Sibling Power the driving force in many a title won

27 November 2012

Sibling Power the driving force in many a title won

John Burke, the St Thomas' team manager, and his son Kenneth embrace after their historic Galway Senior Hurling title win over Loughrea

 

Johnny Maher – the appreciation society!  A text came through.  “Take a look at this YouTube clip lad, this fella is a total legend!”  And there it was.  The TG4 coverage of the Galway Senior Hurling championship final between heavyweights Loughrea and surprise package St Thomas’.  In a cracking encounter in which St Thomas’ claimed their first ever Galway Senior hurling title on a 3-11 to 2-11 scoreline, it was “Rambo” Johnny’s few minutes of madness that claimed all the headlines.

With Loughrea chasing the game and pumping high balls in on top of the muscular Johnny at the edge of the square, with three minutes of normal time remaining, he was hauled down for what seemed like a much needed lifeline for his team.  However, it was the reaction that followed that has received such notoriety.  Firstly, using the butt of his hurley to down the first offender, his lash out to the arm of the second offender was reminiscent to me of a few lashes to the hind quarter of a nervous heifer who had made her mind up that the cattle crush was not for her!  The saying goes that “three strikes and your out”. Well Johnny’s charmed life continued and after converting the resultant penalty with aplomb, his subsequent blatant trip on another opposition player, right in front of the referee, was the third strike but quite remarkably he still did not see any censure.

But all these headlines and media attention should not have taken away from the magnificent achievement of St Thomas’.  An amalgamation of the Peterswell, Castledaly and Kilchreest parishes since 1968 the cornerstone of team were the six Burke brothers Kenneth, Sean, Cathal, Darragh, recent All Star winner and Galway Senior David and youngest brother Eanna.  The first five brothers all started the game while minor star Eanna took to the field for the final minutes.  The GAA has been founded on the contribution of families and the pride in playing for the parish.  I was curious then as to how siblings had progressed to the county scene and contributed to their counties push for glory.

There have been many incidents in hurling, football and camogie of siblings winning Celtic Crosses over the years but the following are some that stood out for their uniqueness.

Liam, Des and Brendan Maguire

The Maguire brothers became the first siblings to play against each other in an All Ireland Final in the football final of 1952.  Liam and Des played for Cavan while Brendan played at midfield and wore the colours of neighbours Meath.  Cavan won the game 0-9 to 0-5 and was the last time that they won the title.

Angela and Ann Downey, Kilkenny

The famous twin sisters of Kilkenny camogie who dominated the game during the 80’s and early 90’s.  They won an historic twelve All Ireland medals each including a 7 in a row between 1985 and 1991.  Angela first started playing senior camogie for Kilkenny at the age of 13 and her inter county career lasted an extraordinary twenty five years.  She captained the winning teams of 1977, 1981 and 1991.  Her twin sister Ann also captained the winning teams of 1989 and 1994.  A feat that is never likely to be surpassed.

Pat, Mick and Tom Spillane, Kerry

The famous Spillane brothers from Templenoe hold the record for the most number of All Ireland Senior Football Championship medals won by siblings.  Including medals won as non playing subs, Pat has 8 medals, Mick has 7 medals and Tom has 4 medals.  They are the only three brothers to have won three successive All Ireland medals each between 1984 and 1986.  Pat also had the distinction of lifting the Sam Maguire cup as captain at the tender age of 19 in the 1975 final after his club colleague Mickey Ned O’Sullivan was famously injured and taken to hospital during that game and therefore was not present to go up and collect the cup.

Pat, Ger and John Henderson, Kilkenny

The Henderson name is immersed with success in the Black and Amber jersey over the years.  In fact, the three brothers of Pat, Ger and John who represented their county at senior level hold the record for the longest period of time in which siblings have worn the county jersey i.e 1964 to 1991.  Pat was the eldest and played for the Cats between 1964 and 1978 winning 5 All Ireland medals in the process in 1967, 1969, 1972, 1974 and 1975.  He lost the 1971 final to Tipperary when captain in one of the great finals which will always be remembered for Hurler of the Year Babs Keating playing the closing stages of the game in his bare feet!  His brothers John and Ger played for the county team between 1978 and 1991 winning All Ireland medals each in 1979, 1982 and 1983.

George and John O’Connor, Wexford

When manager Liam Griffin led Wexford to the promised land with victory over Limerick in the 1996 All Ireland Hurling final, it was the first time that the yellow bellies had won the title since 1968.  Their last Leinster title success was back in 1977.  One of the stalwarts of Wexford hurling, George O’Connor, had soldiered through 17 barren seasons before winning that elusive All Ireland medal in 1996.  Who could forget the joyous scenes when he was shouldered off the pitch once the final whistle was blown.  George had played at midfield in that game with his brother John also being victorious in the corner back position. 

Ben and Jerry O’Connor, Cork

Twins Ben and Jerry O’Connor came from a family steeped in Cork hurling tradition.  They became the first twin brothers to win All Ireland Senior hurling championship medals and their younger sister Paula has also won All Ireland medals in camogie for Cork.  Ben broke in to the Cork senior set up slightly earlier than Jerry and was part of a very young Cork team, average age of twenty two, which defeated Kilkenny in the All Ireland final of 1999.  Both brothers were part of the back to back All Ireland winning teams of 2004 and 2005 with Ben captaining the 2004 team.  They were also the first set of twins to win hurling All Star awards in 2005.

Martin and James McHugh, Donegal

Wee Martin and his brother James were part of Donegal’s historic 1992 All Ireland triumph over Dublin under the management of Brian McEniff.  It was the county’s first All Ireland title in their first All Ireland Final appearance.  Both brothers won All Star awards also that year.  Martin McHugh was voted Donegal’s best ever footballer in the 125 year history of the GAA in a poll carried out by the local Donegal Democrat newspaper in 2009.

Noel and Tadhg Kennelly, Kerry

Sons of the great Tim “Horse” Kennelly who captained Kerry to All Ireland victory over Dublin the 1979 final and who was an integral part of the “Golden Generation” of Kerry football during that period.  Older son Noel was part of the Kerry panel that defeated Galway in the All Ireland Final replay of 2000.  Tadhg had the historic honour of being the first Irish person to win an AFL medal when part of the Sydney Swans team that captured the title in 2005.  He had stated on numerous occasions that he wanted to emulate his father Tim and brother Noel by winning an All Ireland medal and he achieved that historic feat with Kerry’s All Ireland Final victory over Cork in 2009.

Each of the players mentioned above started their careers with their local parish clubs and when the glory days in the county jersey were over they returned to give the final years of their careers to the club also.  St Thomas’ achievement is one of those heart warming stories in sport and we wish them the best of luck in the final stages of the All Ireland club hurling championship.  And who knows, maybe in the next year or so David Burke may be accompanied by some of his siblings when Galway continue their drive to win that elusive All Ireland title for the first time since 1988.