Whoever said you should never meet your heroes can go and do one. When those once admired from afar become friends is one of the most special things which can occur in a life. I’ve been blessed to have had that experience with generations of Meath footballers.
Going all the way back to 1939 captain Mattie Gilsenan, and on to Brian Smyth, Jim Reilly, Paddy O’Brien, Peter Darby, Matt Kerrigan and the members of virtually every Meath team from 1987 to the present day. An incredible honour I never taken for granted.
Perhaps it stands to reason though that greatest closeness resonates with the lads from the 1999 and 2001 bunches because, to a large extent, a big number of those who would have been the younger members of the panel at that time were around my own age. Lads like David Gallagher, Seamie Kenny, Niall Kelly, Charlie McCarthy and Niall McKeigue.
Now, though I wouldn’t be party to same, I do know the ’99 lads have a WhatsApp group among themselves, and, being as close as I’m privileged to be with Sean and his backroom team of the day, as well as the lads, I’d often get an idea of what might be flying around in the WhatsApp group.
Yesterday was no different. Except it was completely different. It’s probably just a factor of getting older, but, groups of friends only tend to be in touch now – either in person or via electronic communication – when somebody with a connection to the group passes away. I know, for example, that when my own mother passed away last September word went around – even though one is not officially in the group – and for that I will be eternally grateful.
Yesterday, however, it would be fair to say there was a unified sense of shock and disbelief as word filtered through of the untimely death of former Galway forward Paul Clancy at just 49. His passing being the second tragedy to hit the family in recent months, as he was predeceased by his brother-in-law Don Connellan who also would have played against Meath back in the day with his native Roscommon.
It’s one of the innumerable great things about the GAA that, once the final whistle goes, rivalries are parked but bonds remain which will forever endure. Such as when the Meath and Dublin players who populated the 1991 saga meet for their annual golf outing. Or, more poignantly and aptly in this case, when the Meath lads of 1987 and ’88 decamped on mass to Cork at the times of the deaths of Mick McCarthy, John Kerins and Teddy McCarthy from that revered Rebel force.
I have absolutely no doubt there will be a similar Royal deployment to Salthill, Maigh Cuilinn and their environs in the coming days in honour of Paul Clancy. Only as it should be. What a footballer. And what a Gael, in the whole sense of the word. Which in some ways only came to light (to this writer at least) in the days since he was taken long, long before his time.
Well, in true Irish fashion, that’s only partially true but we’ll get to clarity in due course. Firstly, though, the footballer. My late father always eulogised about Galway’s go-to style of football. Low ball in in front of nippy forwards who were fast onto ball and could take scores from anywhere. Mind you, as our counties paths rarely crossed in my formative years of going to matches, it was until gifted a copy of Pat Comer’s magnificent A Year ‘Til Sunday documentary video was studied that there was an understanding of what all the fuss was about.
The old man was spot on. But here’s the thing, when you have pre-anointed superstars like, say, Boylan first Meath brigade had Robbie O’Malley, Mick Lyons, Martin O’Connell, Gerry McEntee and Colm O’Rourke, it was the endeavours of the ‘worker bees’ – albeit very stylish ones – in Terry Ferguson, Kevin Foley, David Beggy and PJ Gillic – who allowed the other magicians weave their magic.
Jump ahead to that Galway group of 1998 and 2001 and, where you had the likes of Declan Meehan, Sean Og De Paor, Ja Fallon, Michael Donnellan and Padraic Joyce grabbing the headlines, it was other such as Sean O’Domhnaill, Paul Clancy, Matthew Clancy and Neil Finnegan who laid on the ingredients for the others to serve up the gourmet football.
In fact, in terms of the 2001 All Ireland win over Meath, were it not for a vital intervention by Paul Clancy against Armagh, John O’Mahony’s charges would have been facing expulsion long before the late September date with our Royals. On such inches does fate hinge however.
In that instance, not only did wing forward Clancy go on to be one of the stars of that long, hot summer in an overall sense, against our lads in particular, he was his buzzy livewire self and, were it not for the fact that Joyce kicked ten of his team’s 17 points (aided by the only serious faux pas of Sean Boylan’s managerial career), Maigh Cuilinn’s Clancy would have been a shoo-in in for the Man Of The Match gong.
As happens with any hugely successful team, the more prominent members thereof will have little bother finding roles through which to stay involved in GAA once their playing days have elapsed. Either through punditry roles in the media or venturing into management roles themselves. From that Galway group, De Paor, O’Domhnaill, Joyce, Derek Savage and Kevin Walsh have all got roles through one facet or the other.
Paul, on the other hand, mightn’t have had the profile of some of the others but found his niche in leading and inspiring his club in ways which would have been considered unusual for somebody his age at the time.
Going back as far as 2003 when my own club were partaking in Feile Peil Na nGael in the land of the Tribes. From memory, the Dunboyne contingent were hosted by Tuam Stars, but I vividly recall Paul being on hand in some capacity or other. And thinking ‘isn’t it fantastic to see a county player taking such an interest in what undoubtedly was the biggest occasion in those young players’ careers.
So, amidst the shock and sadness which has engulfed so many in the past few days, it actually fitted the narrative that Paul had (a) taken on the role of Chairman at what would be considered a relatively young age to do so and (b) that his doing so coincided with the most glorious spell in the club’s history.
At my own expense, what I hadn’t realised was that he had already been in and around inter county management with his native county during Alan Mulholland’s tenure and also with Laois during Justin McNulty’s first spell there.
Inspiring those around him to improve and succeed, which he will now poignantly do forever more. May he rest in peace.
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