History: From McGettigan's Field to Gaelic Park

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From McGettigan's Field to Gaelic Park
By Mattie Lennon

"My brother was telling me how one lovely Sunday morning he was taking a stroll outside San Francisco on the edge of the Pacific, when he saw, hurrying with little bundles under their oxters, men of rural Irish complex. Sometime later he came on a Gaelic football match in progress. Everything was as at home ...not a man of them had ever left home and the mysterious Pacific was just a bog-hole gurgling with eels and frogs. Yet there was something queer and wonderful about the sight . . . or the thought"
Patrick Kavanagh

Kavanagh was no great shakes as a goalie for Enniskeen Grattens and he even went so far as to argue that since Joyce only mentioned sport once in Ulysses it couldn't be very important. Yet he acknowledged that it was wonderful when Irish men brought their Gaelic games across the world. And they are doing it still.

In his memoir John Cassidy tells us, "Like most young people growing up in Donegal in the early nineteen sixties, I dreamt of one day playing for my county in an All Ireland Football Final in Croke Park. I quickly realised, however, that I had neither the natural ability nor necessary talent for that dream to become a reality. But that did not stop me dreaming.

My introduction to Croke Park began when I was about six years old. My late father would always listen to the games on the radio: the wireless as it was known then. Each week he would bring the wet battery into Donegal town and have it re-charged.
Electricity arrived in rural Donegal in 1959/60. Our wireless was used sparingly i.e. news bulletins and a few other important programmes which included the big matches in Croke Park.

As every house did not have a wireless many of our neighbours' children would gather in our kitchen and listen to the late, great, Michael O 'Heir as he gave a blow by blow account of games one hundred and fifty miles away.

Once the match was over we would assemble in McGettigan's field and replay the game. Two older boys wouldselect the opposing teams: every one present was included which meant we often played twenty a side. As our pitch consisted of the entire field this was no problem.

With the goalposts (four jackets) in place the game would begin. It would end for one of the following reasons: Hunger, darkness or a pitch invasion by McGettigan's cattle." 

John Cassidy knew from an early age that Gaelic football was the preserve of (for the most part, poor) Irish Catholics. Didn't his fellow Ulsterman, author/journalist, Cormac MacConnell confess to altering the "Mc" on his birth certificate in order to show that he was born into the kind of "starving Papish family that plays Gaelic football rather than the wealthy Presbyterians of that era who played rugby".

Four decades later, in Dublin, while working as a supervisor with Dublin Bus, John recalled the words of that great American reformer and political activist W.E.B. Du Bois, who said: "The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the colour line- the relation of the darker to the lighter races of men in Asia and Africa, in America and the islands of the sea". Dublin Bus, employs a workforce taken from more than 50 countries and when it comes to raising multicultural awareness, not only among his colleagues but worldwide, there is none more innovative than John Cassidy. He came up with a unique idea, took it to his bosses in Dublin bus and got 100% support. Drivers, Supervisors, Divisional Managers et al did all in their power to ensure that the Donegalman's dream would become a reality. Thanks to the overwhelming support and John's foresight, tenacity, drive, Ulster cunning and cohesion thirty Gaelic players lined out on the Dublin Bus pitch at Coldcut in west Dublin at three o 'clock,on Thursday 06th November 2004. But this was be a game with a difference. REFEREE, TOM KITT, WAS THE ONLY IRISHMAN ON THAT FIELD!

John's interest in the native sports did get him to Croke Park. . .as a voluntary senior steward. And while engaged in this capacity at the All-Ireland football final of 2005 his mobile phone rang. A man with a North American accent, purporting to represent the New York Police Department Gaelic Football Club asked John if he could field a team to play them in Gaelic Park, New York. John was busy. Micheal Muircheartaigh was telling the world that Tyrone was beating Kerry while at the same time giving the pedigree of a centre half-back from Dingle. There seemed to be a bit of unrest on Hill-Sixteen. John said "OK" and promptly hung up. A mixture of experience and healthy Ulster suspicion told him that the call was a wind-up. . . but it wasn't a wind-up. As the final whistle blew John's phone rang again. The same voice re-iterated the request.

Each of the three CIE companies, Dublin Bus, Bus Eireann and Irish Rail have a Gaelic Football team. And it was from these after much though, observation and enquiry that team manager John Brady and selectors Tom Dooley and Pat Fitzgerald picked their panel of players.

Peter Kearns, former Dublin hurler was Captain and Paul Curran, All-Ireland medal winner, with Meath, 1991 Vice-Captain.
And he didn't forget Donegal. one of his key-players was Kevin O'Donnell from Ballybofey. He had a team and the next task was to select a committee. The committee was formed and it certainly wouldn't fall into Fred Allen's description which defined a committee as, "a group of men who individually can do nothing but as a group decide that nothing can be done".

Martin Kenny was Chairman.. He is also GAA Club Chairman and was prime organiser of the first CIE/ Ulsterbus inter-depot competition in 1978. He has given much valuable advice and assistance during the planning and organising of this historic trip.

Brendan Malone, who has given forty years to Gaelic games, and Keith Graham were joint secretaries.

Mick Feterston, from Roscommon, was a key player on Clontarf  Garage hurling and football teams for many years was Psysio.

Committee member Tom Dooley, from Laois, was also one of the team selectors.

Damian O' Donovan, a loyal Dublin supporter and Tom Kitt  were joint treasurers..

Tony Doran,(retired) along with Chris Conway(Bus Eireann Inspector) forged strong and lasting links with the Police and Fire departments in New York when they organized a trip to Ireland for members of the New York Police and Fire Departments after 9/11. They were instrumental in having a lasting memorial erected to the victims of 9/11, in Donadea.

John Leonard, Chief Steward from Croke Park, was GAA Liaison Officer.

John Cassidy, the man who started it all,was  Public Relations Officer. (He has written a history of Gaelic games in Irish transport, titled "Buses, Trains and Gaelic Games" and can be contacted at johncassidy92@yahoo.com )

Kevin Fitzpatrick, CIE Sports and Social Officer, gave the committee the full benefit of his experience of fundraising.

Mattie Lennon, had the grand title of Director of Communications and Media.

Well known Donegal referee Kieran McShea, maintaince foreman Bus Eireann in Donega was also part of the travel

group and and took charge of the their game with the N.Y.P.D

Dublin Bus Managing Director, Joe Meagher, said,"As a Kilkenny man, I am a staunch supporter of GAA I was very proud to play for Donnybrook and Dublin Bus in the Inter Depot and Inter Firms competitions in the 80s. It is great to see a revival of Gaelic games in Dublin Bus and CIE and I am delighted that for the first time a football team will represent us in the newly refurbished Gaelic Park.

 

We were staying in the Navy Lodge on Staten Island. So, if one wants to source appropriate entertainment for a large group of people, on "Staten Ireland" what does one do? Well, I'll tell you. One makes contact with Tommy Mannix, President/Executive Director of the Columcille Irish Cultural Center and that's what I did. Electronic epistles crossed the Atlantic, daily, since last February and Tommy arranged a special showing of "The Irish And How They Got That Way", a musical, by Pulitzer Prize winner Frank McCourt. On Saturday 18th October our group attended this excellent show which consists of 26 songs linked together by segments of history. Through the pen of Mr.McCourt and the talent of Producer Christopher Catt and his cast of six, we were taken on a musical journey through hardship, success, politics, show business, British oppression and the American Civil War.

  

On the Sunday morning, before the matches, Cardinal Egan met members of the Committee who presented him with a piece of Leitrim Crystal.They beat  a team from the New York Fire Department for the Alfonse Niedermeyer Perpetual Cup ( CIE TRANSPORT GAELS; 01;12. NYFD; 00.06.) But when it came to the  NYPD for the Moira Smith Perpetual Cup,  later in the day, for the Moira Smith Perpetual Cup the Irish penchant for "batin the polis" deserted them; they were beaten but gave a good account of themselves. (NYPD;01;10. CIE TRANSPORT GAELS;00;09)       

  

Francis M. Cornfard said that nothing should ever be done for the first time. Well "first" is John Cassidy's middle name. The "multi-culture" match in Coldcut in 2004 was a definite first and on Saturday 2nd February last he brought his team to Omagh to meet a team from Ulster bus at Tattyreagh / Saint Patrick's ground. It was the first time a CIE team had played north of the border. And this was the first time a CIE team played in America.
  
Gaelic Park has a chequered and interesting history. It was purchased by the GAA in 1926. It was then called Innisfail Park. After ten years it was forced into bankruptcy and the city took over the land.

Enter John "Kerry " O' Donnell a native of Camp in West Kerry. His daughter Kerry told the following story to Weeshie Fogarty of Radio Kerry, "Paddy Grimes and Billy Snow had the lease of the ground until 1941. They were not interested in renewing so my father and another man arranged to meet the solicitor to sign the agreement and save the grounds from falling into the hands of other sports or developers. My father was the only one to turn up on the day of the meeting. Dad decided to go on his own, it was a massive gamble.

He sold some of his properties, kept thee Eight Avenue premises and with the help of family and friends he then ran the grounds. He had this huge fear that the place would be lost to the GAA and this was the only reason he decided to step in and thankfully it all worked out very well for him". The O'Donnell family is still involved in Gaelic Park. Manhattan College took it over in 1991 and in 2007 artificial turf was laid.

On the the night before our return to the green and misty island it was decided that we would have a get-together (all 107 of us) each wearing his or her county jersey. But of course we didn't have a venue. So it was back to Tommy Mannix. This man of many parts arranged for us to assemble in the "Make Believe Ballroom"   on Staten Island where we were fed, watered and entertained by several groups of musicians until dawn broke over the Hudson.