UCC's Fitzgibbon Cup dominance: ‘If Fr O’Brien told us we were going to win, we felt we could’
BACK IN THE DAY: The UCC panel that won the 1981 Fitzgibbon Cup.
It is March 1, 1981, and the victorious UCC hurlers are singing ‘The Banks’ on the steps of the Hogan Stand having just won the Fitzgibbon Cup final in a muddy Croke Park. I’m one of those fresh-faced hurlers, not daring to believe my luck. I am 19 years old.
Now, I can’t believe it’s 40 years ago (to the day) since that happened. Hard to believe, too, that in the years that followed, UCC went on a run of eight Fitzgibbon Cup wins in a row, a feat never before or since matched in the competition’s 110-year history.
Nicky English, who played on the ’81-’85 UCC teams, puts the eight-in-a-row down to the formula developed in 1981.
“You had Fr Michael O’Brien, who was a huge factor coming in that year, but how he combined with Willie Smyth, Mick Mortell, and Dan Beechinor was the key.”
I asked Nicky if Dan was the glue that kept it all together. “100%,” he replied. “Dan’s office in the Stone Corridor was the heart of the hurling club in UCC. If you needed a sliotar or anything, you’d drop in to Dan and he’d look after you.”
All the former team-mates I spoke to made special mention of Dan Beechinor.
John Grainger, who is the current GAA development officer in UCC and won Fitzgibbon Cups from ’83-’87 as a player, said: “Dan set the blueprint for what a real volunteer was, while leaving a huge imprint on the direction taken by many UCC hurlers after they graduated.”
Noel Leonard, who starred for UCC from 1979 to 1982, winning two Fitzgibbons and going on to play senior hurling for Limerick, told me how much he enjoyed the cups of tea in Dan’s office. Both he and Nicky mentioned how important Dan was to young players living far away from home for the first time.
My own memory of Dan is as a father figure and an amazing problem-solver, whose kindness and generosity of spirit was a beacon for the young men who were lucky enough to have known him.
He was the soul of the club in many ways. When we lost Dan last January, myself and a whole generation of UCC hurlers were deeply saddened to hear of his passing.
Mick Lyons of Bishopstown, who was outstanding at centrefield in ’81 and went on to win two more Fitzgibbons, also pointed out the vital role of our coach Fr O’Brien and how he could “get inside your head at critical times, giving you the confidence and motivation you needed”.
UCC were underdogs to UCD in the ’81 final because the Dublin college had a raft of senior inter-county hurlers like Eamon O’Shea, Cormac Bonner, and Peadar Quealy.
“But,” said Mick, “we never felt like underdogs. If Fr O’Brien told us we were going to win, we felt we could, he had a gift for building up confidence.”
Noel Leonard also spoke of how Fr O’Brien brought a professionalism to the training in 1981 that he had never experienced before, with the emphasis always on ball work.
Noel was one of the more experienced players in ’81 — it was his third Fitzgibbon — and he excelled in the final at centre-back despite a bad hand injury incurred in the semi-final.
Nicky was only 18, coming back from a broken leg; in the final he felt daunted by the physical presence of Cormac Bonner, but his goal and linking play were vital for the win — a foreshadow of greater things to come from him. Mick was playing his first Fitzgibbon, too, but his sheer class shone through.
What a pleasure to reminisce about that famous weekend of 1981 with my old buddies. The attritional semi-final against UCG in horrible conditions on the Saturday in Belfield. How Frank Ryan’s cap became Fr O’Brien’s lucky Fitzgibbon cap — one he wore for years after. How Pat O’Leary got knocked out, but still togged out the following day in the final.
Fr O’Brien’s Old Testament sermon on the Sunday morning in that small church on the Dublin quays near our hotel.
The warm-up in the Phoenix Park, the singing on the bus to Croker. Noel trying to hide the glove on his injured hand from Peadar Quealy. Fr O’Brien switching me from corner forward to wing-back and me thinking I was being brought off. The relentless pressure from UCD until the dying minutes. Surging second-half runs by Danny Buckley and Mick Kilcoyne.
Unbelievable saves from our keeper Johnny Farrell — the winning of the game — and us lifting him off the pitch to watch our captain John Minogue raise the famous old cup. The celebrations. Ah, the celebrations.
Why is the Fitzgibbon Cup so special to so many?
Because everybody who is lucky enough to experience it feels it is special.
“It’s exactly the same today,” says John Grainger. “A release from the pressure of college and all that goes with it.”
Now, my feelings about my four years playing Fitzgibbon Cup hurling are mainly those of gratitude. Experiencing the magnetic aura of Fr Michael O’Brien, the affable intelligence of Jimmy Smyth, the paternal wellbeing of Dan Beechinor. Gratitude, too, to all the selfless young people who made it happen, volunteering as club chairmen, secretaries, PROs, and treasurers, year in, year out. And to legendary figures like Dr Con Murphy and Dr Paddy Crowley, who looked after countless young hurlers and footballers in countless ways.
In hindsight, it was mostly about making lifelong friends, playing with and against so many great hurlers. Making memories, too.
The truth is, we never knew how young we were, nor how brightly we shone. We were in full flow, like a river at the edge of the sea.
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