This is a story that deserves to be written, and if written sufficiently well, needs to be read, and its lessons learned. It\u2019s time to look deeper and farther than the here and now. This is about a snapshot in time captured on the page of a book – an event which sent ripples through future generations. It\u2019s about a group of men who suffered loss, on and off the field, but came back stronger, always.<\/p>\n
When the Robert Emmets club produced a history book in 1989, it ran to 168 pages. Two of these (34 & 35) were dedicated to their most successful senior championship journey to date – the men of 1969 – and the club\u2019s first county senior football final.\u00a0 \u201cThe head says Bellaghy but the heart says Slaughtneil\u201d read the headline in the Mid Ulster Observer\u2019s county final preview. And on that occasion, the head proved to be correct, but the heart continued to beat robustly.<\/p>\n
*****<\/p>\n
14 September, 1969<\/strong> \u2013 Slaughtneil, having qualified for their first senior football championship final, are leading nine-time champions, Bellaghy by 0-06 to 0-04. We don\u2019t know what was said at half time, and nor should we. What we do know is that beside right half back (RHB), Willie Hampson, sat the team\u2019s full forward (FF), Bernard Kearney. Both would go on to become chairmen of their club as would Kevin Kelly (RFF), Mickey Bradley (MF\/LHF) and Neicy Mulholland (CHB). Surrounding them were future club secretaries, presidents, treasurers and many more who are still active club members generations later.<\/p>\n A Peter Doherty goal for Bellaghy in the second half would deny the Emmet\u2019s their first John McLaughlin Cup, something they would have to wait another thirty-five years to achieve. However, it galvanised friends and teammates for life.<\/p>\n *****<\/p>\n \u201cThe man was something else.\u201d<\/p>\n Coming from John Joe Kearney, that\u2019s high praise indeed.<\/p>\n A high-fielding athletic midfielder, Mickey Bradley has created a dilemma in the mind of Kearney. Who was the best? Mickey or his son, Patsy? The mere fact that there is a discussion shows that the apple doesn\u2019t fall far from the tree.<\/p>\n \u201cUp until recently I would have said that over the course of an hour\u2019s football, that man [Mickey] would have caught more balls than Patsy, but in recent times Patsy has been slowly changing my mind. Actually, he has changed it,\u201d Kearney says.<\/p>\n \u201cMickey wasn\u2019t heavily built but it didn\u2019t matter who he was up against. He saw the ball and up he went, and generally came back down with it. He was one the best fielders we ever had.\u201d<\/p>\n[aesop_image img=”http:\/\/derrygaa.ie\/features\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/SLAUGHTNEIL-69-TEAM-2-MML-20150309-001635288.jpg” imgwidth=”800″ caption=”Mickey and James Bradley from the Slaughtneil team of 1969 pictured with just some of the silverware won by teams across the club over the past few months.” credit=”Margaret McLaughlin” align=”center” captionposition=”center” lightbox=”off”]\n Kick-outs and catches recalled still dominate the men’s conversation years later. The love for the art of high fielding is clear to see.<\/p>\n Francis McEldowney was goalkeeper on the ’69 team and would later become club secretary, and also a referee; remarkably at the same time. Up against a hotly fancied Ballerin team in the semi-final, the goalkeeper’s brother, Paddy produced the performance of his life, nullifying Peter Stevenson and securing safe passage to the decider.<\/p>\n In the analysis of both games, if Mickey Bradley or Paddy McEldowney didn\u2019t catch Francis\u2019 kick-outs, then their captain, Denis Cassidy usually wasn\u2019t far away. It was an era when defenders also chipped in with a helping hand on the restarts and few did it finer than Laurence Bradley (LFB). With his son, Paul, currently the fulcrum of the Slaughtneil attack at the other end of the pitch from where his father plied his trade, Laurence beamed with pride to see his boy go one better in 2004. And just two years later, tragedy and sudden death on 13 June 2006 took Laurence from his family and community.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was as staunch a GAA man as ever was in the club,\u201d remarked current chairman, Sean McGuigan, at the mention of the left back of 1969.<\/p>\n In the years that followed, and when McEldowney gave up the number one jersey, it didn\u2019t take long to find a replacement.<\/p>\n \u201cHe had a serious kick-out. The only thing about it was that if you were playing midfield, and you went up to catch it, it was still going like a bullet. Generally, it would have went through your hands, or if not you\u2019d have needed to have been around centre half forward to catch it.\u201d<\/p>\n John Joe Kearney is talking about the man who would later replace McEldowney in goals – Martin Mulholland.<\/p>\n[aesop_image img=”http:\/\/derrygaa.ie\/features\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/martin-mulholland.jpg” align=”right” captionposition=”left” lightbox=”off”]\n Events at a hurling championship quarter-final between Kevin Lynch’s and Ballinascreen at Swatragh on Friday 12 August 2011 brought a club, county and community to a standstill. Having played in most positions during his youth, Mulholland later kept goals for the club. Like many of his peers, he became a referee and was regarded as one of the fittest men of his generation.<\/p>\n \u201cMartin was a fitness fanatic,” says John Joe Kearney. “He was fit to do press-ups with one hand and when we were training in the winter, he\u2019d expect the rest of us to be able to do it too. I was cursing him under my breath and then he might have progressed to doing the press ups on his thumb. He prided himself on being super fit. He was a big loss.\u201d<\/p>\n “Martin had lifelong involvement with our Association and left us while serving the GAA acting as a referee during a championship match,” said the then GAA President, Christy Cooney.<\/p>\n Not for the first time, or the last, a people were stunned.<\/p>\n[aesop_image img=”http:\/\/derrygaa.ie\/features\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/SLAUGHTNEIL-69-TEAM-6-MML1-e1425899059765.jpg” imgwidth=”800″ caption=”The Men Of ’69” credit=”Slaughtneil GAA” align=”left” captionposition=”left” lightbox=”off”]\n If you look at the old photo, there\u2019s Kevin Kelly, kneeling far right. He\u2019s not the biggest man on the team but neither is his son, Padrig – a half forward on today\u2019s squad. Both are men of example; words are not thrown away easily or used cheaply. Each one has a purpose, and if you listen closely enough to Kevin Kelly’s responses, you might just gain some insight into their makeup.<\/p>\n Padrig has been playing well all year<\/i><\/em>: \u201cHe\u2019s still there anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n You must be very proud of him:<\/i><\/em> \u201cWell, we\u2019d be proud of all the players.\u201d<\/p>\n And if you still need convincing:<\/p>\n What do you put the remarkable dual success down to?<\/i><\/em> \u201cCommon sense and cooperation.\u201d<\/p>\n Hurling has been a large part of the success story of Slaughtneil in recent times, just as it was in 1969 when the club also won the county hurling championship with final victory over Lavey. The game had a remarkably quick uptake in the Carn area.<\/p>\n \u201cDenis Cassidy returned from the All-Ireland in 1968 with a hurl,\u201d explains Kevin Kelly. \u201cWe copied it, sawed down ash trees and cut them into shape, 26 times. We won the county title the following year.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBarney Doherty put a lot into hurling here and played a long time too,\u201d says Willie Hampson.<\/p>\n His son, Dermot, recently stepped into a role his father occupied for some years, being a central figure in the Slaughtneil senior hurling management.<\/p>\n \u201cDermot was good at both codes,\u201d states John Joe, getting the agreement of his teammate, Willie Hampson: \u201cHe was a big cog for us in 2004\u201d.<\/p>\n Barney Doherty\u2019s daughter, Claire, would go on to play senior camogie for her club and to captain her county. One family, three codes.<\/p>\n[aesop_parallax img=”http:\/\/derrygaa.ie\/features\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/PBA-2.jpg” parallaxbg=”on” floater=”off” floaterposition=”right” floaterdirection=”up” captionposition=”bottom-left” lightbox=”off”]\n SLAUGHTNEIL DISCO.<\/strong> Two words which will spark memories of youth for many. Go on, indulge yourself for a few minutes in the nostalgia of the era. Recall the carousel of hormone-fuelled teenagers that went around for a short lifetime. There may not have been a pub, a chapel or a shop, but for twenty-three years there was a disco. Yet, there nearly wasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n According to Willie Hampson, when \u2018young Henry Cassidy\u2019 first mooted the idea at a club convention, it was shot down. However, a few sleeps later and some reflection brought new thinking. The plan had just required some fine-tuning.<\/p>\n \u201cMyself and Francis McEldowney (secretary at the time) discussed it and he thought that if we were going to run it, we should put on buses. So we went back to the meeting on the Monday night and that\u2019s what we did.\u201d<\/p>\n The sight of cavalcades of blue and white Ulsterbuses on the Tirkane, Gortinure and Ranaghan roads soon became a reality, providing the club with a steady stream of income. This was in the days, of course, before James Bradley\u2019s (LHB) son brought Kevin McCloud and the Grand Designs team to the area.<\/p>\n \u201cThey came from Kilrea, Portglenone and Bellaghy, over the mountain from Dungiven, and all round. It really was a great success,\u201d says Hampson. The key, of course, was feet on the ground:<\/p>\n \u201cIt was an unbelievable voluntary effort. We had a rota, but on any week you would have had 25 or 30 men here giving their time on a Friday night. It was a big effort. We stewarded the buses and all that. I don\u2019t think many clubs could have pulled it off,\u201d he says proudly.<\/p>\n Willie Hampson is there too: front row, centre – central in the photograph and central to a lot of the efforts of the club in the years following the final of \u201969.<\/p>\n It\u2019s remarkable to think that Hampson will have managed every one of the Slaughtneil players that will emerge from the spongy floor of the tunnel under the Hogan Stand on St Patrick\u2019s Day at some stage in their career. Involved mainly at u16 level but also involved with three county minor titles, the man who would also serve as club treasurer for seventeen years was renowned for his ability to communicate and instil confidence in young players.<\/p>\n[aesop_image img=”http:\/\/derrygaa.ie\/features\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/tunnel.jpg” align=”left” captionposition=”left” lightbox=”off”]\n As current joint-PRO, Michael McMullan recalls: \u201c\u2026there’s only a few points in it and (looking around the huddle) not one of you boys has even broke sweat yet\u2026\u201d was a dynamic changing quote from a half time team talk by Hampson, who would also help inspire the generation of Derry minors in 1989 to clinch the county\u2019s fourth Tom Markham cup.<\/p>\n On Willie\u2019s right-hand-side kneels Patrick Kelly, along with Kevin, one of the team\u2019s four sets of brothers.<\/p>\n \u201cPatrick always knew where to be on the field,\u201d says his brother. \u201cHe never seemed to have to jump for a ball. He caught it in a basket; here (extends arms).\u201d A tenacious yet composed corner back, Patrick Kelly is a current president of the club.<\/p>\n \u201cI always said Patrick\u2019s next replacement was Francis McEldowney (father of the other current joint-PRO, Catherine). He was the same type of player in that he always knew where to be,\u201d says John Joe Kearney.<\/p>\n Skipping two places to the end of the row to Neicy Mulholland, we find another direct link to current times with current secretary Seamus, his son. \u201cA great player at all ages, he could have played anywhere,\u201d says Kevin Kelly. The Mulholland’s would serve club and county with great distinction – Neicy’s brother Patsy holding the post of Derry county secretary for over two decades.<\/p>\n Between Neicy and Patrick are Denis Cassidy and Bernard Kearney, uncle and nephew. Both are now sadly passed.<\/p>\n A veteran of the team in \u201969, Cassidy was a giant of club and county having played in the All-Ireland Junior final of 1955 versus the Rebels from Cork. 1969 would have been the crowning glory of a glittering career but it just wasn\u2019t to be. His internment for weeks before the final didn\u2019t help either, but such were the times and the circumstances the group lived through.<\/p>\n Uncle of the Kearney brothers, Cassidy knew how to look after his own. His nephew, Bernard, would return the favour in later life, seeing to his uncle\u2019s every need towards the end.<\/p>\n \u201cBernard started out in goals and then moved outfield,\u201d says Willie Hampson. The sitting club chairman at the time of his death on 24 June 2014, many current players have publicly remarked on how the eldest brother’s passing shook the club to its core, before uniting it like never before. Even in death, Bernard Kearney seemingly contributed to his club, just like he had for the previous 50 years. One of the most respected men in Derry GAA, gentleman Bernard also had a tough edge when needed, as Hampson recalls:<\/p>\n \u201cI remember us going to play a friendly in Swatragh and things just didn’t go to plan. Tommy Gunning refereed it. He gave a fourteen-yard free. I vividly remember coming back onto the line and Bernard saying ‘right boys, the friendly’s over’. I still laugh to myself about that.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI think you left out a word there,\u201d quips John Joe Kearney.<\/p>\n Hampson\u2019s recollections of Bernard Kearney are those of a team-mate and also a fellow club officer. They both started out running the finances of the club in the early to mid-eighties. Hampson and Kearney, along with John Joe Convery helped put in place funding efforts that resulted in a new hall for the community in 1984. They upgraded the pitch and built the club facilities from the ground up.<\/p>\n \u201cThen we put a big emphasis on underage hurling and football,\u201d says Hampson.<\/p>\n Indeed they did.<\/p>\n[aesop_image img=”http:\/\/derrygaa.ie\/features\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/SLAUGHTNEIL-69-TEAM-1-MML-20150309-001626240.jpg” imgwidth=”800″ caption=”Kevin Kelly, Willie Hampson and John Joe Kearney enjoying recollections of times gone by.” credit=”Margaret McLaughlin” align=”center” captionposition=”right” lightbox=”off”]\n THE YEARS AFTER\u00a01969<\/strong> still exercise John Joe Kearney. For the club\u2019s sake, that\u2019s probably a good thing. Most things with John Joe come back to what is relevant to today \u2013 those lessons learned are still being put to good use. He is clearly energised from his involvement in Mickey Moran’s management team, and is always thinking.<\/p>\n \u201cIf we had been up against a lesser team than that Bellaghy team, we probably would have won. At that time there was maybe a five-year period from \u201967 through where we should have won at least one championship. It just didn\u2019t happen.<\/p>\n \u201cNowadays we have a big squad but back then there just weren\u2019t as many players available. We were never far away. If championship matches could have been played as carnival matches, we\u2019d probably have won a lot more. We were unbeatable in carnival football at that time and had a fairly good team.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAfter \u201969 we were still able to hold our own in senior team but for whatever reason we seemed to have a phobia about championship football. Things just didn\u2019t seem to go for us on the day in the years after that up until that crop of minors who won the St Paul\u2019s tournament in 1999. That formed the basis of the current team with a few younger lads thrown in who are maybe only eighteen years of age. That\u2019s made the difference this year I think \u2013 a bigger squad.\u201d<\/p>\n Two members of that St Paul\u2019s winning team spring to mind in the wider analysis of the development of the current team. Both had fathers on the \u201969 team: Niall Convery (son of Peter) was captain of the team, whilst Kevin O\u2019Neill (son of Larry) was awarded player of the tournament. Very few slip through the net but some do. There are reasons, though, as John Joe explains:<\/p>\n \u201cNiall was a very good footballer. He was plagued with a back injury. By trade he was a brickie so it didn\u2019t gel too well if he had to go out to his work on a Monday and lift blocks having got hurt on a Sunday. Niall would have still been playing if he had been able to stick at it and would have been very useful to us today.\u201d<\/p>\n Even in the final of 1969 itself the team was under pressure due to injuries. There are also echoes of the current situation with Christopher \u2018Sammy’ Bradley.<\/p>\n Shan McEldowney was in the form of his life, playing in every match that year, before a back injury between the semi-final and final forced him to miss out. It was a big loss according to John Joe Kearney, also revealing that Neicy Mulholland has played through the pain of a staved thumb against Bellaghy. A former treasurer and club referee, Shan\u2019s twin sons, Fergal and Francis (Slaughtneil captain) are of course an iconic part of the current football squad. We dare to dream of another line to finish that paragraph.<\/p>\n Winner of All-Ireland minor and under-21 medals with Derry in 1965 and 1968, Kearney left St Columb\u2019s College the year before they won the county\u2019s first MacRory Cup title. Eamon Small schooled and played on the Buncrana road too, and at only twenty-two years of age was part of the Slaughtneil management in 1969 (whilst also playing for neighbours, Glen). Se\u00e1n Murphy, a teacher in St Pat\u2019s Maghera, partnered him, bringing new found organisation and a fresh approach.<\/p>\n With the team’s co-manager only twenty-two years of age, the youngest player was one of the three Kearney brothers, Michael. Pressure on numbers meant players were drafted at an earlier age, something that is very topical at present:<\/p>\n \u201cMost of the boys around Slaughtneil at that time started to play senior football around 16,\u201d explains John Joe.<\/p>\n \u201cMickey was 15 or 16 at the time so didn\u2019t feature too much in \u201869. I remember the following year we were playing Bellaghy down in Bellaghy and he got a bad dead leg. I always thought that it affected him badly throughout the rest of his career because he seemed to carry that. You would have noticed memories of that incident in his play, but having said that, he was as good as player as ever came out of our house. He was tricky as a forward and good with both feet. He probably didn\u2019t play long enough.\u201d<\/p>\n On the modern situation, Kearney is reflective given his brother\u2019s experience and those of others down the years.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s two ways of looking at it. Colleges\u2019 football has got a lot more prominent than it was a way back in the 60\u2019s, so you have a problem with lads putting in serious training for the MacRory Cup and that. They can be picked up and then playing with county minors but if they belong to a club who haven\u2019t big numbers, it\u2019s going to be difficult for the club. It\u2019s a bit of a mixed bag. Having said all that, I suppose they need to be protected at that age.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThey play so much nowadays and it\u2019s not only football. You have hurling too with the dual clubs, so when they talk about burnout there is a certain amount of truth in that. They start now at seven or eight and play a lot, particularly from twelve onwards. By the time they get to their mid-20\u2019s a lot of boys have had enough, so there is a case for trying to protect them a bit.\u201d<\/p>\n[aesop_image img=”http:\/\/derrygaa.ie\/features\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/SLAUGHTNEIL-69-TEAM-3-MML-20150309-001637274.jpg” imgwidth=”800″ caption=”Past and Present” credit=”Margaret McLaughlin” align=”center” captionposition=”left” lightbox=”off”]\n Sons of the men of \u201969 may provide the core of the club’s current senior teams but grandchildren are also starting to emerge. Phelim Diamond\u2019s and Brian Cassidy\u2019s descendants populate football, hurling and camogie underage teams still. There\u2019s Brian, second from the end in the back row. Smiling and arms strongly folded. Beside him stands Harry Dougan – a hard-as-nails character and a member of successful Derry junior teams in the early 60\u2019s, Harry went to Canada in the middle of the decade, travelling alongside the team\u2019s commanding full back, Peter Convery, who still looks like he could give Brendan Rogers or Chrissy McKaigue a run for their money.<\/p>\n Harry\u2019s place in the old photograph came about more by life\u2019s run of events as much as anything else.<\/p>\n Kevin Kelly explains: \u201cIn 1969 Harry came home because the mother was ill. She died in August and he stayed until the football was over. He wouldn\u2019t really have been a regular for long before that campaign.\u201d<\/p>\n Harry\u2019s story is unique among the group.<\/p>\n When asked to share their experiences of the years since their county final defeat, sixteen men answered the call.<\/p>\n When the meeting was postponed and rescheduled due to a funeral in Cork, sixteen men again answered the call, and with only a few days\u2019 notice. With the exception of Harry and James Doherty (based in Derry City), all still live a stone’s throw from where they played.<\/p>\n They line up in the same formation as forty-six years ago. Gaps are left.<\/p>\n A few agree to tell their story. The rest listen attentively to every word.<\/p>\n No one leaves.<\/p>\n[aesop_image img=”http:\/\/derrygaa.ie\/features\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/SLAUGHTNEIL-69-TEAM-6-MML1-e1425899059765.jpg” imgwidth=”800″ align=”center” captionposition=”left” lightbox=”off”]\n[aesop_image img=”http:\/\/derrygaa.ie\/features\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/SLAUGHTNEIL-69-TEAM-4-MML-20150309-001639200.jpg” imgwidth=”800″ caption=”Slaughtneil team of 1969 pictured in March 2015. Back Row, Phelim Diamond, missing Harry Dougan (USA), Brian Cassidy, missing Laurence Bradley (deceased), Larry O’Neill, Francis McEldowney, Mickey Bradley, John Joe Kearney, Paddy McEldowney, Peter Convery, Shan McEldowney, Sean Murphy (manager), missing Eamon Small (manager, deceased). Front row, Barney Doherty, Neicy Mulholland, missing Bernard Kearney (deceased), missing Denis Cassidy-captain (deceased), Patrick Kelly, Willie Hampson, James Bradley, missing Mickey Kearney, Kevin Kelly, missing James Doherty, missing Martin Mulholland (deceased). ” credit=”Margaret McLaughlin” align=”center” captionposition=”center” lightbox=”on”]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" What else is there to write about Slaughtneil? With a list of honours as long as the smooth brow of Carntogher, we\u2019ll try this. It\u2019s something different at least. This is a story that deserves to be written, and if written sufficiently well, needs to be read, and its lessons learned. It\u2019s time to look […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":352,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\t\n