Coolderry to commemorate Pat Carroll and championship winning teams

COOLDERRY GAA Club will take a deeply poignant and emotional trip into the past at a special event on Saturday next.

This March marks forty years since the the untimely passing of one of Coolderry’s finest sons, Pat Carroll. To mark the anniversary, a remembrance Mass for Pat and deceased members of Coolderry GAA Club will be celebrated in St Ita’s Church, Coolderry at 8pm on Saturday, March 14^th.

After Mass, everyone is invited to the Community Centre (next door) for refreshments, where details of a project to record Coolderry’s successes on the field will be revealed. Stage one will be the unveiling of 31 framed records and photos, chronicling the club’s 31 Offaly Senior Hurling Championship titles.

There will also be a framed collage of photos recounting Pat Carroll’s career, incorporating club and county. These will later be placed on permanent display in the clubrooms. Carroll was one of Offaly's greatest ever hurlers, a fantastic forward on the great team that won the first ever Leinster Senior Hurling Championship in 1980, followed by the first All-Ireland a year later.

Carroll's excellent goal helped keep Offaly alive as they struggled in the first half of the 1981 All-Ireland final win over Galway. They trailed by 0-13 to 1-4 at half time, restricted Galway to just two points in the second half, snatching a famous late 2-12 to 0-15 win.

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He played close to 100 senior games for Offaly from 1975 to 1985, winning Leinster senior hurling medals in 1980, '81, '84 and '85. He collected a second All-Ireland senior medal in 1985 but was unfortunately diagnosed with cancer after playing in the All-Ireland semi-final win over Antrim. That proved to be his last game for Offaly and there was raw emotion as team mates visited him in hospital with the Liam McCarthy Cup after Galway were beaten again in the final.

Pat passed away the following March with thousands attending his funeral. He won two Offaly senior hurling medals with Coolderry in 1977 and 1980.

The trophy Coolderry won for the ‘unofficial’ Offaly Senior Hurling Championship in 1890 will also be on display on the night of March 14th.

Further stages of the project will include putting framed records and photos of all Coolderry’s Championship victories, at adult and underage, on display in the clubrooms.

To help finance the ongoing project, a ‘Patrons Wall’ will be established in the clubrooms, where individuals or families who donate €100 will have their names recorded. For further details on this, please contact Pat Teehan (087) 6593757 or any committee member.

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