|
|
 |
You are > Home > Mitchels is a home from home
|
Wednesday, June 09, 2010
Mitchels is a home from home
By Michael Gallagher
I ALWAYS knew it would come to this. It always lurked in the back of my mind that one day my football heart would be dragged in two opposite directions, but I had tried to block it out.
On Sunday last the sun smiled down on Mayo, trying hard to soothe our hearts following a harrowing defeat in Sligo the evening before.
In teach O’Gallachoir there were crucial decisions to be made. Kiltane and Belmullet were destined to clash later that day in the Comortas Peil semi-final and every fibre of my being sent signals to the brain that I should be in Tallagh to see the much-anticipated clash of my neighbours. Of course life isn’t that simple.
The youngest member of our household was destined to walk in the Corpus Christi procession in Castlebar and as I had been on the road a lot lately there was huge pressure exerted for Dad to be there as flower petals were tossed in the wind while communion dresses sparkled in the sunshine.
Throw in the fact that the local Mitchels club was celebrating 125 years in existence and two of our girls teams were playing matches and you begin to understand my dilemma.
I still wasn’t certain of my afternoon destination when we took our seats in church amidst the dresses, tiaras, veils, suits, ties and dickie-bows, but in the back of my mind I knew that my head was winning the battle with my heart.
I could picture my good friend Eoin Sweeney and the excitement on his face as he helped prepare Belmullet for their date with destiny. Images of Joe Lindsay and the Kiltane lads also flitted through the brain and I knew how much a win would mean to either side.
They could dine out on it for years in that fabled land by the ocean. When mass ended and the procession began there was no escape. Time had ticked away and the departure time for Belmullet had come and gone. The match would have to be played out in my imagination and I settled in for a famous day in Castlebar.
At 3pm after every flower petal in the town had been scattered to the four winds we headed for An Sportlann and the excitement to be had there.
There were happy people everywhere and the weather gods had smiled brightly upon chief organiser of the 125 celebrations, Finian Joyce.
Tom Ryder was in his second hour of barbeque operations that would take him to the cusp of Monday morning. Martin Moran had flags and bunting fluttering in the breeze as music, bouncy castles, hurling and football vied for attention.
On one of the pitches a young lady named Jennifer McManamon was captaining Mitchels against the U-12 ladies from Louisburgh. It was a very proud day for the young star because later that evening the President of the GAA, Christy Cooney, would open a suite in the clubhouse honouring her grandfather.
Martin McManamon was larger than life. He was a Mitchels man through and through. He loved the GAA and the people one encountered along the way. The tales of Martin pulling rabbits out of hats to get tasks done are now the stuff of legend, but the big man left his family and his club too soon and his loss will always be felt by those lucky enough to have known him.
On Pairc Josie Munnelly the senior ladies were playing Hollymount and later the senior men would face Ballintubber for the Ray Prendergast Cup. The pitch bore the name of Mitchels’ greatest hero a man who began life in Crossmolina and who went on to amass a collection of medals that will never be matched.
He was part of the Mayo team that won the Sam Maguire in 1936 and during a stellar inter-county career won seven national league titles, four Railway Cups and an All-Ireland junior title. His club career was the stuff of dreams and after winning a county junior title with Crossmolina in 1931 he amassed 12 Mayo senior championship medals with Mitchels, including five in a row between 1950 and 1954. He also won a county hurling championship with the club and was inducted into the Western People Hall of Fame in 1983 before being selected on Mayo’s team of the century a year later.
Close by, the young boys and girls of the club were strutting their stuff on the Pairc Gerry McDonald.
The dedication of the pitch honoured a man who brought great honour to the club both on and off the pitch. Gerry won senior championship medals in 1944, ‘45, ‘46 and ‘48 but it was as an administrator that he made his true mark on the club. His name still echoes around meeting rooms whenever Mitchels gather to discuss the future and his memory is now forever enshrined in Red and Yellow lore.
The crowds continued to gather all afternoon and mobile phone traffic enlightened me that Belmullet had outscored Kiltane in the Comortas. By half past six, Christy Cooney was presenting medals to young footballers and an hour later the two pitches and the Martin McManamon Suite had been dedicated.
The club chairman, Michael Diskin, explained that he had arrived in Castlebar 26 years previously and was at once struck by the warmth of the Mitchels welcome. “It was a home from home and will always remain so,” he explained.
Christy Cooney added that the Castlebar club had contributed hugely to the GAA over its 125 year history and stated that the facilities available and the work being done on the ground will enable the Red and Yellows to go from strength to strength in the future.
Soon Ballintubber and the home club were contesting the final of the Ray Prendergast Tournament and as Mitchels pulled away to a handy win all was right in the Red and Yellow world.
As night fell over the county capital the barbeque continued to sizzle, music drifted across the complex, laughter echoed off the walls as hundreds of tales from yesteryear danced alongside dreams of a dynamic future. The dawn would bring reality but as darkness fell it was still time to dream.
Main News Page |
Previous Page
|
|
|
|
Facebook
