Triumphant Offaly soccer team of 1990s reunites this weekend
Gathering in Walsh Island on Saturday will recall Shamrocks' historic four-trophy haul
A SPECIAL celebration of Walsh Island Shamrocks soccer club's Leinster Junior League treble and Giffney Cup victory in the 1990s will take place in Hoppers on Saturday, June 20.
Players, mentors and supporters will gather to remember the team's remarkable achievement in the 1995/1996 season when the team won the Leinster Junior League Counties Division Three League, the Counties Division Three Subsidiary Cup and the Counties Division Three Shield – all in the space of three weeks.
Remarkably, the Offaly club followed that up a year later by winning one of the most coveted trophies at that level of junior soccer in Leinster, the Giffney Cup, with the final played at the iconic Dalymount Park.
So how did a successful soccer team emerge from the heart of north Offaly, the area which powered the Faithful County to All-Ireland glory and Walsh Island GAA to six successive county titles?
That's something the survivors of three decades ago will ponder when they reunite on Saturday evening.
Jason Carroll, a founder of the club, recalls the establishment of the team: “We were only four years old when we won the treble. There was no underage structure, not one of us had come through that. We started off with no training and no tactics or anything.”
But within a couple of seasons the fledgling team had gelled and served notice of its intent with a great run in the Leinster Junior Shield in the 1994/1995 season, only going out in the semi-final to Dublin club Verona.
It all came right for manager Brendan Ryan and the squad captained by Enda McDermott the following term when they did the Counties clean sweep.
“Walsh Island were the very first Offaly club to win a divisional treble,” remarked Carroll.
At the time the Leinster Junior League was a sprawling conglomeration of teams across Dublin and much of Leinster and the annual end of season awards night took place in the Keadeen Hotel, Newbridge.
“The Leinster Junior League gave us a special merit award in the Keadeen a couple of weeks later and we would have been the club of the year only a team in Dublin also won a treble,” said Carroll.
“There was no way the Leinster Junior League were going to give club of the year to a team from Offaly!” he laughed.
There was another plaudit for the club when Noel Carty won the soccer award in the 1996 Offaly Sports Stars.
The Division Three title guaranteed promotion to Counties Division Two where Walsh Island Shamrocks more than held their own and finished third.
However, the crowing glory of the era was the Giffney Cup in 1997. “The Giffney Cup and the final in Dalymount Park was probably the best achievement. It trumps the treble, for me anyway,” said Carroll.
Derek Carty captained the team on the day in the home ground of Bohemians when Walsh Island defeated Cardiff from Finglas 1-0 with a goal from Daithi Duffy.
As Carroll remembers it, Walsh Island were by far the better side: “We murdered them, we should have won 5-0.”
Like Carroll and all the other players, Daithi Duffy's playing career is well behind him now. Indeed, Duffy, now 56, had a double hip replacement last year.
Carroll is hoping most of the players will be in Hoppers pub on Saturday (from 8pm with food, music and a free draw) for the 30th anniversary celebration.
One notable figure in the story has since passed away, Noel Duffy. Before he got involved in the club he sprung to national prominence as the inventor of a motorised barstool, powered by a Honda 50 engine.
After the highs of the 1990s Walsh Island Shamrocks was one of the clubs which joined the breakaway Offaly Westmeath Laois League where more silverware and a club of the year title followed.
The club is still plying its trade in the Combined Counties Football League from its Carty Park home.
Shamrocks' treble triumph three decades ago did not go unnoticed outside Offaly. Here's a report which appeared in the Evening Herald on May 28, 1996 -
Three Counties Division 3 trophies in three weeks – no wonder they are called Walsh Island Shamrocks!
The team, which was only formed four years ago, completed the treble in style by defeating Cill Beara Rovers 2-0 in the Shield final.
The first part of the three-timer came with a League play-off win over Templevilla; they followed that up with a dramatic Subsidiary Cup victory against Bridge United and then before a massive following at Portarlington, completed the triangle against a below-par Rovers side.
And there's yet another three in the tale. Striker Paul Cox helped himself to three goals in the last two matches – one in the 4-2 extra-time win over Bridge and two more last Saturday.
“It's just reward for four years of hard dedication and hard work,” commented assistant coach Stephen Kelly. “This year is our first time to win anything after coming second and third before,” he added.
While the League decider against Templevilla was always going to be a tight affair, Shamrocks were the favourites going into both of the other matches. They had already beaten Bridge and Cill Beara may have been lacking match practice.
Still, the Subsidiary Cup final turned out to be a close encounter, even after Walsh Island went 2-0 up with goals from Tommy Duffy and Daithi Duffy. David Flynn pulled one back for Bridge and the game went to extra-time when Mick Kelly scored five minutes into injury time.
However goals from Jason Carroll and Paul Cox sewed it up for Walsh Island and a single minded performance in the last match of the season earned them the historic treble. Cox's brace brought his season tally to 20 and in all the Shamrocks managed more than 70 goals in 29 matches.