Success of 1930s remembered with plaque unveiling in proud hurling area in Offaly

THE success of the Eglish junior hurling team of 1938 and the same team who won the Intermediate the following year in 1939, was remembered by the Fivealley Development Association recently when they unveiled a plaque in their honour.

Brian Pey, the son of one of the team members, told the large gathering that “85 years ago, something remarkable happened in Eglish when we produced a team which won back to back Junior and Intermediate Offaly Hurling county titles, something Eglish hasn’t come close to achieving since,” he said.

“The GAA,” he said “has always played an important part in life in Eglish. Before the official Championships were launched, Eglish contested a County Final against Killoughey in 1887 with Killoughey winning on the day”. Eglish footballers also brought a junior football title to the parish in 1920.

Brian went on “Eglish has produced many fine hurlers over the years, and Eglish players have played key roles in the Junior, Intermediate and Senior Drumcullen title winning teams over the decades. Drumcullen have won 17 Senior Hurling titles to date, as well as six Junior titles and (like Eglish) have won one Intermediate title. Some of the greatest Drumcullen hurlers like the Foxes, Mahons, Jim Hughes and Willie Mitchell were from the Eglish end of the parish, and likewise Peter Lyons, Mick Spain and other Drumcullen hurlers featured for Eglish teams on occasion.
The Offaly Junior A Hurling Championship has been run since 1907. Back in August 1927 Eglish appeared in the Offaly Junior Hurling Final against Mountheaton, but they lost the match by 5-1 to 2-1. On Sunday, 22nd, 1929 at Birr, the South Offaly Junior Hurlingfinal was between Eglish and Coolderry.

In the 1930’s the Offaly Junior Hurling championship was won by ten different clubs: Tullamore, Coolderry, Drumcullen, Lockeen, Banagher, Kilcolman, Gortnamona, Seir Kieran, Eglish and Killeigh.

The Offaly Intermediate Hurling Championship has been running since 1929. In the 1930’s the Offaly Intermediate Hurling championship was won by nine different clubs:- Rahan, Seir Kieran, Shinrone, Tullamore, Clara, Edenderry, Banagher, Kilcolman, Seir Kieran, Eglish. Eglish were also finalists in 1945 when they lost to Ballinamere.

In the 1937 Junior Hurling campaign, Eglish reached the final, where they played against Clareen. This was a close match but Clareen won by 4-8 to 4-3. The newspaper report said that John Coughlan, Ambrose Molloy and Mick Fox played well for Eglish. The final score was —Mountheaton, 16 points (5 goals) Eglish 7 points (2 goals a point).

The Teams.

Eglish: J. Molloy, J. Carroll, C. Hernon, J. Molloy, K. Hernon, J. Horan, N. Horan, K. Dooley, W. Cunningham, J. Guinan, J. Burke, M. Dea, J. Dermody, P. Downey, W. Kinsella.
Mountheaton: T. Hannon, J. Shanahan, M. Franks, W. Franks, P. Maher, J. Maher, J. Auliffe, M. Cantwell, P. McLoughlin, H. McCoy, P. Magee, D. Bergin, D. Delaney, T. Lalor, J. Cooney. Subs- J. Shanahan, T. Treacy, J. Lawlor.

On November 13th 1938 in St Brendan’s Park, Birr, Eglish beat Killoughey by 5-4 to 2-1 to win the Offaly Junior Hurling title.
In October 1939 Eglish beat Birr by 3-5 to 0-3 in the Intermediate Final. The goalscorers for Eglish were Pakie Troy, Pat Fletcher and Jimmy Mahon.

The team was trained by Bill Brummell, who was ex-Army, and who played occasionally. The team wore green jerseys with white collars. Jim Hynes was the last surviving member of the 1938 and 1939 teams.

The team: John Coughlan Cloncarbon, Captain, Paddy O’Dea, Cloncarbon, Goals, Hugh Devery, Fivealley, Jim Hynes, Carrigeen/Ballykealy, Mick Fox, Coologe, Mick Coughlan, Cloncarbon, Pat Kinsella, Arguga, Pat Coughlan, Cloncarbon, Willie Troy, Irishtown, Pakie Troy, Irishtown, Jimmy Mahon, Drynagh, Pat Fletcher, Ballinaguilsha, Pat Egan, Lowerheath, Ambrose Molloy, Cloncarbon, Pat Grogan, Ballycollin (school house), Michael Grogan, Ballycollin, Henry ‘Har’ Percy, Parkmore (worked in Bollards), Pat Pey, Dowras, Willie Cashin, Galros.

On September 2nd 1939 Eglish played Carrig and Riverstown with Eglish winning by 6-5 to 3-4. It was a bad game with “wild fighting and fisticuffs” and a melee eight minutes before the end. It was discussed at the county board meeting the following week where it was decided to award the match to Eglish.

The Intermediate Final was played on October 23rd 1939 by the same team, between Eglish and Birr, with Eglish winning comfortably by 3-5 to 0-3. Eglish players were too fast for Birr and at half time the score was Eglish 3-2 Birr 0-2.

Brian went on to recount match reports from The Midland Tribune over the following years as Eglish played in the senior grade and their eventual re-grading back to Intermediate level.
But the evening was all about the great success achieved by the victorious Junior team of 1938 and Intermediate success of 1939.