Big demand anticipated for auction of Offaly man's prized sporting memorabilia

A BIG crowd is expected to attend with keen demand at an auction of a fantastic collection of sporting memorabilia in Offaly on Friday evening, August 7.

A well known former referee, Carthage Buckley is putting up his remarkable collection for auction at 6.30pm in Gallen Community School, Ferbane with viewing taking place from 3pm.

A native of Ballycumber, Catch as he is fondly known has lived in Clara for decades and the acution will be conducted by another Clara man, All-Ireland hurling referee, Brian Gavin.

Proceeds will go to Offaly Dochas, a cause very close to Catch's heart. His son John passed away with cancer in December 2019 and Catch and wife Margaret are deeply appreciative of the support he got in Offaly Dochas as he battled his illness for the previous year plus.

ohn Buckley was a prominent member of Clara GAA Club – a very good goalkeeper, he won senior and junior football medals with them in the 1990s and 2000s.

He is delighted to support Dochas stating: “Those people were so, so good to John as was the complete community in Offaly, Clara was outstanding and Esker Hills Golf Club. They done so much for it, we wouldn't have survived without him.”

Catch's began to collect sporting memorilia back in the 1970s and has a remarkable collection of books and programmes. GAA items form the bulk of his collection but he also has some fantastic soccer and rugby programmes and items – he has programmes from rugby and soccer internationals dating back to the late 1970s, FA cup finals in the 1980s.

A cherished part of his collection is devoted to local Clara man, Shane Lowry. He is a big Liverpool fan himself and has a lot of stuff relating to them.

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He developed a passion for collecting memorabilia at a young age. He has All-Ireland football and hurling final programmes dating back to the early 1970s with some from before that, including the 1954 All-Ireland hurling final when Christy Ring won his eight medal for Cork and 1947 All-Ireland senior football. He has a huge amount of programmes from other big games, All-Ireland semi-finals, National League and provincial finals and much more.

He has programmes from most Offaly senior hurling and football finals, from when they began to be produced regularly and has also collected from other counties – he has county final programmes from Westmeath, Meath, Laois, Kilkenny, Wexford, Galway, Mayo and Roscommon

He has Our Games, GAA annuals from the 1970s and his collection of books has to be seen to be believed. He has fantastic scrap books with some great old pictures and newspaper cuttings.

Catch Buckley is very well known in Offaly. He was one of the best referees in Offaly for decades from the 1970s through to the 2010s. Buckley took up refereeing initially in 1974 when asked to take charge of a colleges game by late Offaly GAA secretary and GAA president, John Dowling after the official referee didn't turn up. Encouraged by John Dowling, he began to referee official club games in Offaly the following year and soon became one of the top football referees in Offaly

He took charge of his first big final in 1978 when St Brigid's beat Killeigh in the Junior Football Championship decider and his first senior a year later. He went onto take charge of nine Senior Football Championship finals and is one of a very elite group who have refereed senior deciders in both codes – he refereed the drawn meeting between Birr and Coolderry in 2006 and refereed his final senior football final in 2008.

He has refereed finals in every grade in Offaly except U20 hurling and retired from refereeing in 2011. He was also a high quality inter-county football referee, taking charge of several big fixtures, including All-Ireland minor and U21 football finals, an All-Ireland senior football semi-final, National Football League semi-finals and much more.

His county career stalled and never fully recovered after he refereed the notorious battle of Aughrim between Laois and Wicklow in the Leinster Senior Football Championship in 1986. Laois had won the National Football League earlier and were hot favourites but were shocked by Wicklow. Three Laois and one Wicklow player were sent off but contrary to widely accepted stories, Buckley did not have to leave the Aughrim venue in the boot of the car – he was subjected to abuse and protected by gardai while his car was struck as he left the venue but he wasn't assaulted himself.

He did referee other big games for several years after that but his path to the very top was blocked.

He remained one of the best referees in Offaly until a back injury forced his retirement in 2011 and he has stayed active since as a referees' assessor and helping to recruit and train new officials.

A retired butcher in Clara, Buckley began to collect when he was in his formative years in Ballycumber, cutting out newspaper articles and placing them in scrap books.

He will keep some items that are close to his heart, including programmes of Offaly's biggest games but a lot of great items will be up for grabs. He has programmes from Offaly senior hurling and football finals going back decades, books on a wide range of topics and histories from all over the country.

It has been a lifelong passion for Catch Buckley and while it will be difficult for him to let stuff goes, he has decided now is the time. Firstly he is in his mid 70s and with his sons, Carthage jnr and Garrett not having an interest in his collection, he wants to make sure they find good homes.

He has a press cutting from the 1959 All-Ireland senior hurling final between Waterford and Kilkenny and his collection more or less dates from then – though he has gathered some older stuff.

He is bringing the same passion to organising the sale and benefitting Dochas that he brought to his collection. “I have a feeling this auction will be a success and I will not handle one penny myself. I will form a committee to look after it.”

Various signed county jerseys will also be up for grabs for the day and Gallen Community School will be well worth visiting on Friday, August 7 for people with an interest in sport.