How Galway's three-in-a-row sharpshooter Cyril Dunne mastered his kicking craft

By the ninth minute of the 1964 final against Kerry, he had four points - three frees - to his name. That tally had swelled to six by the break and stood at 0-9 come the finish

TRIBES LEGEND: Former Galway footballer Cyril Dunne from Ballinasloe who was a member of the 3 in a row team in the 1960's to win All Ireland football finals, pictured with his wife Bernadette. Photo: Ray Ryan

Before moving to Cork nine years ago, I used to sing in the church choir up home in Clontuskert. Our choirmistress was a lady by the name of Bernie Dunne.

Earlier this week, I rang Bernie, reminded her who I was, given we hadn’t spoken in almost a decade, and inquired to know would her husband be able and willing for a stroll down memory lane.

She said she’d ask and would call back with an answer.

My luck, thankfully, was in. Not alone was three-in-a-row 1960s All-Ireland winner Cyril Dunne up for a chat, I was to pop over to the house the following morning and we’d do it in person.

Standing at the back door, Bernie shakes her head when she spots the apple tart tucked under my arm. Cyril, already sat at the kitchen table, offers a firm handshake and instructs me to pull up a chair.

Spread open on the table is a book, All Ireland Glory, a pictorial history of the senior football Championship 1887-2005.

In large, bold font at the top of the two pages in view is 1963. 1963 is where Cyril wants to start. 1963 is where he feels this story begins.

As Bernie stirs the tea and unwraps the tart, Cyril announces that 63 was an All-Ireland Galway should have won.

The Dublin line ball kicked in for the Gerry Davey goal that ultimately proved the difference was not taken from the right spot, he declares. The 81-year-old’s tone is as straight and direct as the frees he was feted for arrowing between the opposition posts.

“Dublin got a line ball at the Hill 16 End. The referee put it on the 13-yard line, but another official moved it out to the 21. It went across the goal and was knocked in. I’m not sure a goal would have materialised from the original spot,” he says, all of 59 years later.

As it was, Galway did not lose again in the championship for another three years and nine months.

The page is turned to 1964 and there’s a lovely shot from the end of that year’s final of Cyril being carried shoulder-high by Galway supporters from his native Ballinasloe. In the foreground are a scattering of young boys from Attymon where he worked for Bord na Móna at the time.

HERO OF THE HOUR: Cyril Dunne being carried off by supporters after winning the 1964 All-Ireland football final. Photo: Ray Ryan

“I nearly got sacked out of Attymon because I didn’t go back on the Monday after one of the finals. And I didn’t go back on the Tuesday either.” 

It was probably following the '64 decider, for that was Dunne’s proudest day in maroon. By the ninth minute against Kerry, he had four points - three frees - to his name. That tally had swelled to six by the break and stood at 0-9 come the finish.

“I got very few frees in the second half because Kerry were watching me and making sure not to be fouling.” 

A priest from his Garbally College days, Fr Ryle, is the man he credits with converting him into a freetaker. Equally important in the honing of his dead-ball ability, he adds, was a training ground intervention from three-in-a-row selector Bertie Coleman.

Standing up from his chair, Cyril takes the tin of fruit drops from the centre of the table and places them on the floor. Bringing his left foot up beside the small silver tin, he recalls how Bertie told him to plant his left foot before kicking with the right.

“It was one thing I picked up off Bertie and I never forget it either.” 

He reckons the piece of advice, while delivered by Bertie, came from his father, the legendary John ‘Tull’ Dunne.

A two-time All-Ireland winner in 1934, as captain, and 1938, the tall man in the hat was the pioneering manager of the county’s 1956 and three-in-a-row All-Ireland winning sides.

Their relationship?

“He’d be talking to you before he’d be talking to me, that type of thing. He sent Bertie out to tell me what to do with my freetaking. That was his way.”

A memory from the '64 final offers further insight.

“The first one we got, and me father came over and gave me a tap on the back. That’s all I got.” 

The pair travelled together to every Galway training in Tuam, picking up Mattie McDonagh in Ballygar along the way. They’d dissect the world on those journeys.

The right-half forward landed four frees as Kerry were again seen off in the '65 final, the last time Galway edged Kerry on the concluding day of the championship.

In the '66 semi-final against Cork, he provided 1-7 of Galway’s 1-11 total. I tell him his goal can still be got on YouTube.

Bernie comes around the table and stands over her husband’s shoulder as the three of us watch him in black and white blast left-footed to the roof of the net.

“There were Cork lads closing in on me so I had to kick it as soon as I got it. It nearly broke the net.” 

The subsequent win over Meath cemented the team’s place in history.

His two eldest children, Marie and Grellan, are in possession of the '64 and '65 medals.

“You have the other one, if it isn’t lost!,” he says to his wife.

After a bit of rooting upstairs, Bernie returns with two small envelopes packed with medals, each one sitting inside a plastic pouch.

The '66 Celtic Cross is passed along the table.

“I thought we’d win more. The place was very down after losing to Mayo in '67. We weren’t long back from trips to America and London, we weren’t fit for it.” 

Fantastic times, nonetheless. And the bond forged from their journey endures to this day. Corner-forward John Keenan rings now and again to see how Cyril is keeping.

He’ll watch Sunday’s game from the comforts of home.

“The language can get a bit colourful at times,” Bernie smiles. Passionate to the end.