1947 NFL winners Paddy McErlean and Roddy Gribbin with GAA President Liam O’Neill at Derry’s 125 celebration at Magee College (picture: Margaret McLaughlin)
Strong, composed and self-assured. Words often associated with the playing career of Derry’s Jim McKeever. Words that could also be used to describe ‘Gentle Jim’ to this day.
The latest example of this came recently, when less than twelve hours following the start of Derry’s 125 celebration event at the University of Ulster’s Magee campus, Jim was live-on-air with one of the BBC’s ‘toughest’ local presenters.
‘The GAA hasn’t really taken off globally, in a way other sports have’ proffered Noel Thompson in typical challenging tone as he sought to off-balance McKeever.
‘I don’t really see it that way’ countered Jim.
What is striking about this short exchange is the calmness of Derry’s 1958 All-Ireland final captain.
He goes on:
‘These other sports you speak of…they are more about commercialism and entertainment than anything else. The GAA is more than that’
Held on Wednesday 15th May, with a tag-line of ‘From a small acorn grew a giant Oak’, an invited audience of some 200 people witnessed ‘a skim of the history of 125 years of Derry GAA’
As the parade of captains entered the presentation room at Magee College, the audience got a fleeting snap-shot of the entire living history of Derry GAA.
Sean Mellon – a grandson of Tommy – represented Peter McCallion, the Derry captain on the victorious Ulster senior hurling team of 1903.
Each passing decade brought more memories. The late Pat Keenan, captain of the pioneering Derry senior football team of 1947, was represented by his colleague and friend, Roddy Gribbin.
‘Those were special times’ remarked the Newbridge man. ‘I’m very proud to have been part of the first football team to bring a national title to Derry. I’m even more proud to have some of my team-mates like Paddy McErlean here with me tonight’ – an insight into the comradeship the men enjoy.
Many will know of the achievements of ’47. Appreciation of those achievements and their significance is, however, only fully appreciated in the context of decades pre-1947.
A flavour of the difficulties faced by the GAA in Derry from a combination of state and church, within the cauldron that was the political landscape of the early decade of twentieth century Ireland, was explained to the audience at Magee by historian Donal McAnallen from Ulster GAA – brother of the late Cormac.
The organisation of Gaelic games over a sustained period of years remained a challenge for Derry until the early thirties. The story was one of frustration, ended by among others Magherafelt’s Paddy McFlynn, who would receive a spontaneous round of applause as he was name-checked by McAnallen.
In that instance, the audience realised just how important the former GAA president had been in the history of the county. Just like Gribbin and the men 1947, it was a moment of enlightenment, of the pieces of the jigsaw falling into place.
‘When you understand the past, you understand where you are. Only when you know where you are, can you seek to find the path on which you want to travel forward’
Those were the words spoken by current GAA president Liam O’Neill as he opened the evening’s proceedings.
‘I thoroughly enjoyed that’ commented O’Neill afterwards. He looked like he meant it.
Listening to household names of Derry GAA, from Adrian McGuckin to Peter Stevenson to Henry Downey, you would believe the Uachtarán.
Stevenson, a central figure in both hurling and football in Derry for decades was keen to point elsewhere for inspiration:
‘Sean O’Connell’s contribution to the whole thing was just massive. He really is one figure who deserves a special mention and a place in history’
Fittingly represented on the night by Adrian McGuckin Snr, O’Connell captained his county in 1970 in the All-Ireland football semi-final, had been a finalist in 1958, and managed both Derry minors to the All-Ireland title in 1965. For good measure, he added the U21 All-Ireland in 1968 to his managerial CV. It’s worth recalling that this was all done whilst continuing to play senior football for Derry. Incredible.
Let’s pause for a second. That’s like asking Mark Lynch to take charge of the minor and U21 footballers and lead the team against Down on 2 June. It’s not hard to see why O’Connell is held in the esteem he is by Stevenson and many others.
Links and family ties are everywhere in the GAA. As Mark’s father, Mickey, is shown on video contributing to the move which ended in a fantastic O’Connell goal in the All-Ireland semi-final of 1975, the connections become clearer.
Connections strong enough to prompt Henry Downey to declare a source of inspiration little known to a wider audience:
‘There was a romance and flamboyance about those teams of the seventies. They caught our imagination’ declared Downey in relation to the Sam Maguire success of 1993.
‘We made up our mind to try and win the All-Ireland and as a group – we did it’ declared the Lavey man.
As a group, the audience sat fascinated; among them players of today, Gerard O’Kane (2002 minor captain), current skipper Mark Lynch and recent Hogan Cup captain Conor Carville – the youngest of them all.
As they, and future generations, make up their minds about what is it they want to achieve, the audience are left with memories of great days, the people who made them and a wealth of lessons from history.
To represent Derry, Roddy Gribbin recalled how he walked, bussed, got the train and then cycled home all in the one day. Having cited Roddy as a hero of his, you can begin to understand Jim McKeever’s composure.
