This Saturday night September 16th was a very nostalgic but also a very important and hopefully a very happy occasion for all present at the Fermoy GAA Clubhouse where the club members, the players and team management of one of the club’s most successful eras gathered to celebrate that wonderful achievement by it’s U14 hurlers and footballers in winning for the Fermoy club it’s first ever double Cork Co U14A Hurling and Football Championships outright in the same year 1992. (Players in the previous decade had a few near misses at achieving same) For pictures on the night in the clubhouse Click Here
Winning a county title at any age level was but a pipedream to men like the late Andy Scannell and John Fenton when, in 1979 they along with Ray Ennis, Neil O’Donnell and many others who willingly went along with aims and aspirations of the aforementioned and it was not too long before the name of Fermoy began to make its mark in the wider juvenile scene not only in North Cork but much further afield in Cork County.
The many long hours sacrificed by men such as Con Cooney with U12 hurlers and Bill Barry on the football scene along with some more dedicated people at the time, began to bear fruit in the early eighties when the club began to make a serious impact at the U Age grades. Many North Cork titles began to make their way to Fermoy and the now all too familiar “Horn blazing car tours of the town with Cups and Jerseys waving” was starting to become the norm after certain games.
“The Little Acorn”
One former Chairman of the Juvenile, a man who stepped up to the plate following the untimely death in 1982 of the late great Andy Scannell RIP, I am referring to the late John Cahill RIP who always addressed a meeting with his famous quote “From Little Acorns Great Oaks Grow” in Fermoy’s case this has been proven many times since and indeed one could justify this fact by the size and the strength of that same Juvenile club today nearly forty years later.
That Great Oak was growing steadily when the AGM of 1992 was held on Jan 30th that year. With outgoing Chairperson Brian Shinnick retiring, his place at the head of the officer Board was taken by Arthur Philpott, Tom McCarthy was elected V/Chairman, Arthur Coughlan along with his sidekick Liam Howard manned the Secretarial role, The present day Intermediate Club Cisteoir Tommy O’Brien Junr was in charge of the funds in ’92 while the late and well informed Bill Payne RIP acted as the club PRO ( we are thankful to Bill for the clarity of these notes today) Ann O’Callaghan was the club Registrar in those years. It may also be of interest to note the Committee members that year as follows – The Late Derry O’Callaghan RIP, Flan Groarke, Tom Mannix, Catherine Doyle, Brian Shinnick, Billy McCarthy and his father the Late Tom RIP, Joe Kearney, Brendan Lynch, Mick Hickey, Jerry O’Mahony and the late Dan Ryan RIP. Canon Tim O’Leary Adm was president and Commdt Maurice Walsh was our V/President.
The U14 footballers first outings in 1992 were in the Feile, we began with a win over Midleton before losing to Carrigaline, In the North Cork c/ship we drew with Kilworth and defeated Mallow, Mitchelstown and Charleville before meeting Kilworth again in the final, after a close contest our boys won 4-6 to 2-4; In the County section our lads reversed the Feile result by defeating Carrigaline 3-11to 2-3. Inniscarra were our next opponents in the Co Country final and again our lads were on top on a 3-8 to 1-4 scoreline and so the stage was set for the Co Final proper when we met St Finbarr’s at Watergrasshill in early November, an early blow to our chances came when our centre half forward Aidan Kerins received a head injury which necessitated his removal to Hospital (Thankfully “Kerinsie” survived and was allowed home next day) First half scores from Paul Hickey, John McCarthy, Anthony Kenny and Paul Condon with a goal scored by Tommy Dillon saw our lads in the lead at halftime by 1-5 to 0-1 for the ‘Barr’s.
With the wind in their favour the Barr’s stepped up the pressure in the second period, great defence by Paddy Mullins and goalkeeper Derek Slattery kept them out and saved our side on many occasions, Ten minutes into the half the Barr’s had reduced our lead to 0-3, team captain Paul Hickey steadied the ship with a point and the same player again exchanged points with Barr’s and with just ten mins to play the City side scored again to leave but the one goal between the sides, further scores were scarce in a nail biting finish but Fermoy followers were relieved when John McCarthy soloed through to score a great point near the finish to put the seal on a great win in this Co final for Fermoy. Final score Fermoy 1-8 St Finbarr’s 1-4
The winning football panel included Derek Slattery Nevin O’Regan, Aidan Kerins, Paddy Mullins, Steve McCarthy, Owen Fenton, Luke Mannix, Victor O’Neill, Paul Hickey Capt, Charles Grumbridge, Paul Condon, John McCarthy, Anthony Kenny, David McInerney, Ivan O’Keeffe, Peadar Ryan, Tom Dillon, Pat (Pakie) O’Connor, Shane Cody, Eoin O’Sullivan, Tom Martin, Trevor Grumbridge, John O’Callaghan, Michael Boyce, Michael Bowes, Declan Feehan, John O’ Dwyer, Shane O’Sullivan, Eric Barry.
This was a great victory for the team and the subs as well as for the team management Arthur Philpott (trainer) who was also the club Chairman, Tom McCarthy and Bill Payne. The team further consolidated its c/ship success by defeating Ballincollig in the final of the tournament sponsored by Paddy Fitzgerald and Amber Oil Company. This was to be the first leg of a notable double as we will see as we now follow the fortunes of our hurling brothers most of whom are also footballers.
NOW FOR THE SECOND LEG!!
As they did in football, our hurlers first outings competitively came about in the early season Feile competition, we faced teams from top senior clubs as we defeated Erin’s Own 2-7 to 2-4 and Sarsfield’s by 3-6 to 1-2 before meeting yet another team from a strong senior club in Na Piarsaig from Cork City. This was a very low scoring game spoiled by a strong wind, we obviously did not make enough use of it in the first half as we led at half time 1-1 to 0-1, and Na Piarsaig had the better of the second half but had to fight hard for their 1-7 to 1-2 victory.
The North Cork c/ship was hard fought all the way! We defeated Kilworth, Mallow, Newtownshandrum and Charleville, to qualify to meet Kilworth in the Divisional final. Conditions for this game were very greasy and both sides found it difficult to master them, the first half was fairly evenly contested Points from John McCarthy (2) Paul Hickey, Conor O’Kane and Ivan O’Keeffe helped our lads to a 0-3 interval lead. Fermoy got fairly well on top in the second period and won well at the finish,
In the Inter-Divisional series for the Co C/ship we met and defeated Aghabullogue in Grenagh where our lads had a comfortable 6-8 to 1-5 victory. Next up were Sarsfield’s at Watergrasshill in the Co semi-final; played in the worst imaginable conditions at Watergrasshill, Fermoy gave a superb display despite the gale force wind and heavy rain which fell throughout the game. Playing with the wind in the opening half Fermoy found scores hard to come by in the conditions. A switch which saw John McCarthy go to full forward, paid off as helped his side to a half-time lead of 1-5 to 0-0.
The second half saw Fermoy continue to dominate things and it was obvious long before the finish that the Blackwater side were destined to be in the Co final, final score Fermoy 4-10 Sars 1-0.
The stage was now set for the Co Final where again our opponents were the team from far famed St Finbarr’s, this game was played in Rathcormac on Sat October 10th. To quote from Brendan Larkin’s report of the game he stated that Fermoy were magnificent after scoring a 2-12 to 2-4 victory over the City side, “despite falling behind to an early goal, the North Cork side recovered well and with John McCarthy giving a memorable display at centre-back, they turned the tables on their more illustrious opponents, who had little answer to the Fermoy lads”
The hurling panel included the following – Derek Slattery, Steve McCarthy, Paddy Mullins, Victor O’Neill, Eoin O’Sullivan, Luke Mannix, Eoin Fenton, John McCarthy, Pat O’Connor, David McInerney, Aidan Kerins, Paul Hickey, Ivan O’Keeffe, Tom Dillon, Conor O’Kane, Michael Boyce, Declan Feehan, Daithi Whelan, Peadar Ryan, Nevin O’Regan, Robbie O’Grady, John O’ Dwyer, Eric Barry, Trevor Grumbridge, Shane O’Sullivan, Anthony Kenny, John O’Callaghan and Paul Condon,
Brendan Larkin who was one of the main GAA sports writers for the Cork Examiner for many years, paid a splendid tribute to the Fermoy Club and particularly to the U14 teams and their mentors on their magnificent achievement in winning both Co C/ships in the same year and to add greater credit to those victories, both were achieved at the expense of the famed St Finbarr’s club from Togher in Cork.
While all the credit for those victories must go to the players most of whom were members of both panels, the subs who were ever present at matches and at training sessions, one again thinks of the mentors of both teams, each member must get credit for the many hours of personal time dedicated towards the aim of reaching and of winning those two finals, both coaches deserve our sincere thanks, as already mentioned Arthur Philpott combined his role as Chairman and as coach to Football team along with Bill Payne and Tom McCarthy.
Our hurling team were fortunate in having as their trainer and coach a man who is dedicated to hurling and who has studied the many skills of the game, even though he is Tipp man at heart and we never held that against him, he is always willing to work hard for the Association at all levels especially here in Fermoy, I refer of course to Joe Kearney who I am glad to say is still active within our club and is currently one of our joint Club Presidents, Assisting him in 1992 as selectors were his brother Michael (then senior club Chairman), Tom Mannix, Mick Hickey and P J McInerney each of whom played a huge role that year.
CREDIT to Tom O'Brein
