Footballing greats of Mayo's St. Gerald’s College recalled
By Tom Gillespie
MY Alma Mater was the De La Salle run St. Gerald’s College, Castlebar, where I spent five years from 1963.
The college was opened in 1909. Twenty-four boys were enrolled in that first year. The original college was in what is now St. Gerald’s Parish Centre, Chapel Street.
In September 1971, the present college on Newport Road opened under the headmastership of Br. Vincent Hanley. The first lay principal of the college was appointed in 2000.
Around this time last year I wrote about the economic climate in Castlebar in 1952, courtesy of the souvenir programme produced that year to mark the official opening of MacHale Park. The booklet also contained an article headed St. Gerald’s College, Castlebar - nursery of many GAA players.
The article read: St. Gerald’s College - one of the most notable of the De La Salle teaching establishments in Ireland - has played a prominent part in the history of western football. The early inspiration of many of Mayo’s young footballers was obtained there.
The number of former students who have done honour to their ‘Alma Mater’ - players who served Mayo and Connaught with distinction - constitutes a veritable gallery of stylish football. For more that 40 years the college has been an unfailing source of grand football talent for the teams of the home town and the county.
Every year in inter-college competition St. Gerald’s teams have battled with determination. A most memorable year in college history was 1929, when the Connaught Colleges Championship was won for the first time. Under the inspiration of the late Reverend Father O’Hara, the Mayo colleges competitions were started in 1948. In the competitions, St. Gerald’s have figured prominently. Colleran Cup winners in 1951, they retained their title in 1952. In 1936 the celebrated ‘House League’ was started and enjoys a lusty existence today. This is a magnificent medium for every pupil with an ounce of football talent in him to prove his worth and from the league, promising players are chosen, given spacial training and promoted to the representative college side.
In the training colleges at St. Patrick’s, Drumcondra, Dublin, and the De La Salle, Waterford, students of St. Gerald’s have helped to achieve high distinctions over the years. In St. Patrick’s, three footballers - John Egan, E. Boland and Paddy Quinn - will be remembered for their many outstanding performances with the famous ‘Eirn’s Hope’ team, 1931.
From 1920 until its close, Waterford’s De La Salle College combinations were assisted by former St. Gerald’s students.
In 1922 the Waterford team included among its members M. Mulderrig, later to become a leading figure in Mayo Gaelic affairs. In the following years A. McTigue was an automatic choice, and from 1927 to ’29 J. Deffley was one of the outstanding players who learned his artistry in the Castlebar grounds. Deffley helped Mayo win their first Junior All-Ireland in 1934; later he played senior for the county.
An attempt to name all the players who graduated from Castlebar would prove an imposing task.
One of the really top-notch players between 1930 and ’32 was M.J. Flannery, a junior and senior footballer for his native Mayo, and during the next five years as many as five St. Gerald’s men figured in the Waterford side. Henry Kenny won a reputation as one of the best centre field men in Ireland, and the other four - M. Egan, J. Carney, J. Kilroy and A. Golden - all added considerably to their honours.
In the huge list of famous footballers who forged reputations in the universities the pupils of St. Gerald’s make an impressive show.
Three decades ago (1922) one of the foremost players in UCD colours was Dr. E. Mongey, a member of Mayo’s great All-Ireland Championship side of 1921.
From 1930 to ’32 UCD placed high value on the services of Frank Durcan, another St. Gerald’s boy. Two other players for ‘national’ were P. O’Lochlainn and T. Nally.
O’Lochlainn had a fine record in Sigerson Cup competitions - turning out for UCD between 1934 and ’37. He was still at school where he appeared for the Mayo team that won its first junior All-Ireland. A year later he graduated to senior ranks.
In later years the prestige of University College, Galway, in the Sigerson Cup matches was due in large measure to the strength and skill of Castlebar college boys.
Names like P. Quinn, J. Egan and P. Mahedy come to mind when Galway's performances in Sigerson Cup matches are discussed.
St. Gerald’s former pupils formed the nucleus of the teams which created a record for Mayo by winning five successive National League titles and three inter-provincial titles. A former captain of the Mayo team, Chief Superintendent ‘Dick’ Creagh, is one of the past students who continued for several years to bring new lustre to the college.
On Mayo’s team which secured the Senior All-Ireland Championship against Laois in 1936 were several past pupils of St. Gerald’s - Mulderrig (capt.), P. Flannelly, P. Quinn, P. Moclair, Phil Hoban and J. Egan. Included in the ‘exiles’ selection that lined out against them were the O’Donoghue brothers - former students.
On Mayo’s team which secured the senior All-Ireland against Laois in 1936 were several past pupils including P. Quinn, P. Moclair, P. Flannery, H. Kenny, J. McGowan and T. Burke.
When Mayo won their first Minor All-Ireland title in 1935, outstanding players were boys who started their football careers in the Castlebar ‘nursery’. Among them were P. O’Malley, P. Irwin, D. Egan, S. Daly, S. Golden and M. Prendergast - rated as Ireland’s best full back; E. Mongey - brother of county secretary Finn Mongey and members of an illustrious Castlebar family associated with Gaelic football for generations; M. Flanagan - one of the nippiest forwards; J.J. McGowan, T. Byrne, J. McCormack, S. Downes, to mention but a few.