a second Convention would not help: “There is more at the back of it than appears to this Council. The rule as to the use of the Irish language would not hamper the working of the county committee in Offaly. It was more a political matter than anything else that was responsible for the trouble.”

The biggest twist in the tail at that reconvened Convention came when Molloy was elected unopposed after Sean Robbins' withdrawal while Cloonan was beaten in a contest for secretary by Tommy Lawless of Killoughey, before returning to that role for several years and playing a pivotal role in the development of both St Brendan's Park in Birr and O'Connor Park in Tullamore – he also died young in 1955, when he was still secretary.

Lar Molloy also served as chairman of the South Offaly GAA committee and Offaly GAA Leinster Council delegate before becoming county chairman while he was a county councillor in the 1920s, losing his seat in 1928. He lived at Killyon and was elected to the South Offaly Ratepayers Association in 1930 as well as being a member of the County Board of Health and the Birr Rural District Council and Board of Guardians, where he was chairman for a few years.

Offaly GAA secretary Brendan Minnock provided a brief resume of Lar Molloy's career at last week's function.

Offaly GAA chairman Tom Parlon paid tribute to Lar Molloy and the many other people who served a chairman over the years. He noted that his father and Paddy and Michael Molloy were first cousins as their mother and his grandmother was a Troy.

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Lar Molloy's granddaughter, Catherine Dooley, nee Molloy, spoke on behalf of the family, outlining how he played with a few clubs before the parish rule came into operation. She outlined how he imparted a strong GAA heritage down the line and spoke about his contribution to life in general.