You can read St Paul’s Holywood Gaelic News
Issue 1 March 1993 here
You can read St Paul’s Holywood Gaelic News
Issue 2 April 1993 here
1964 Down Hurlers – All Ireland Champions – Newtownards Chronicle
Scrabo Harps Minor Football – Frank McGuigan
The story really begins with the spectacular success of Down in 1960 when they beat a very fancied Kerry in the 1960 All Ireland Final. This encouraged a hitherto non existent interest in Gaelic Games right across North Down where the only active players were those attending St Mary’s Barrack St CBS, Hardinge St CBS and St Malachy’s College.
When Down retained their All Ireland title in 1961, there was a stirring of interest particularly in Newtownards where the Parish already had a very successful Down and Connor League soccer team called St Finian’s – after the Parish Primary School. This team won the League at least once if I remember correctly and were ready for new challenges. They had some smashing players – Raphael Waugh, Jim Pinnance, the Barretts and the McGuigans (wee Joe and the John St clan!) to mention just a few.
So the nucleus of the St Finian’s were ready for new challenges and during the winter of 61/62, it was decided to attempt the formation of a GAA club in Newtownards. Of course, publicity was necessary to spread the word of the new club and the local press – the Newtownards Chronicle and the Spectator were pressed into service.
The papers are both still owned to this day by the Alexander family and at that time, were managed directly by family members. At the Chronicle, the editor was Bob McNinch who hailed originally from Ballynahinch. He often claimed that the town was named after his family (and it probably was) but Bob had a good eye for a story and knew what would sell papers. Around that time, the Chronicle recruited a “cub” reporter straight out of “cub” reporter school. His name was Roderick (Rory) Crilly who became a good friend of the embryonic club. Rory is best remembered for a famous ghost story which made the front page of the paper in the early sixties. The spook allegedly appeared in front of Francey Tracey from the Scrabo Estate while he was walking home from Scrabo one night in early summer.
With the encouragement of Rory and Bob McNinch, I undertook to produce a weekly column on GAA matters for the Chronicle under the pen name Cuhulainn. This quickly became a focal point for all the news in the Ards and I still have a Croke Park press pass issued to the Chronicle in the early sixties. As I was still at school at the time, the production of this weekly bulletin had to be fitted in with all the school work but I soon learned how to delegate the job and often relied on school pals from the lower Ards who travelled with me daily to school in Barrack Street. Without Paddy McManus, Joe Dynes, Tommy Mason, Maura Bell and Elish Lennon (now Bell), it couldn’t have been done.
The meeting place for all the young lads in Newtownards Parish was St Patrick’s Billiard Club which occupied the top floor of the old school in Ann Street. Bill Delaney, a first world war veteran was the marker and every night there would be a queue patiently awaiting Bill’s arrival at 7pm – sometimes just to get in out of the cold and rain, to talk football or to cadge a game with George Quinn!
But there was also interest from people whose playing days were numbered or indeed over and they made it be known that they would provide the administrative structure necessary for any successful club. People such as Joe, Gerry and Michael Mullan, Stevie Noble, Pat McCormack, Joe Donaghy and many others agreed to request affiliation for Scrabo Harps GAC Newtownards in the Spring of 1962.
It must also be recorded that the Ballycran, Ballygalget and Portaferry clubs were very active in establishing Harps through the loan of their playing facilities, strips and advice in general. Jim McNamara, Frank Gilmore and the late Davy Bell from Ballycran, the late Walter Moreland from Portaferry, the McGrattan families, Hugh Dorrian, the Coulters from Ballygalget all gave their time unselfishly just to get the club up and running.
There were enough players to field a Junior football side and a minor squad with a little overlap of personnel but a playing field of some sort was a priority and this concentrated the minds of the committee for much of that first year and generated some novel “solutions.”
The socio/political climate at that time was also starting to change. This was the era of Terence O’Neill and there was no real antagonism towards this fledgling GAA club in a community unaccustomed to such pastimes. There was therefore no attempt by the local council to deny the club the use of the soccer pitches at Londonderry Park for week night practices and challenge games. The pitches were too short and the soccer goals were modified by lashing wooden lathes to the uprights to create something resembling GAA posts. This curiosity aroused the interest of many passing locals who often stopped to watch and subsequently contributed as Pat’s hat was passed around.
This was the only source of revenue in those early days and before long, the club had placed an order from McGlades’s in Royal Avenue for a playing strip in amber with a black horizontal band – jerseys only!
When the strip arrived, it was immediately pressed into service and following a minor game at the Brothers’ field at Rubane against Ballycran, the strip was taken to a laundrette in Francis St Newtownards near where Edit Smyth’s Cafe is today, to be washed, dried and made ready for another match that weekend. We all could have cried when it came back shrunken and to make matters worse, the colours had run!
During the Spring of 1962, Harps began to play a series of challenge games all over the county and at times even venturing to such distant places as Hannahstown and Glenavy! We had great difficulty finding the Glenavy pitch and will passing through the village recently, I was told that this had been a common complaint from visiting teams. Six or seven years ago, the Glenavy Club developed a new site which is now impossible to miss. Hannahstown – now better known as Lamh Dearg or “Lamb Derg” to some have also moved to a fine complex overlooking Colin Glen from their previous location near Wheelers Corner on the Dundrod circuit. Matches were also played at Dunsford, Kilclief, Longstone and Thomas Russell’s, Holywood.
Soon the committee began to seriously consider a permanent home and two or three options became available. The first was in Donaghadee in the field where on the Millisle Rd where the Church now stands. A field in Comber owned by the Conway family was also considered and the third was on the Comber Rd, Newtownards just opposite the Crepe Weavers complex.
However, all these options came to nothing but I recall a couple of games in Donaghadee before the posts were cut down as a gesture of “community solidarity” by a very small minority. This tactic became depressingly familiar to all North Down and Ards clubs in the ’60s in spite of the alleged moderating influence of the improving political climate.
Down through the years, playing pitches continued to be a contentious issue. While the “never on a Sunday” brigade were very much in the driving seat, the provision of GAA playing facilities from public money was quite unlikely. With the exception of Bangor, all the other new clubs decided to follow the lead of Russell’s and the lower Ards hurling fraternity and that was to purchase and develop their own facilities. One only has to look at McKenna Park, Ballygalget Mitchell’s and St Mochai’s at Darragh Cross to see the long term results of this policy. The East Down and Down County Board must also take their share of the credit for this part of the county having such splendid playing facilities. In Bangor’s case, there was a deliberate decision in the late 60s to apply to Bangor Council for municipal playing facilities albeit on a weekday only basis.
A submission was made to the Council and I remember the Club Committee making the request formally to the Council sub committee. As far as I remember, the application was eventually successful and land was provided on reclaimed land on the Old Belfast Road.
To the Ards lads, the three other clubs formed in the early sixties – St Comgall’s in Bangor, St Mochai’s in Darragh Cross and St Colmcille’s in Ballyhackamore all seemed to have a unique identity. The Scrabo Harps lads regarded the Bangor outfit as the Barmen’s XV. The club initially was formed around the nucleus of lads employed in the bar trade in Belfast. John Keegan was the driving force behind this outfit. He was from Armagh and others were from Fermanagh, Tyrone and even a few from down south. They quickly got together with others in the Bangor area and names like the late Bob Sharvin, Stevie Thompson, Matt Feeney, Noel Gallagher, Eugene Hughes and the late Frank Campbell soon provided the organisation for a thriving club.
Ballyhackamore were all working for “The Bank” with a fair sprinkling of Rugby players out for the exercise and Darragh Cross were all farmers – we knew that because of their pitch and more about that later. Ballycran and Ballygalget players all worked for Henry Gilmore, a Kircubbin building contractor who rebuilt the Greenwell St area in Newtownards and Portaferry always had the best talent – female that is!
The latter became a great attraction for the Harp’s contingent as the result of several fund raising ceilis held in Ballygalget Hall. Such was the interest in Newtownards, that several busses were chartered to cater for the patrons. One bus was loaded with a crate of beer to compensate for the enforced Sunday abstinence and during an interval in the dancing and while the late Austin Hynds was singing “The Holy City,” some of the older members repaired to the bus for much needed “refreshments.”
All went well until Fr Armstrong PP discovered the party and slammed the side of the bus with his blackthorn stick. That was the end of the Ballygalget Ceilis!
But the ceilis were very popular across North Down. Many were held in the Parish Hall in Bangor and through the winter, Fr Jordan in Newtownards ran regular Sunday night sessions in St Finian’s School Hall. But the ceili to end all ceilis was held in the Queen’s Hall Newtownards to celebrate Down’s victory in the 1968 All Ireland Final. By that time, the Ards club had folded and had, to all intents, amalgamated with Bangor. It was decided to run the event in Newtownards and celebrate in style with a slap up meal in the newly opened Chinese restaurant in Francis St – next door to Rice’s Bar where the cup was filled and duly passed around the house.
The band that night was the Richard Fitzgerald Ceili Band from Bundoran and the revelry went on to all hours and that night, Sam Maguire enjoyed Bed and Breakfast in Victoria Avenue.
Referring back to the Ballygalget ceilis reminds me of the late Tommy Kearney of Newtownards and Tommy, whose son played for Harps, was unofficial transport manager for the club. Aidan Faloona of Portaferry worked in the UTA depot in Regent St and he often helped in arranging transport for the club. Tommy drove us all over the county and indeed to Dublin on many occasions – even once in the only double decker bonded for cross border work! On this occasion, we left Ards after 7.00am Mass but the bus broke down at McKee’s Dam between Hillsborough and Dromore causing a delay of over 2 hours. We then had to detour in Drogheda so as to avoid a low railway bridge on the Dublin side of the town. In spite of all this we got to the game – a league final I think, with minutes to spare and home again without mishap!
The lack of a home venue and the constant need to hire transport as few members had cars soon put the budget under pressure. Clearly, something had to be done and once again help was forthcoming from Ballycran who, at that time, were beginning to develop McKenna Park as their permanent home. Since their foundation in 1938, that club had an unbroken link with the De La Salle Brothers who ran Rubane House. This suited the Club well as there was always a supply of keen young lads eager to develop their hurling skills against their local peers who didn’t want to loose face. Mix in the Brothers themselves who almost always were originally from the traditional hurling counties and that was a heady mix!
Ballycran already knew all about travelling expenses. They had recently begun to play in the Antrim League and this mean journeys to Ballycastle, Loughgeil and Dunloy. They already had an elderly bus which had been converted from a bread van and had decided to replace this conveyance with something more suited to the distances involved. The history of Ballycran, published some years ago, contained many anecdotes on this unique vehicle. Harps had first refusal on the bus and bought it for £60. It did provide quite sterling service until it’s demise about 1966.
As Harps did not have a pitch to call their own, home games in the East Down and North Down Leagues were played in many locations. The Brothers’ field at Rubane was often used as was Portaferry and Ballygalget on occasions. We always enjoyed playing at Portaferry where there was a feeling of a grand stadium about it. It remains a fine natural amphitheatre were visiting teams often over estimate the length of the pitch. It is also virtually the only location virtually unchanged from the early 60s.
Ballygalget has gone from strength to strength over the years and now reside on a fine pitch light years away from their pitch in the 60s. At that time, they played in the field at the north end of their present pitch and if I remember correctly, there was a telegraph pole on the playing field.
But these three pitches were paradise compared to the others used by Ballyhackamore and Darragh Cross! Ballyhackamore played on a tight pitch (in more ways than one) just back from the Newtownards – Belfast Road just about 100 yards past the Quarry Inn and on the same side of the road. Although quite secluded, this pitch also lost it’s goal posts on several occasions before eventually being swallowed up for building development while the Ballyhack Club was swallowed up by Thomas Russell’s and the emergence of Carryduff and Bredagh.
Darragh Cross was the daddy of them all. There was such a hill that, standing at the Darragh end goals, the goalkeeper could not see the half way line and relied on his colleagues for news of scores at either end. Now when I pass Darragh’s fine new ground, I often think of their old pitch and the many happy hours spend in and around Darragh. Liam Murray, Frank Mageean and many others have worked hard to reach their present status and I am particularly glad to note their progress in hurling.
There used to be a little shop opposite the field which was well patronised as was the Barnamaghery Bar and the Hall, 200 yards away, which was sometimes used as a changing room on a wet day. None, except Portaferry had any changing rooms, never mind a shower and the most common was to change on the sideline or at the back of the goals.
At the Ballyhack pitch near Ballybeen, there was a small river which was often used as a wash place especially on a hot summer’s evening. This river was indeed a luxury. I particularly remember once at Darragh, having changed at the bottom goals, I left a brand new red sweater on a bush so as it would not get damp on the ground. This was a present from my mother for my birthday and while the match was in progress, a bullock, grazing in the next field, took a fancy to the sweater and chewed one of the sleeves to bits. So much for happy birthday!
Having completed a summer of challenge games in 1962, it was decided to enter a team in the new North Down Junior Football League which would be run by the East Down Board, the secretary of which at that time was Sean Magorrian of Ballykinlar. Portaferry (their only ever appearance in a football competition).
But the league was short lived and folded within two years. Nevertheless, the experiment was well worth while and the direct descendants of this era are still in the football business.
For a short while, Harps even dabbled in hurling and entered a team in the Down League. The squad enjoyed the company of some quite experienced and skilful hurlers such as Paddy and Liam McGrattan – I had played quite a bit with St Mary’s Barrack St, and there were a few other lower Ards refugees residing in Newtownards. I remember one night in Kilclief – now playing in Antrim Div 2, when the match was prematurely ended due to all the sliotars having been lost in the sea!
The last 30 years have been exciting ones in the North Down area and the present efforts to consolidate are to be welcomed. St Paul’s continue to provide a focus for those interested in playing the game. But the single most important weakness over the years has been the absence of football at Primary and Second level. While this is starting to turn around thanks to Peter Morris at St Columbanus’s and Our Lady and St Pat’s, I’ve often wondered at the untapped potential at Primary level. It’s a thought for the future!
