Naomh Conaill share Columba McDyer's postcard from 1947 All-Ireland in New York

Naomh Conaill GAA club have shared a wonderful piece of GAA history - a postcard sent to Glenties from New York city from Columba McDyer following in Cavan’s All-Ireland final win at the Polo Grounds. 

McDyer played for Cavan in front of 34,491 in the Big Apple in their 2-11 to 2-7 win over Kerry - thus making him Donegal’s first ever All-Ireland winner - having lined out for his native county in the Ulster SFC campaigns of 1940, 1941 and 1942, winning a Railway Cup in the last of those years for Ulster, and also played with Sligo and Connacht. 

Nine days after Cavan’s famous win, McDyer sent a postcard to his good friend Sonny Molloy, addressed to Kilraine, Glenties. Sonny’s Bar still sits on the main street of Glenties, run by Sonny’s son Cathal. 

“Dear Sonnie,” the postcard reads. “Tell Tommie Boyle and Packie and John Yo Yo and all the old Country fellows that the ghost in the old fort liked New York and that he remembers the gallant boys of Kilraine and Owentocker.”

 The original postcard sent by Columba McDyer to Sonny Molloy from New York in 1937. PHOTO: NAOMH CONAILL GAA CLUB

The postcard was shared with Naomh Conaill by Sonny’s son Seamus and the club thanked the family. “Great to have this and we wish to sincerely thank Sonny's son Seamus and the Molloy family for allowing us to share it,” read a statement from Naomh Conaill.  

Columba McDyer died in 2001 and his wife Peggy - originally from Ballina, Co Mayo, who lived at Dr McCloskey Crescent in Glenties - was witness to Naomh Conaill’s success in more recent seasons before her passing last year.
 

Former Donegal manager Jim McGuinness ahead of the 2014 All-Ireland SFC final with Columba McDyer's blue whistle

"Me and Columba would have been fairly close," Naomh Conaill clubman Jim McGuinness said in 2012, just days before he guided Donegal to their second All-Ireland title. "He was an absolute gentleman to the fingertips, very well-educated. He went on his travels when he was young, played with Cavan and then Sligo before returning to Donegal, playing first and then managing the team. 

“He came down to the field one night with his wife Peggy [in 1991]. I was out with the young fellas when he called me aside. He handed over a whistle, a blue and white whistle and said: 'I think you are going to be a coach. I want you to have this whistle'.

"Columba was a legend around the area and the club. He was the only person in Donegal to have an All-Ireland medal prior to 1992. To have that in your own club was very unique and he was a very gentle, bubbly person.”