The Gerald Griffins team of 1939 see bottom
of the page for the names.
Gerald Griffins First City Bord na nÓg winners 1939
The GAA’s under-age season begins this weekend with football league games in the minor and under-13 and Under-15 grades.
This year could prove be a landmark year for under-age competition in Cork. It is the first year of a two-year experiment that sees the old eight division Bord na nÓg structures being replaced by four regional boards. It is a radical step; which sprung from the GAA’s Strategic Review process. Only time will tell how successful it will be.
Under-age GAA in Cork has been developing since 1903. That was they year when the primary school competitions began. Secondary school competitions soon followed. The Harty Cup, the most famous of secondary school hurling competitions, began in 1918. While in 1926, the age limit of under-18 years of age was introduced for the minor grade.
Street leagues became popular in Cork City during the 1930s. As a result of the interest these tournaments generated The Cork City Bord na nÓg was formed in 1939 as a direct result of these competitions. Since then, the city Bord na nÓg has been the launching pad of many fine teams and many famous players.
In its first year the new Bord organised hurling and football under-16 leagues. The Gerald Griffins club won the leagues. Gerald Griffins was only in existence for a few short years. But in that time it set the standard for underage GAA in Cork. It also produced a remarkable crop of players and personalities who left an enduring legacy to the GAA in Cork.
This club was made up of players the Gerald Griffin Technical School, which was a famous arm of the North Monastery School. ‘The Tech’ entered a team in the St Anne Hurling and Football club street league of 1938. It was an under-15 league. The team from ‘the Tech’ had been very successful in the North Mon’s inter-class competition and they decided to have a go at winning the St Anne’s league.
Current president of Glen Rovers, Dava O’Brien was a member of that team. He recalls, “We entered the St Anne’s league as Gerald Griffins Technical School, and we had a chap by the name of Joe Twomey, (who played on the first Cork minor football team to win the Munster Championship in 1939) looking after us. Anyway, we did fairly well in the St Anne’s League and when the Juvenile Board was formed in 1939, we [officially] formed Gerald Griffins. We had no real boss – we were all young fellas – Joe Twomey had left school so we got in Brother Cass, a Kilkenny man, who was a primary teacher, to be the boss man.”
Entering as Gerald Griffins meant the new club could broaden their pick from the technical school. “The basis was still the technical school, but Brother Cass brought in others. John Lyons was the first fella to join us. John Lyons always maintained that Brother Cass made a hurler out of him.
“Brother Cass had some connection with the timber trade in Kilkenny, and he could get the ‘shape outs’ of hurleys for us. We would make hurleys out of the ‘shape outs’ in the Tech after school.
“Our next problem was getting finance. So Brother Cass came up with the idea that he would collect jam pots. I think he was teaching fourth class and he told them that any boy who would bring in a two-pound jam pot could have his ‘ecca’ off. He got loads every week.
“Back then the Mon used to have a drill hour [physical training] every Tuesday morning. During that hour, Mick Kennefick and myself and two or three others would take the Brother’s donkey and car (this was the brothers mode of transport and Mick Kennefick had permission to drive it) and all the jam pots down to Gills in Keeffe Street, behind the College of Comm. We used to get tuppence (2d) for a two-pound pot and a penny (1d) for a pound pot. That was how we got the finance to buy a set of jerseys. We bought a set for £3/10- from Dwyers, with the same colours as the Mon.
Dava O’Brien thinks there were 11 or 12 teams entered the first City juvenile hurling and football leagues. Gerald Griffins won all their hurling matches. They found the football more difficult. Dava recalls “there was two Lees teams, (The ‘Barrs had no football team then) they had a team from Greenmount – they called them Lees Pres, and a team from the Model School – they were called Lees Model. But when they played us they put the two of them together and beat us. They were thrown out for this. That was the only match out of 21 or 22 that we lost that year”.
Gerald Griffins were rewarded with a set of hurleys for winning the hurling league and a set of medals for winning the football. “It was the only medal I ever won,” said Dava.
One of the medals presented to Gerald Griffins for winning the 1939 Cork City Bord na nÓg Under-16 Football Championship.
Most of the Gerald Griffins players were under age again in 1940. Dava was one of the few exceptions, so he took on the role of secretary.
The Bord added championships to the leagues competitions in 1940. “We won the football championship. Then the Glen (captained by Pat O’Leary) beat us in the hurling championship, but we won the league. We also lost the final of the football league to the Barrs.”
Dava left the Tech in 1939 but he was able to carry out his duties as secretary mostly because of the leadership of Brother Cass. When the Brother was transferred to Christians (CBC) in 1940 was a blow to the team. At the start of 1941, Gerald Griffins suffered a further set back when their star player Mick Kennefick transferred to St Finbarrs.
The team was also getting older and even though several players were still eligible for juvenile competition, Gerald Griffins moved up to compete in the City Division Minor championships.
‘We played the Barrs in the hurling championship” Dava said. “In my opinion, the Barrs minor team of 1941 and the Glen minor team of 1952 were the two best minor teams I ever saw. They [the Barrs] had six or seven of the Cork minor panel that won the 1941 All-Ireland title including Mick Kennefick. He was “Jack Lynch” standard in hurling and football.
We played the Barrs down the Park (Páirc Uí Chaoímh) on Easter Monday 1941. They had Tom Mulcahy in goal, Mick Kennefick, Seán Condon, Jimmy Morrison, Dinny Mac (McCarthy). Actually in the forward team they had three players who became priests; the famous Fr. Good, Jimmy Morrison and Paulie O’Leary.
“They beat us by a couple of points but we had to play without our captain, Brian Long who was an apprentice in the Army. He had to be back in the Curragh by seven o’clock that evening. He had to get the three o’clock train and we were fixed for three o’clock also, so we had to play without him. We lost it was a fierce game.
“In the football, we got to the final. By the time the final was played, the Barrs had already won the county title, so both city and county titles were at stake. We had only 15 players because by now Brother Cass had moved to Nenagh and most of our players were gone from the Mon. They [the Barrs] didn’t beat us by much in that game either, but again [Mick] Kennefick was the killer. He beat us in both games.”
Dava has very fond memories of Gerald Griffins. “At our best we were a powerful team. You had Kennefick, John Lyons and Jimmy Lynam, they all won All-Ireland medals, and Donie O’Donovan who could have won one.
By start of 1942 Gerald Griffins were fairly shot through. Most of the player were scattered across the city in various apprenticeships. It was difficult to get them together, so the team just fell apart. Many of the players, and Dava, joined Glen Rovers and St Nicholas. This was a major and timely boost to the Blackpool club, and many of these new players went on to give a lifetime of service to their new club.
The tale of Gerald Griffins may seem primitive 2011. But it was teams like them, with their desire to play for the sheer fun of it that pioneered the current GAA. Selling jam pots may no longer be necessary, but the underlying principle remains the same; boys, are happiest when they are out on the field playing hurling and football, and they will remember their games for the rest of their lives.
Team caption;
Back Row, Liam O’Brien, Liam Hurley, Jack Fitzpatrick, John Lyons, Denis Manley, Walter Giltinen
Middle Row; Mick Hanley, Joe Leahy, Wm Walsh, Sean Twomey, Jim O’Callaghan, Dava O’Brien, Pat Philpott, Donal McGrath
Front Row; Corney Mulcahy, Jimmy Lynam, Mick Kennefick (Football Captain) Cyril Collins, Jerry Murphy, Sean Mc Aulliffe.
Sitting; Jerry Moynihan, Donie O’Donovan
Missing Brian Long (Hurling Captain) Billy Attridge, Con Moynihan.