Special bond between Anthony Molloy and John T Murrin will always endure

Their friendship began when they met in a minor game between Ardara and Killybegs in Towney in 1979 and 43 years later, the bond between them remains rock solid.

Born just seven days apart, both have dealt with their demons and continue to do as they make their way through life. Speaking this week John T Murrin remembered that first meeting with Anthony Molloy in Towney when they both played at midfield.

"He was a big man for his age. It was a tough game, we had our fall-outs in the middle of it, but after the game, it seems as if it was meant to happen. There was a big bond between the two of us from then on."

The pair would oppose each other also in an Donegal U-21 championship semi-final in 1983 but mostly they have been great supporters of each other throughout the years.

John T remembers being at a Dr McKenna Cup game in Belfast in 1984 when there were only seven Donegal supporters present.

Murrin's life at that time was as a fisherman with football at the weekend. "At that time the boats, more or less, used to only fish from Sunday night until Thursday evening. You would have your Fridays off and games on the weekend. You wouldn't have much time for training."

As for the choice between soccer and Gaelic, the family home would have been a factor. "I would have played both, but I have to say our house would have been a big Celtic house. My father, God have mercy on him, was great friends with Sean Fallon, who was called the Iron Man of Celtic at that time. Ours would have been one of the biggest Celtic houses around the play.

"But I have to say, I would have been more of a Gaelic man than a soccer man. But I always had great time for soccer, for Ireland and the club and I was lucky enough to win an Ulster medal with St  Catherine's, along with my brother, Paul, God have mercy on him. I cherish that medal.

"We played Gweedore in the semi-final on my 21st birthday and we drew 2-2 in Emerald Park. We played the replay the following Friday and I went to fish on the Sunday night and the bus was waiting for me on the pier in Killybegs (on the Friday). I came off the boat with very little sleep all week. My father said 'you jump now, the boys are waiting for you'.

"Gweedore would have been very, very strong at that time. Looking back, John Barr had the pub in Gweedore that time. We beat Gweedore and they were absolutely fuming. We beat them 1-0 and the only Gweedore player who came into the pub after the game was Doalty Sweeney. I was marking Doalty that day, what a fabulous footballer he was.

"We went on to play Fanad in the final. They had some household names in the team that time. You had Johnny Kelly, Eddie McGinley, John McElwaine, a very, very slick team.

"We beat Fanad 3-1 after extra-time. Paul (Murrin) and Jimmy White got the goals in extra-time."

While the Donegal GAA team went through a tough time championship wise from 1983 to 1989, it didn't affect the friendship between Molloy and Murrin. While John T has still 60 pages to go to complete the book, he is really enjoying Anthony's story.

"It's a brilliant book, a good read. I would expect nothing different from the man himself. What a legend he was. In my eyes, he's still a legend. A great friend, a friend you can trust.

"We have always been there for one another. We would have some tough times in our lives. Anthony knows he can call me anytime and I know I certainly can call him anytime.

"When Anthony got married in 1990 I was his best man. It was a great honour for me to be asked. It shows you how close we were even then.

"I've yet to hear anybody have a bad word for him. He's a big gentle giant. What a fabulous footballer he was.  There was no dirt in him and he's the same as a person."

He often thinks about why their friendship has remained so strong. "Maybe why we clicked was that there was a lot of stuff going on in both of our lives that worked in a similar pattern. I stopped drinking myself when I was 28. I'm not going to say I'm an alcoholic or anything. I just didn't enjoy drink any more. I just had to get rid of it and I did get rid of it and I haven't had a drink since I was 28.

"I would have spoken to Anthony a whole lot of times about drink. At that time I felt there was nothing after a game only a feed of beer. I could see a different world altogether and I still enjoyed the craic. The only difference was that I wasn't torturing myself with drink.

"It would have helped Anthony a lot too. Thank God Anthony can take a pint now or leave it. He wouldn't be bothered about drink anymore which I feel very, very happy about."

He feels that there was a serious drink culture associated with the game in the late 1980s and early '90s and Molloy was caught up in that.

"Anthony is one of these characters who can't say no. He's just that kind of a fella. But he has learned a lot this last number of years. He knows what the story is now.

"After 1992 it was just a mad time. People just wanted to touch Anthony, to shake his hand. It was an unreal time."

John T, even though he was fishing, would have been in touch with Anthony two or three times every day, first thing in the morning and last thing at night.

"It's very hard to explain to people the relationship we have. It makes a wile difference in your life if something is bothering  you and you can lift the 'phone and ask somebody you can trust. A lot of people haven't got it."

And when John T contracted cancer a few years ago, the roles were reversed with Molloy helping out. It was a difficult time for John T as he had lost his father and sister to cancer and then his younger brother Paul (Feet) was diagnosed with the disease, and would lose his battle.

"Myself and Paul would have been very close as brothers. We would have played a lot of football together. I loved him to bits. It was a tough time with Paul going through treatment and then myself. At least I had Anthony to talk to.

"And when Anthony went through difficult times, like the breakdown of his marriage and other things, he had me.

"There's one thing, we will never fall out."

Molloy had asked him to go through the book before it was published. "He gave me the book one day I was down in the house and he says, 'go through that John T'. I said no Anthony.  I don't want to spoil it on myself," Murrin told him, adding that he had been asked to do the book on numerous occasions.

The Killybegs man had his own special place in the Donegal scheme of things for the All-Ireland as after he had given up the drink in 1990, Brian McEniff invited him to be part of the backroom set up.

"Brian McEniff had asked me to training. I knew all the lads well. I had stopped drinking in 1990 and with Anthony living close and all the Killybegs boys, I used to go to all the training sessions.

"It was actually great for me, being along with the boys and feeling part of the whole thing. It was a powerful memories. After the Ulster final in 1992 the boys carried me on to the bus for the journey home. And when we beat Mayo, Brian asked me to come up for the weekend of the All-Ireland.

"He said the only thing  I  can't do, says Brian, is I can't get you into Croke Park as I haven't enough passes.

"I said Brian, thanks very much for your offer, but I'm going up along with the Killybegs crew on the Saturday but I'll be the first man into the Malahide Hotel, win, lose or draw on Sunday evening."

Murrin recalls a surreal moment from that night in the Grand Hotel in Malahide. "I went into the hotel and the first man I met was John Cunningham's father, Andy, God have mercy on him. He says John T, what are you having. I said I'll have a vodka and coke Andy. I would have been sober for two years at that time.

"Andy says back to me, John T, you'll be buying the first one and I'll be buying them for the rest of the night. Thank God, I went into the toilet and stayed in the toilet for 10 minutes and when I came back and I never thought about drink since.

"Life has been so good for me since. I was only 28 in 1990 and thank God, I have had a great life since. And I have been able to be there for Anthony too.

"If the two of us had been drinking since then, there's a good chance that we wouldn't be alive," laughs Murrin.

He feels that both their lives have been helped by a deeply held faith. "Myself and Anthony would have very good faith. Anthony's house would have been the same as ours, there would have been rosary in the house every evening," said Murrin, who recalls a special moment from Pope John Paul II's visit to Ireland in 1979 when he was asked to represent the fishermen of Ireland at the Pope's Mass in Galway.

"I met the Pope, and what an honour it was. I was only  17. I brought up the chalice for the Mass. The Pope gave me a lovely pair of rosary beads at that time and a lot of people come to me now for a loan of those rosary beads, when they are in bother with different sicknesses."

He also recalls an incident which took place during his cancer treatment, which had a very difficult beginning on the first day.

"I never told my wife how sick I was that first night after the treatment, between getting up and going to the toilet, trying to get sick, looking at the ceiling.

"I got up at half six, got showered and shaved and my wife says, 'you’re up very early, sure your treatment isn't until dinner time'.

"I said I'm up now and I didn't want to alarm her. I said I was going down to Mass, I think there's a wee chapel down the road. We went down and there was a funeral in the chapel. We stayed and afterwards I went up and lit a few candles and came back down and said a few prayers.

"I don't know but there was definitely something in that chapel that morning. It changed my life and it eased the whole thing. There was very little sickness afterwards," said Murrin, who said that despite being warned that he wouldn't be fit to travel or eat, he was able to live almost normally and eat as normal. 

"The treatment does take a lot of you, but thank God I was so healthy and ready for it. I had a nine and a half hour operation afterwards and a third of my stomach was taken away. I have no doubt but for my faith and my positivity, I wouldn't have got through."

And he has just one piece of advice for anyone on a similar journey, some who he feels just want to throw in  the towel.

"Faith and positivity doesn't get everybody through but anyone going through cancer, I would pick those two things as being the most important."

That type of positivity has been the cornerstone of the relationship between John T Murrin and Anthony Molloy and both have benefited enormously from it.

Click here to buy Anthony Molloy An Autobiography: A memoir on life, glory and demons

Anthony Molloy: A Memoir on Life, Glory and Demons is available in local bookshops. The Dublin launch of the book takes place tonight in the Harcourt Hotel. There are also local book signings in A Novel Idea, Ballyshannon on Friday Nov 18 from 2-4; and Bookmark, Letterkenny Saturday 19, 2-4.