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Looking to the future for 50 years

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Bodyke native Fr James Minogue was the first chairman of Bord na nÓg Iomaint in Clare.

“At the time I had acquired a great appreciation of the value of the GAA in my own life from my experiences at parish level in Bodyke and also from my days in St Flannans College,” according to Fr Minogue, now ministering at Castleconnell in Limerick.
Incidentally, Fr Minogue was appointed as curate in Crusheen in 1957 and during his time there he became actively involved with the promotion of hurling. Speaking to him last week, he took the opportunity to congratulate Crusheen on winning their first county championship title. “It was great to see them make the breakthrough,” he told The Clare Champion.
“Hurling in Crusheen was at a low at that time and juveniles were not a priority. There were lots of young boys around so I gathered them together aid, in a year or two, we had a nice juvenile team. However, they were beaten in their grade by a team with overage players,” he recalled.
He went on to say that in his own juvenile days “things were not good. Juvenile teams were not always made up of juveniles. Overage and illegal players were often on the teams.”
“In other counties they were trying to organise juvenile competitions so the discussion came to Clare as well. Eventually a meeting was organised to which I was invited along with a few others,” he said.
“I was delighted to hear such good will towards juvenile hurling. Eventually a committee was formed to look after and promote juvenile hurling in Clare and I was given the job of chairperson. I was so anxious to clear up juvenile hurling in Clare that I could not refuse,” said Fr Minogue, now president of his native Bodyke club.
According to the board’s first chairman, two aims were laid down at the following meetings.
“One was to make sure that all juvenile players were registered properly with their correct names, ages and home addresses. We made this rule a question of honour for all secretaries or whoever was in charge in each team. The other aim was to make sure that all competitions were completed by September and that the winners would get their medals.
“To do that we had to provide hurleys for players and to get the use of pitches for the games and at suitable times. County board secretary Michael McTigue was of great assistance,” explained Fr Minogue.
He went on to explain that he remained in the chair for seven years.
“On a few occasions we had to suspend and disqualify a few teams and secretaries which we were loath to do but it was for the good of juvenile hurling in Clare.”
“We had a problem with the Ennis parish who did great work for their juveniles and had a team that no other team could ever beat,” said Fr Minogue. “Eventually, Ennis produced two juvenile teams and it gave others some chance.”
Fr Minogue believes that “Bord na nÓg has grown in strength from year to year and its care for the juveniles and the minors is now bearing much fruit. Juveniles need coaching in basic hurling and in developing the wonderful skills of the game.
“We have seen that at its best in Croke Park when the U-21s from Clare won the All-Ireland title for the first time last year. It should inspire every young lad to take up his hurley and ball and see what he can do with it,” he concluded.

 

New structure for juvenile games
One of the reasons for the formation of Bord na nÓg in Clare was to put proper structures for juvenile games in place.
That’s according to the first chairman of Bord na nÓg football, Canon Seamus Mullin, as native of Kilrush, now ministering as an assistant priest in Miltown Malbay.
“There were a lot of illegal players playing at that time. There were some lads playing juvenile football who were shaving and the county board couldn’t handle the position. At that time it was very hard to track down anyone. A person from North Clare wouldn’t be known to a person from south Clare, so there was a difficulty there,” explained Canon Mullin recently.
“John Jones was the chairman of the county board and he and the executive decided that at a county board meeting to be held in Miltown they would launch Bord na nÓg,” the Kilrush native explained.
“I was involved with Kilrush teams and I was teaching in St Flannan’s who had just won the Munster senior title (Corn Ui Mhuiri. They knew that I was interested in Football and I was invited to the meeting. I remember John Jones was chairman, Sean Guinnane from Ennis was the secretary and Vincy Murphy was the Munster council representative,” Canon Mullin explained.
“The delegates all went for this and Brod na nÓg was set up to look after juvenile affairs. I was elected as the chairman of the new board, Martin Kelly from Cooraclare was the treasurer and Michael McTigue was secretary. It was his first job and he afterwards became county board secretary,” Canon Mullin continued.
“The result was that with the co-operation of the clubs things improved dramatically. Some good juvenile players were protected and they went on to be great players. Before that they opted out”. Canon Mullin recalled.
The board’s first chairman who trained a host of teams at St Flannan’s college for many years, recalled that at the end of the first year “the Clare champions of the juvenile competition were given a trip to Dublin. Tobacco firm Players selected the Clare juvenile champions of the time, Cooraclare, and we were brought to Dublin for a day.
We had mass in Ennis and then we went by train to Dublin. They dined and wined us in Dublin. We had seats in the Hogan stand for the big game. They also treated us afterwards before bringing us back home. We brought the whole panel on that trip which was a tremendous success”.
Canon Mullin recalled that shortly after the board was set up “we took over the minors. We beat Kerry twice in the early sixties. Bord na nÓg were able to concentrate on underage whereas the County board weren’t able to run the lot.
During his time as board chairman, Canon Mullin refereed some games “as there was a shortage of referees.
What about the state of the game today ? “At the moment there is too much emphasis on winning and not enough on enjoyment. Ninety per cent of the training of today has nothing to do with football. Players are not able to catch the ball,” he replied.
Going on to say that he hasn’t much time for Australian Rules, he believes that “ if a player fields the ball he should get a free. Currently, in gaelic football, a man catches the ball and is surrounded when he comes down and, more often that not, a free is given against him”.
Canon Mullin is delighted that “ladies football is becoming so popular.
They are terrific. The men’s game should copy them and allow for the ball to be picked off the ground from a standing position. It adds to the game,” he said.

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