When Saturday, and then Sunday, comes

The Hawes name is synonymous with both St Breckan’s and Cratloe, with different branches of the family being in different camps this Sunday, writes Joe Ó Muircheartaigh, who spoke to Nicky Hawes who will celebrate his 80th birthday on the eve of the county final

When Cratloe left a Munster football title behind them in the Gaelic Grounds in 2013 one of the first men down on the pitch after the game to commiserate with the players was a Lisdoonvarna man.
Former county player and St Breckan’s stalwart Neil Hawes was there first and foremost as a supporter because all of Clare was behind Cratloe that day as they closed in on a Munster title against storied Dr Crokes as Cathal McInerney, Conor McGrath, the Collins’, Conor Ryan et al ran riot in that second half.
A point up and a man up after Colm Cooper was banished and time almost up. It was so close. It was there. When it didn’t happen and Dr Crokes snaffled two points inside as many minutes to win out, it was heartbreaking.
That’s why a football man to his core like Hawes felt the need to get out on the field and throw an arm around the few that he knew as they came to terms with what happened.
Most of all it was for Micky Hawes — Cratloe’s centre-back that day and his cousin and one of the ties that bind Lisdoonvarna to Cratloe.
That December day in ’13 and ten years later as the two teams prepare to lock horns in a county senior final for the first time this coming Sunday.
Before Sunday, they’ll be bound up even more as the Cratloe branch of the Hawes clan decamps to Doolin where they’ll meet up with the Lisdoonvarna branch in celebration, as well as anticipation of what might happen as the county final day pans out.
The celebration will be in McDermott’s for Nicky Hawes’ 80th birthday – he’s Cratloe now, with the successes enjoyed by his sons in both codes at club and county, as well as colleges and university level making him blue to his core when once he was the rising star of Lisdoonvarna football and a county man.
“The best thing I ever did was come to Cratloe 40 years ago,” says Nicky, “because the lads have had a great GAA life out of it. Five county senior medals, a Harty and a Croke Cup, a Fitzgibbon and an All-Ireland Intermediate. It’s been great.”
Nicky has been with the lads every step of the way — every sliotar pucked or ball kicked. With Seán up in Belfast after he moved to live there many years ago, or with Mikey who’s still playing away and hoping to add to his tally of four county senior medals across both codes. “When Michael was a minor he was playing for Clare in both hurling and football and after that year he told me he was giving up the football,” reveals Nicky.
“But I loved my football. When we came to Cratloe it was more or less all hurling there and I had them out in a patch out the back and we’d go out with hurleys, but I had footballs too.
“And when Martin Murphy and Colm Collins came Michael changed his mind pretty quickly about quitting football and we’ve had ten or 12 great years.”
It was easy to see why Mikey stayed with it, because the football came from both sides. Nicky was a precocious talent in his youth, playing Cusack Cup at 14 and senior championship at 15 before going on to represent the county at senior; meanwhile, Mikey’s mother Nuala came from a home for the game in Dingle where all-time greats like Bill Dillon, Gega O’Connor and Sean Brosnan were around in her youth, before her brother Michael became a stalwart of the Dingle team of the 1970s that beat All-Ireland club champions Austin Stacks in a County League final.
“Michael was a big player for Dingle for a long number of years in Vincent O’Connor’s time with the team, while another brother Ambrose went to London and played in goal for Kingdom Kerry Gaels.
“When Ambrose was playing for Dingle he’d ask Vincent what way he wanted the ball and the reply was ‘put it over my head and I’ll get it’.”
Nicky was weaned on the same principles of catch and kick in Lisdoonvarna and was immersed in the game from an early age.
“My father Thomas was involved in the club when I was young, on the committee and an officer,” he recalls. “Michael Greene from Kilkee was a great man in the club, a teacher and principal and a great GAA man. The club was mostly known as the Spa and was St Enda’s in the early days.
“I played a lot of football with the Spa before St Breckan’s — the club was organized by a priest that came to Lisdoonvarna, Fr Taaffe. He changed the jersey to the Galway colours. He once refereed one of the games between Newmarket and Clarecastle when things were fairly sour with them.
“As a footballer, I was in my prime in 1965 when I came on as a sub for Clare against Tipperary in the Gaelic Grounds. We beat them by seven or eight points and had a good team with players like Martin Quealy, Paddy Mahony and Tommy Mangan.
“I was told I’d be out against Kerry a fortnight later. I was wing-forward, so I would have been on Denis O’Sullivan from Kerins O’Rahilly’s, but in a club match in between the two games I broke my leg. I broke a shoulder in Lahinch another day, but I’d do it all over again as I made great friends from playing,” he adds.
Many of those friends will be in McDermott’s Bar in up village Doolin on Saturday night — his cousin Francie Hawes, who has long been a stalwart of St Breckan’s, Francie’s son Neil and many more members of the clan between Lisdoonvarna, Cratloe and beyond. Then they’ll move to Cusack Park on Sunday and kick every ball over the hour.
“I wouldn’t begrudge my own town the title, but I’ll have to keep that a low profile, because I’ve been Cratloe so long and Michael is involved,” laughs Nicky. “It’s hard to describe how it might be,” he continues, “but I suppose one way or other I’ll be a winner. I’m in Cratloe, but the links to St Breckan’s are very strong. Rowan Danaher on the St Breckan’s team is also related to the family, as the husband of my wife’s sister is his uncle.”