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Chronicling 100 years of sporting excellence
 Manchester’s Oisín GAA Club is celebrating its centenary with a series of special events and a book entitled An Scéal Oisín looking back at 100 years of sporting excellence. Danny
Claffey takes a leaf through its pages to discover some of the characters that have made the club what it is today.
The year 1904 was a good one for the GAA in Lancashire.
Just 20 years after the GAA itself was formed in Ireland a new club was founded from the Craobh Oisín Gaelic League club situated in the centre of Manchester — to be known initially as the Craobh Oisín GAA Club.
That was one 100 years ago this year and the Oisín club is still going strong today.
Thanks to the dedicated stalwarts of the Gaelic games in the Manchester area down the years the Oisín club has always been a very friendly organisation — ready to welcome newly-arrived players and their families from the home country to the north west of England.
It prides itself on its family atmosphere — with many instances of brothers, fathers and sons playing in the same team.
Looking through the new Oisín centenary book certain families seem to shine out — such as the Cahills, Brennans, Burkes, Clarkes, Connors, Farrys, Johnsons, Logans, O’Briens and Murphys. Most of the families have not only contributed players from different generations but also officials and organisers at all levels.
The club even had a husband and wife team at the helm when Declan O’Boyle and his wife Grace served as chairman and secretary in 1998.
And down the years the club has had various degrees of success.
Highlights include becoming All-Britain Senior Champions in 1994, Lancashire Senior Championship titles and too many junior and underage titles to mention.
So to celebrate their remarkable success down the years, reproduced here are a few extracts from the book.
* The Following are all extracts from the Centenary Book.
Joe Cahill — Kildare
Joe arrived in Manchester in 1948 at the tender age of 19. His brother Michael was secretary of both Oisín GAA Club and the Lancashire County Board. Joe was steeped in the GAA tradition and was a great footballer with Oisín and Lancashire for many years. He took on the running of the Oisín team at that time — a task undertaken with great fervour and determination. There are many tales of Joe’s travels around Manchester on the bus and on his bike calling to sign-up new players that had just arrived or notifying existing players of upcoming games. At that time Joe was known as ‘Mister Oisín’.
Joe gained the respect of everybody and players were left in no doubt what was expected of them once they wore the blue and white strip of Oisín. The amount of work put in by Joe over the years for the club and county has been remarkable, from marking playing fields to erecting and repairing goal posts, refereeing games, fundraising and advising other clubs of rules and regulations. Accompanied by his son Jimmy, Joe did a sponsored walk from Manchester to Liverpool in 1991 in order to raise sponsorship for the Lancashire County Board in their quest to purchase land for playing fields — an objective that is still awaiting achievement.
In recognition for all this work Joe was the recipient of the Individual Irish Post Sports Award in 1984. Joe’s wife Una and all of their family supported the club. Sons John, Joe, Michael and Jimmy played for Oisíns and it is well known that Michael was one of the very best young players to ever play for the club. All of the boys are now living and working in the USA.
Joe is a life member of both the Oisín club and the Lancashire County Board. He has served as an officer at many levels for both down through the years, and his efforts are greatly appreciated by all. In 1998 the club held a presentation night at the clubhouse to celebrate Joe’s 50 years service to the GAA and a large number of club and county members turned out for the occasion. Joe was presented with a crystal bowl from the Oisín club, a painting of the new RC Cathedral in Liverpool by the John Mitchell’s from Liverpool and a plaque to mark the occasion from the Lancashire County Board.
Joe is now the longest serving member of the Oisín club and can sit back and reflect on a job well done. His hard work in the 50s and 60s ensured that the Oisín club survived to this day.
Joe Dowling’s: Memories
I came over to Manchester in the autumn of 1958 and was introduced to the Oisín club by Joe Cahill. My first game for them was in September. We trained hard all winter in readiness for the following season. It was a season I will never forget as we reached the Lancashire final and played against Shannon Rangers. It was a tough game and our goalkeeper Vincent Carey saved a penalty that won us the cup in the Harris Stadium. There was some Guinness consumed that night! We have had many a chat about that game since: It seems so long ago now. We played against Harp and Shamrocks and I had a run-in with Don Gill near half-time. I’m a quiet person really but I could lose my temper on the pitch!
The years I played with Oisíns I will never forget. I can still recall some of the players at that time: Larry Melia, Paddy Brennan, Tommie Brennan, Tom McDonnell, Eddie Hogan, Joe Keegan, Fr. Moss O’Connell, Jacky Sullivan, Chris Walsh, Eamon Ryan and Finbar Whelan. Also a few that have passed away: Vincent Carey, Johnnie Harrison, Frank Tiernan and Richard Malainey. May they rest in peace.
Stephen Joyce, Goalkeeper
In 1953 a young man called Stephen Joyce left home in Tuam in Co. Galway and headed for Newcastle looking for work. He was a talented sportsman having played minor, junior and senior football for his native county. He was also a good rugby player and handy with the fist — being Connacht Light Heavyweight Champion in 1952 and 1953. Having secured a job in Newcastle one of his mates was going down to Manchester for the weekend and invited Stephen to join him. They went to the Astoria Dance Hall on the Saturday night and it was there that Stephen met Joe Cahill who immediately
signed him up to play with Oisíns.
Stephen was goalkeeper for the Oisín team that won the Lancashire Championship in 1959 when they beat Shannon Rangers of Bolton. He received his winners medal 32 years later in 1991 in the post — along with a letter from Joe Cahill apologising for the delay! Stephen is a regular contributor on various topics for The Irish Post newspaper and has published a book entitled Suffer the Captive Children.
Michael Connors’s: Memories
It was 1966 when I first came to Manchester from Hertfordshire to work with my three brothers. John, Peter and Seamus. Peter and I lived with Peggy and Eddie Kenny in Plymouth Grove. We worked in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne during the week and came back at the weekend to play football. In those days the journey took about five hours in our Vauxhall Victor. The first player I got to know was Packie Farnan, a brilliant footballer in his day, and we’ve remained good friends ever since. When I first started playing football the method of communication was the infamous Joe Cahill riding a bike round on a Saturday evening. He would visit players from all over the city There were about 10 teams in the county when I started playing here, St. Brendan’s and Oisín were always up there holding their own with the best of them.
Peter Connors was Chairman when the Oisín Club held their first dinner dance 35 years ago at St. Brendan’s. It was hard work to organise this event but well worth the effort. Obviously something was done right as the dinner dance is still a popular event even now.
Another friend was the great Jim Brett and we often socialised together. I remember once going to Ireland with the Oisín team. We played a match in Kildare after which we went to my home town of Carlow to celebrate my father’s 80th birthday.
Two lads that I remember who made a lasting impression were the McGirl brothers Peter and Sean. The first time they joined the club Sean was playing minor and Peter was a couple of years older. Sean’s first match resulted in him losing his front teeth. I took him back to the nurse for some TLC and ice cream to reduce the swelling. Then it was on to the dentist to see if he could restore his good looks! Many of the photos that are around today still show Sean minus his tooth.
Over my years in Manchester I have made many great friends too numerous to mention. I have great memories of games against St Joseph’s who had the Reilly brothers playing for them. We had many a great tussle during games but we became friends off the field — a testament to the bond that football can create. In my involvement with Oisín GAA I have had great support from my family especially my wife Kathleen. I look forward to many more years with the club.
Peter Quinn: 'The Man in the Black Beret'
The Oisín club secured the services of a young player in 1970 called Peter Quinn from Teemore in Co. Fermanagh — a dedicated player who always wore a black beret in matches. He also played for Lancashire in his time in Manchester.
Peter returned to Ireland and established himself as a very successful businessman in the world of finance. He became a high-ranking official on the Ulster Council of the GAA and in 1991 took over as Uachtarain Cumann Luthchleas Gael. His three-year term of office coincided with major changes in the running of the association and Peter has been the financial driving force behind the rebuilding of Croke Park. The club is very proud to have had such a high-profile member and we wish him, his wife Mary and their family continued health and happiness.
A Few Memories of Kerry Man Gerry Flaherty (When the Prayers Didn’t Work!)
One game I remember was the County Final against De La Salle College. It was a teacher training college and had a number of good, fit lads from Northern Ireland. Of course we trained very hard [ahem] but had a few distractions. Anyway we didn’t fancy our chances very much — particularly as their centre half forward was a Derry county player called Mickey Moran who was a flyer. Let’s just say that Paddy Hands looked after him on the day and the task was much easier. Memory fails me a little but I think we won the day.
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