THIS year marked the 50th anniversary of Doonbeg’s 1972 county championship, an era when the Magpies were a huge force within Clare football.
They had already won a three in a row (1967, 68 and 69), and the 72 championship was the start of another one, as they were also champions in 1973 and 74.
Tommy Comerford was corner back on all of those six championship winning sides. “It was an exceptional team and it’s 50 years ago now, as you know there’s a lot of changes in 50 years! It’s nice to remember what happened,” he says.
Beside him in the full back line was Senan Downes, who he says was an outstanding footballer who looked after the side’s physical preparation.
“He played for Clare and he played in the Railway Cup. Senan was an army man and he was actually our trainer. He used to have us very fit, we’d get the army touch, there was no let up, he’d let off a shout the same as if you were a soldier! We had an advantage in that there was a good man training us.”
The 1972 county final was played at what was known as the Cricket Field in Kilrush, and conditions on the day were appalling. “That time there was no proper drainage of the pitches, nothing like you have today. On that particular day no game should have been allowed, we were getting stuck in the mud. The conditions were atrocious, wind and rain.”
With the elements behind them Doonbeg had a 0-6 to 0-0 lead at half time, but with a gale force wind blowing, Kilmihil brought it back to two points. However, through stout defending Doonbeg held out for a 0-6 to 0-4 victory.
It was a replay, and following the drawn game there had been a big off-field issue. “There had been a bit of controversy, two of our players had gone to England, Joe Joe Whelan and Senan Hehir and there was an objection to those playing the second day, and we had to play without them.”
While the two banned players were a loss, the circumstances added to Doonbeg’s hunger on a day when conditions meant the football was attritional.
“That time the rivalry was very intense, at county board meetings there could be objections that a jersey wasn’t the right colour! They objected to the two boys coming home from England, so we played without them and it made us more anxious to win that we were without the two lads. It brought the best out in us. Often when you are down like that you can get more out of lads.”
Two of Senan Hehir’s sons would come back to Doonbeg more than 20 years later, and were on the side that won a Munster club championship in 1998.
A Doonbeg-Kilmihil clash would never be an open affair at that time, Tommy reflects. “Kilmihil and ourselves had very similar styles of football, good, hard physical football. If we were playing Kilkee or Kilrush, they’d have been known as town teams, and with town teams you’d always have lovely forwards. The movement of the ball would be much quicker.
“We’d often have had great games with Kilrush and Kilkee and the scores would be much higher. We both played different styles, whereas Doonbeg and Kilmihil were very similar in style and we kind of neutralised each other.”
In the early 70s there was a huge level of interest in club football in west Clare, and really intense local rivalries.
“There were huge crowds because there was awful rivalry between the local parishes that time, you could have three to four thousand people. It was mostly west Clare that dominated at the time and there would be lots of people from the surrounding parishes.”
Despite the intensity of the rivalries, he said the players would always leave it on the field, and now there is great fondness among those who clashed all those years ago. “There was many a row on the field, but lads became great friends, and once the game was over that was it.
“The lads that I played against, I’d meet them from the Gaels and Kilmihil and various places and we’re great oul’ buddies and we’d talk about the times past.”
In the last ten to 15 years several clubs in West Clare have had serious issues with numbers, and that is an echo from the time Tommy played.
“With all clubs there was a lot of emigration, no jobs in the area. The backbone of our team, some of them were farmers, more of them were in the Civil Service, I worked in the Department of Agriculture.
“Various lads went to Dublin, some were teaching, some were in the army. The only reason we kept the club strong was that we were able to organise a car to collect them in Dublin, got a lad to hire it for the weekend and drive them down from Dublin. As soon as the match was over they had to get ready and go back again and were working on Monday.”
Football in the 60s and 70s was a very different game, not as tactical or possession focused as today, but far tougher and in Tommy’s view far better to watch.
“Football has changed so much from what we played. The lads now are better trained in terms of coaching. In our time lads were very tough, strong and fit, but today’s game is more streamlined, it’s faster and you don’t stay in the one position. If you moved out of corner back in our time you’d hear about it!”
High fielding was an important part of the game then, which he feels was a great feature, while supporters loved the intensity of the man to man dimension of the game.
“There were great tussles between players and that’s where the spectators got the kick out of it, the physicality of it, which you haven’t got in the game today.”
Bert McMahon, Pat Lillis and Pat Cotter have passed away since that 1972 championship, and while nothing has been planned just yet, Tommy says in the next couple of years they will probably have a reunion to mark that three in a row.
In the 60s and 70s there was no social media and he says they are fortunate to have the picture that accompanies this article, which was taken on the day of the drawn game. “Cameras were scarce, so we were lucky enough to have that taken the day of the first match.”
Owen Ryan has been a journalist with the Clare Champion since 2007, having previously worked with a number of other publications in Limerick, Cork and Galway. His first book will be published in December 2024.