Iconic 1986 All-Ireland minor triumph sparked second golden era for Offaly hurling

ONE of the greatest, most significant and iconic successes in Offaly GAA history took place forty years ago last week in 1986 when the All-Ireland Minor Hurling Championship was won for the first time.

Offaly’s sensational breakthrough success came on the coat-tails of the great Leinster and All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship wins in 1980 and 1981. It sparked a fantastic run at underage level in the 1980s as the All-Ireland Minor Hurling Championship was retained in 1987 and won for a third time in 1989 – when Offaly competed in both All-Ireland minor finals, losing out to Derry in the football.

Those wins in turn sowed the seeds for the emergence of the second great Offaly hurling team and several of the players became household names as famous All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship titles were added in 1994 and 1998.

It was an incredible time for Offaly hurling. Offaly had stunned observers when winning their first Leinster Senior Hurling Championship in 1980, shocking Kilkenny on a never to be forgotten day in front of just 9,000 spectators in Croke Park. They showed it was no fluke when retaining the Bob O’Keeffe Cup a year later when they went on to take the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship for the first time – steam rolling a shell-shocked Galway with a power packed second half display.

Beaten by Cork in the centenary All-Ireland senior hurling final in 1984, Offaly again took Galway out in the 1985 decider and they won three in a row Leinster championships from 1988 to 1990, without reaching the All-Ireland final.

The emergence of Offaly alongside a terrific Galway team transformed the hurling landscape. It disrupted the dominance of the traditional old order of Kilkenny, Cork and Tipperary and created a wave of hysteria and raw emotion in Offaly.

In 1980 and 1981, there was a generation of impressionable young boys in their final days in national school, heading into secondary school. They were at the right age to be overwhelmed and inspired by legends such as Padraig Horan, Damien Martin, Ger Coughlan, Joachim Kelly, Pat Carroll. Giants of men like Eugene Coughlan, Pat Delaney, Mark Corrigan, Johnny Flaherty et-al had a huge young positive impact on them and they were the boys who won All-Ireland minor medals in the following years and became senior super-stars in the 1990s.

Offaly’s most famous hurler was Brian Whelahan and he later gave an evocative insight into the impact that those 1980s win had on him and his young friends.

“Beating Kilkenny caused a revolution in Offaly hurling. It sparked huge interest in the county, especially down around Birr where, along with Tullamore, hurling is at its strongest. Every kid in the county, especially down in south Offaly, was going around with a hurley in their hand. That success in the 1980s brought on a whole new bunch of young lads who worked really hard at underage level along with their mentors. We reaped the rewards in the 1990s.”

The enormity of Offaly’s 1986 win can’t be understated. While several of the Offaly 1980-1985 team won Leinster U21 hurling medals in 1978, the county did not have a tradition of success at underage level.

The minor grade was introduced at county level in 1928 and in hurling, it was waste-ground for Offaly for most of the following decades. They were beaten by Dublin in the first Leinster final in 1928 and Kilkenny proved to be their bogey in the 1948, 1950, 1957 and 1982 finals. In between all that, there was some awful days, terrible beatings mixed in with occasion flashes of hope, wins over Kilkenny, Wexford, Dublin – in general, however, it was one long tale of woe.

A 3-16 to 3-4 Leinster final defeat by Kilkenny in 1982 did not provide any lift. They did well to record a rare win over Dublin in the semi-final but only one player that played that day went onto win an All-Ireland senior medal – that was St Rynagh’s Micheal Conneely who was very much in his veteran stages when he was a sub in 1994 – John Miller was unlucky as he played a few National Hurling League games at both ends of 1994 but was not there for the championship.

We reproduce that team here for no other reason than to satisfy those with a fascination for such trivia: Leslie O’Meara (St Rynagh’s); Kieran Rigney (St Rynagh’s), Val Smith (Birr), Barry Mitchell (Killeigh); Sean Guinan (Birr), Paddy Donoghue (Kinnitty), John Cannon (St Rynagh’s); Kieran Hogan (Birr), Pascal Molloy (Tullamore); John Miller (Coolderry), Stephen White (St Rynagh’s), Billy Delahunt (Birr); Liam Rosney (St Rynagh’s), Camillus Mitchell (Killoughey), Timmy Egan (Kinnitty). Subs – John Kearney (St Carthage’s), Noel Kennedy (Kinnittty), Micheal Conneely (St Rynagh’s).

Underage football and hurling was not in a good place in the first half of the 1980s, despite great senior success in both codes.

In 1982, Offaly won one of the most famous All-Ireland Senior Football Championships of all time but the minor footballers only scored 2-2 when making an inglorious exit to Louth and the manager Br Sylvester Carney was less than enthused with player commitment.

In 1985 Offaly won their second All-Ireland senior hurling title but made a harmless exit from the Leinster minor championship, Wexford beating them by 1-20 to 2-10 in Carlow.

A member of that team, Michael Duignan went on to become one of the most visible, famous people in Offaly and he was starting out on the road in 1985. That year certainly did little for him as he later recalled that the “set up was appalling”, they didn’t have one training session and he got a phone call before the game telling him to be in Banagher for a bus to Carlow.

He recalled that two players didn’t turn up “for whatever reason” as he sat in the dressing room with young people he was meeting for the first time. “It was particularly hard to believe that this was the level of preparation, if you could call it that, for the county minors in a year when Offaly won the senior All-Ireland,” he said in his 2011 autobiography.

Fortunately Duignan was still underage in 1986 when he saw a very different side of the coin. It was well known on the ground in Offaly that an outstanding breed of young hurler was on the way up. It was spoken about in Birr Community School where Padraig Horan and Br Denis were among the leading guiding lights, in Banagher Vocational School with the late Pat McNamara and others instilling real values in their young players. It could be seen in Offaly club underage hurling through the rivalry between St Rynagh’s and Birr and the most tangible proof was in schools’ championships.

The old Presentation College in Birr had taken decisive steps forward in the 1970s when they began to take scalps, beating Kilkenny CBS and most importantly, St Kieran’s, Kilkenny on their way to a Leinster juvenile championship win in 1977. The Wexford schools were also beaten in this decade and the progress speeded up when the Birr schools amalgamated as St Brendan’s Community School in 1979 – Presentation College bowed out on a high when winning their first Leinster colleges senior A title that year.

The new Birr Community School retained this grade in 1980, losing to Cork’s North Monastery in the All-Ireland final – Pat O’Connor, a goal scoring hero in the 1994 All-Ireland final win over Limerick, Paddy Corrigan and Joe Dooley were all on that team.

They won further Leinster senior titles in 1985 and 1986, when they finally reached the promised land, beating North Monastery in the All-Ireland final, 5-8 to 1-8. Several of that team backboned the 1986 All-Ireland minor champions - Declan Pilkington, Joe Erritty, Daithi Regan, Billy Dooley, Johnny Pilkington all started as did a tigerish Birr defender and a sub in 1994, Gary Cahill. The subs included Brian Whelahan.

Schools had a very important role in the Offaly hurling story. School wins over the best young hurlers in Kilkenny and Wexford in the 1970s removed the fear factor against them. Similarly when Offaly met Cork in the 1986 All-Ireland minor hurling final, they fully expected to win as many of these players had encountered each other in that colleges shootout.

The work in Birr was replicated a few miles out the road in Banagher where Banagher Vocational School won the All-Ireland Vocational Schools Junior Hurling Championship in 1984, after winning the Leinster junior in 1983. They won three All-Ireland VS Senior Hurling Championships in 1985, 1986 and 1989

Birr Community School and its Presentation Brothers predecessor had players from across the county border in Tipperary on many of their successful squads. Banagher VS had an even bigger quota of “guests” with students from Meeelick-Eyrecourt and Kiltormer featuring in some of the wins but they were essentially Offaly wins and worked wonders for the game in the county.

With both Birr and Banagher schools drawing in students from a wide catchment area, they were very much county successes and they also broke down old barriers and club rivalries as new friendships were struck up.

With all of this going on, it was no secret that something wonderful was happening at underage level. The 1985 Offaly captain, Pat Fleury recalled being told by the 1981 captain, Padraig Horan at that time that “was a very good bunch coming up in Birr”.

That was putting it mildly and it all manifested itself spectacularly in 1986 when Offaly achieved a success earlier generations thought was impossible.

On a memorable, roller coaster of a September day in Croke Park, Offaly wore down Cork for a 3-12 to 3-9 win. Their year had almost ended when they were held to a draw by Kilkenny in the first round, 2-8 each, winning the replay by one point, 3-9 to 4-5. Their year ignited from here as Dublin and Wexford were beaten on the way to provincial honours and Galway were taken out in the semi-final.

The Offaly juggernaut continued as Tipperary and Clare were beaten in the 1987 and 1989 All-Ireland finals while Kilkenny ended their winning run in 1988 – that was a very highly rated Offaly team with several great hurlers but they fell to a heavy 2-16 to 0-6 defeat.

Players from those three teams were pivotal to the 1990s glory years, though some were in “strange” positions. The 1986 goalkeeper was Joe Erritty, a natural defender who excelled at full forward for the 1998 All-Ireland winning champions. One of the great attacking artists of all time, Lusmagh’s John Troy was the goalkeeper in 1987 and 1989 as he initially followed older brother, Jim’s footsteps.

A young Johnny Dooley was wing back in 1987 but was wing forward in 1989 – Finbarr Cullen, Sean Grennan, Niall Hand and Kevin Flynn played in both All-Ireland minor finals in 1989.

Players from those teams were quickly thrown into senior, some before their time and it took a few years for their potential to be fulfilled at the highest level. There were a difficult few years at the start of the 1990s as the 1980s heroes bowed out, some staying on longer than they might have wished to help the outstanding young emerging talent. Offaly failed to reach the Leinster final for the first time since 1979 in 1991 when Dublin beat them and were beaten by Kilkenny in 1992 and 1993 before beating Limerick in a famous 1994 All-Ireland final.

Beaten by Clare in the 1995 All-Ireland final, they finally won the second All-Ireland title they so desperately sought and needed to confirm their greatness in 1998, beating Kilkenny in the final after taking out Clare in a notorious trilogy in the All-Ireland semi-final.

Minors from 1986, ’87 and ’89 backboned these sides. From the 1986 team, Joe Erritty, Brendan Kelly, Daithi Regan, Michael Duignan, Declan Pilkington and Billy Dooley have All-Ireland senior medals in their collection.

1987 provided John Troy (Lusmagh), Brian Whelahan, Brian Hennessy, Johnny Dooley, Joe Erritty, now outfield, Johnny Pilkington, Billy Dooley and Declan Pilkington while John Troy, Hubert Rigney, Brian Whelahan and Johnny Dooley collected All-Ireland minor medals in 1989. John Troy was the sub goalkeeper in 1986 when fifteen years of age and is the only man with all three medals

The team was managed by a future very successful Birr supremo Pat Joe Whelahan, and the selectors included important links with the schools: Tony Sampson, originally Shinrone and later Birrr, and Waterford native Br Vincent Costin had a huge, inspirational role in the development of the young Birr players in National School in Birr. It also included St Rynagh’s stalwart Pat Moylan and a legendary late Offaly hurling advocate, Killoughey man Willie Gorman.

Offaly’s path to the final in 1986 was:

Leinster MHC quarter-final: Offaly 2-8, Kilkenny 2-8;

Leinster MHC quarter-final replay: Offaly 3-9, Kilkenny 4-5;

Leinster MHC semi-final: Offaly 2-10, Dublin 0-7;

Leinster MHC final: Offaly 4-7, Wexford 1-5;

All-Ireland MHC semi-final: Offaly 3-13, Galway 2-10;

All-Ireland MHC final: Offaly 3-12, Cork 3-9.

1986 team v Cork: Joe Erritty (Birr); Peter Nallen (St Rynagh’s), Roy Mannion (St Rynagh’s), Declan |Sherlock (Birr); John Kilmartin (Kilcormac-Killoughey), Mick Hogan (Birr), Brendan Kelly (Lusmagh); Damien Geoghegan (Birr), Alan Kelly (St Ryangh’s); Gary Cahill (Birr), Daithi Regan (Birr), Thomas Moylan (St Rynagh’s); Ronnie Byrne (Lusmagh), Michael Duignan (St Rynagh’s), Declan Pilkington (Birr). Sub used – Billy Dooley (Birr). Other panel members: John Troy (Lusmagh), Brian Hennessy (Birr), Padraig McGuinness (Kinnitty), Billy Dooley (Seir Kieran), Seamus Morkan (Shinrone), Brendan Dwyer (Birr), Ger Maher (Shinrone), Kevin Bergin (Killeigh), Shane McGuckin (St Rynagh’s), Enda Pyke (Tullamore), Kieran Egan (St Rynagh’s), Aidan Ryan (Belmont).

Manager – Pat Joe Whelahan (Birr); Selectors – Pat Moylan (St Rynagh’s), Tony Sampson (Shinrone and then Birr), Br Vincent (Birr), Willie Gorman (Killoughey); Kitman – Barrry Hayes (Birr); County Board officials – Pat Leogue (Raheen, Bord nan Og secretary), Declan Hanniffy (Birr, Hurling Officer), Paudge Mulhare (St Rynagh’s, County Board chairman).

1987 team v Tipperary: John Troy (Lusmagh); Brian Whelahan (Birr), Damien Geoghegan (Birr), Brian Hennessy (Birr); Johnny Dooley (Seir Kieran), Joe Erritty (Birr), Adrian Cahill (Birr); Johnny Pilkington (Birr), Timmy Dooley (Killavilla); Seamus Morkan (Shinrone), Billy Dooley (Seir Kieran), Declan Pilkington (Birr); Kieran Egan (St Rynagh’s), John Troy (Kilcormac-Killoughey), Thomas Moylan (St Rynagh’s).

1989 team v Clare: John Troy (Lusmagh); Michael Hogan (Coolderry), Finbarr Cullen (Edenderry), Hubert Rigney (St Rynagh’s); Damien Barron (Kilcormac-Killoughey), Brian Whelahan (Birr), Donal Franks (Ballyskenach); Adrian Cahill (Birr), Ray Dooley (Coolderry); Johnny Dooley (Seir Kieran), Sean Grennan (Ferbane), Oisin O’Neill (Shinrone, later Birr); Ronan McNamara (St Rynagh’s), Niall Hand (Kilcormac-Killoughey), Kevin Flynn (Ferbane). Sub - Ray Deehan (Coolderry).