By John McIlwaine
This year marks the 30th anniversary of Dunloy’s firs championship win when the club took their first county senior title with a team full of youth and exeburance. They had been regarded as one of the main huring teams in the county for many years but they had never made the breakthrough, losing county finals to arch rivals Loughgiel in 1963 and Rossa in 1976. The great Loughgiel team of the sixties had many an epic tussle with the Cuchullains, and though Dunloy had come close on a couple occasions they just could never get the upper had. That Dunloy team contained many great players like Chris Elliott, Aidan McCamphill and Willie Richmond, all of whom played on the Antrim team that won the All Ireland Intermediate title in 1970. However Loughgiel were at their brilliant best during that period with men like Johnny Coyle, Arthur Connolly, Seamus McMullan, Seamus Richmond and Brendan McGarry… and they ruled the roost.
When Loughgiel’s great run came to an end, Dunloy’s fortunes flagged as well, and though they got to a county final in 1976 Rossa were just too strong for them. The great Ballycastleside of the late seventies and early eighties were the team to beat in that era and there must have been some among the Cuchullain faithfull who felt it might never come.
Cushendall were the new kids on the block in the 1980s, winning their first in 1981 and adding two more in ’85 and ’87. They shared the honours in that decade with Ballycastle who were still the dominant team with four (1980, 83, 84 and 86) Loughgiel who got two (1982 and 89, adding the All Ireland title in 83) and Rossa who who picked up the ’88 crown. However Dunloy’s amazing success at juvenile level during the 1980s lifted hopes again, and when they won county titles at every juvenile grade in 1984 it was clear there was something special happening. With many of that team of the sixties involved in the management, like Willie Richmond and Chris Elliott the feeling grew and grew that the elusive Senior title was at last achievable. The rest as they say is history and thirty years on they have 13 of them in bag, ten Ulsters and four All Ireland final appearances, and are the reigning champions as another new young team emerges.
Over the next couple of weeks we will be reproducing the match reports and photos of that breakthrough year. To kick things off Saffron Gael reporter Brendan McTaggart gives his views on that 1990 campaign from a Dunloy perspective
Cuchullains obsession with ‘Big Ears’
By Brendan McTaggart
7th October 1990. The date may be as random as the next to some folk within the county but for a village in the north of the Antrim, it spelled the end of 85 years of being a bridesmaid and never the bride.
This year marks the 30th anniversary of Dunloy Cuchullains claiming the senior hurling championship for the first time after 120 minutes of an epic battle against O’Donovan Rossa. Competing in their first final for 14 years, Dunloy were a team full of youthful exuberance and undoubted talent. Many pundits within the county were foretelling it was only a matter of time before they would take ‘Big Ears’ back to Pearse Park. What many wouldn’t have seen though is the heights the squad of players would reach. Not only playing and often matching the best Ireland had to offer, but raising the bar for every other team in the county.
But it could have been oh so different 30 years ago and had it not been for one Tony McGrath, the history books would tell a different tale.
Played in Fr Healy Park, Loughgiel, Rossa looked to be on their way to victory. A one point lead at the death. A chorus of whistles went through the vast crowd with the Rossa faithful praying for the final whistle from St John’s referee John Gough. I was knee high to a grasshopper but the memory of the tension at that time still produces the odd butterfly in my stomach. The sliotar fell loose to McGrath, the coolest man in Loughgiel, and he Split the posts, lofting the sliotar over the bar and Dunloy breathed a huge sigh of relief.
It wouldn’t be the last time Tony McGrath would be Dunloy’s hero but with one swing of his hurl in the classy and unmistakable style, he etched his name in Cuchullain folklore.
The replay was every bit as tense. Played in Casement Park and with the feeling around the county that Dunloy may have missed the boat. Rossa were a strong and classy team led superbly by All-Star Ciaran Barr and household names galore. Ger Rogan, Collie Murphy and Jim Close to name but a few. Just seven months previous they had reached the All-Ireland final only to lose to a Tony Doran inspired Buffer’s Alley of Wexford. They were a team that had been there, done that and they had so much experience they could have sold it by the bucket load on the Shaw’s Road.
The Jeremiah’s led by four points in the closing stages of the first half before 19 year old, Allister Elliott got the first of his two goals just before half time. Wee Ally’s second goal was every bit as well timed for the Cuchullains. Rossa held a one point advantage with four minutes of the hour remaining when he found the back of the net. Again it was McGrath who scored the final score of the game but this time it was to secure the victory and seal his side’s moment in history.
It proved to be an awakening in the ‘Cuchullain Village’. They would go onto win a further four titles in the 90’s (1990, 1994, 1995, 1997 and 1998) and six more in the 2000’s (2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2007 and 2007) with the vast majority of the squad who brought ‘Big Ears’ to Dunloy for the first time involved. Going on to win the Ulster championship 10 times and competing in four All-Ireland finals.
The one that got away.
The only team from the Saffron County who have defeated teams from all four provinces, that Dunloy team are regarding throughout the country to be one of, if not thee best team to never reach the promised land. Yet they kept coming back. Showing the same hunger and desire, year after year in an attempt to claim that ultimate prize.
In the All-Ireland series, they defeated some of the finest club sides to have ever graced the game. Atheny (’94), Glenmore (’95), Mount Sion (’03) and Portumna (’07) provided stern and awesome opposition and lasting memories of incredible games but the Tommy Moore Cup was always a step too far. Birr twice, Sixmilebridge and Newtownshandrum dealt hammer blows to the Cuchullains in their quest for the coveted crown and while the dream lives on, some look back on the missed opportunities with rueful regret.
Proud Dunloy clubman and team selector in the early 90’s, Willie Richmond looks back on the era with huge pride recalling that he had: “The easiest job in the county managing that team and they deserved to win the All-Ireland for the years of commitment they showed.” Richmond is better placed than most to speak about the Golden Era of Dunloy hurling, he mentored that side right through the age groups with Chris and Seamus Elliott. There’s one night in particular that stands out more than most for Richmond however, the night they unearthed the talent of wee Ally: “We had taken two teams to a league match, I think it was U12 and U14’s but we must have had 40 wains with us all running about looking to get on. It was bedlam but there was one more persistent than the rest. Chris (Elliott) looked at me and said, ‘For Jesus sake would you put him on, we might get a minutes peace.’ Ally was only seven at the time and he never looked behind him.”
The final against Rossa in 1990, Richmond joked about his memories: “What do I remember? Probably the number of rosary’s we said along the side line for them two matches.” He continued: “They were a really good side and to be honest about it all, we won the championship that year out of nowhere. We had a good side full of young lads and the talent was there but we won that year and were probably two or three years ahead of schedule. The average age of that team was in the region of 22.”
Speaking of that group of players through the age groups, Richmond knew they had a special group on their hands: “That team won everything that was put in front of them from U12. I think wee Ally has five or six U12 medals. In the GAA’s Centenary year the club won U12, U14, U16, minor and U21 so we knew that our time at the top table of the county would come. That side had a tremendous belief in their own ability and never feared anyone. There were some great teams Antrim at that time and the rivalry we had with Loughgiel was as feisty and fiery as anything you’ll ever witness.” He continued: “It was a sweet victory for us when the club had waited so long to win the first Championship. We couldn’t manage it in our own playing days so to taste victory while managing was the next best thing.
“The scenes back in the village will live long in my memory that’s for sure. The celebrations lasted into the second week and even if they had won an All-Ireland, I doubt they would have been able to replicate those scenes.”
So often the rock that the team was built upon and one of the most talented hurlers to ever have worn the Cuchullains shirt. Gary ‘Pappy’ O’Kane became synonymous with the number six shirt in the green and gold of Dunloy and saffron of Antrim. Pappy recalls the run up to the 1990 final and more vividly the semi-final win against Ballycastle: “That was a tight match. They were five or six points ahead but we finished the game well.
“I got the line in the second half and done nothing for it.” Laughs Pappy as he recalls the match in more detail: “Me and Dessie Donnelly were over by the side line competing for the ball when it was cleared and Big Dennis (Dominic McMullan) nailed him off the ball and the ref gave me a red card.
“In the changing room afterwards Big Dennis knew the score. He looked at me and asked me what the hell I got the line for.
“We were confident ahead of the final. We were a young group and I think nine of the starting 15 were still U21 but we had won everything together so even after the first match when people were saying we got out of jail, we had no negative thoughts at all and we knew we could do the business against Rossa the next day.
“It was no surprise to us. We grew up knowing nothing else but winning. That being said, we were playing alright in the league without being brilliant.
“That team had leaders everywhere you looked. Big Dennis behind me, Mushy and Patch either side, there was no passengers.”
The All-Ireland defeats still irk Pappy as he recalls: “We probably played our final in the semi-final but when you look at a team like Birr, they were a class act and Newtownshandrum took hurling to a new level. That first day against Birr was tough but I think the one that got away was Sixmilebridge.” Having reached the All-Ireland final for successive years and defeating Kilkenny champions in the semi-final, Pappy said it was the one they should have brought home: “The match against Glenmore in the semi-final was probably the best match we played. We were at the peak of our powers at the time and looking back, we missed the boat. I think if we won one, we would’ve gone on to win another with the added belief it would have gave us.”