Kerry native, former Glenties player and garda will be cheering from afar

Naomh Conaill supporter Pat Murphy headed back to his native Kerry from Donegal this week a disappointed man. 

At 87, Pat is a Kerry man through and through. He grew up in the picturesque village of Glenbeigh on the Ring of Kerry and is Vice President of the famous Austin Stacks club in Tralee. 

He is also a great and loyal follower of Naomh Conaill, with his great love affair dating back to his time working and living in Glenties, where he wore the blue and white as well.

Even though he only played with Glenties for only a couple of seasons, the town and its people made a lasting and lifelong impression on a then young Garda.

“They were all very good footballers and what struck me about the team and the people of Glenties was the great community spirit they had,” Pat, who has a holiday home in Carrowmena outdoor Mobile, says. “They were a very tight knit community and the community spirit was infectious.

“ I only lived in the town for two years. Of all my years in Donegal, I was 13 years in the county and I developed a great bond with the  people of Glenties. My first station in Donegal was in Dungloe. I worked in the Superintendent's office.

“I had transferred from Clifden, in Galway, in 1960 and I was no time in Dungloe, when word filtered through that I had won a Galway junior championship with Clifden. 

“I played in two senior finals with Dungloe. I was at midfield along with a fella called Tony Kees, he had played full-back for Cavan.

“We lost the first final to Gaoth Dobhair in 1961 and the second one to St Eunan’s then in 1964. I won two League with Dungloe; we beat St Eunan’s in one - 1961 - and Kilcar in the other the following year. 

“I remember I was marking John Hannigan - a brilliant footballer -  in the championship final against St Eunan’s and Tony Kees was marking a young lad called Alfie Ladley, he was a county minor.

“Dungloe had a very good team back then. Sean O’Donnell was on that team and he was the finest footballer I ever played with. He was lightning fast and very skillful. He was a fantastic footballer. Cookie Boyle and Dan Bonner, Declan’s father, were on that team too and Frank White trained us. 

“I have good friends in Dungloe. I rang Fred Sweeney after they won the intermediate championship and he told me he had three grandsons on the team. I played for Donegal in the Ulster Junior championship during my time in Dungloe. I got a big surprise when I received a letter from the county secretary informing me I had been selected for the junior team.

“I remember getting on to  John Brennan, one of the Dungloe officials about it. He didn’t admit he recommended me but I always felt he had put in a word for me. We played Cavan, in Donegal Town.I was marking the great Charlie Gallagher. Cavan beat us by a few points. It was a good Donegal junior team Seamus Hoare and Brian McEniff were on that team.” 

District headquarters moved from Dungloe to Glenties and so Pat soon found himself a new club. He joined Glenties in 1965 and by the end of the season, was back in another Donegal Senior Championship final. 

He was wearing the number 14 jersey when he faced up to Bernard Brady, the full-back in a star studded St Joseph's outfit, which was an amalgamation of Bundoran and Ballyshannon.

“They were a great St Joseph's side and nearly all household names with the likes of Brernard Brady, PJ Flood, Brian McEniff and Mickey McLoone to name just a few of them.

Glenties had a good team too with Daniel McGeehan, the goalkeeper. Daniel was a very good keeper. You  also had Leo McLoone, Patrick Ward, Frankie Campbell, Neil McKelvey, Terence Craig, Pat McCabe, Pat Conaghan, Connie Maguire and Pat Bonner all quality footballers.

Glenties were more than a match for St Josephs in the final and we were leading by a point with time almost up and they were awarded a late  free and Mickey McLoone converted it to  draw the game. There was great controversy at the awarding of the late free equalising free. 

“Mickey McLoone admitted to me afterwards that he had picked the ball off the ground in the scramble for possession,” Pat says. “Peter McGeehin was the referee and he obviously did not see Mickey foul the ball.  St Josephs were the better team in the replay and won. 

“But the awarding of the free was a huge controversy at the time and still rankles with many people in Glenties. They feel if they had won in 1965 it would have been the breakthrough for the club and they would not have to wait another 40 years, until 2005 and they won the first senior title.” 

Pat lined out again for Glenties in 1966 but with the ghost of  the previous year lurking they did not make it back to the final again for 39 years. He moved to work and live in Letterkenny, in 1967 and was immediately recruited by Sean Ferriter of St Eunan’s.

Unfortunately he never got to feature in the famous  black and amber after suffering a career ending injury.

“I suffered an injury that ruptured my Achilles heel in my very first run down O’Donnell Park, in my very first training session,” Pat recalls. “It was a serious injury and was the end of my playing days, which was unfortunate because St Eunan’s went on to win the championship in 1967.”

Retired from the gardaí for close on 30 years, Pat is missing his first Naomh Conaill senior final. After 1965, he was a proud Glenties supporter at MacCumhaill Park for the breakthrough final in 2005 and was back for the other triumphs in 2010, 2015, 2019 and 2020. 

“I have been with them all the ones they  have won and the ones they have unfortunately lost,” he says.

Pat travelled up last Friday accompanied by his wife Roisin (Farren), who is from Carrowmena, all set for last Sunday’s with St Eunans. But the tragic incident in Creeslough on Friday afternoon, which resulted in 10 deaths, meant the final was postponed and has been refixed for this Saturday in Ballybofey. 

“Unfortunately I won’t be at it,” Pat says.”I have a big birthday on Saturday and the family has a big party organised for me back home in Glenbeigh. My two sons are coming home from Cork and my daughter is travelling down from Dublin for the weekend especially for the party. The good thing is the game is on television and we can watch it and hopefully we can have a double celebration with another Naomh Conaill win. The party is for my 88th.”

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