Happy as Larry
November 27, 2011The old saying 'great memories last a lifetime' is one that firmly applies to Larry Mulvany. Through his lifetime sport has been a part and parcel, whether it be Gaelic football, horse-racing or even angling. The Maghera man is one of a few elite that can boast playing with his native club through five different decades, while on the flip side he's had a few winners in the Curragh this year and captured an elusive All-Ireland angling title in 2010.
To put it simply, Larry Mulvany is a man that enjoys success - whatever department it comes in.
"I started out with Maghera in 1958 and I played practically every year, expect for one year, until I hung up my boots. I played with Killinkere in 1960 for a year, but you could say I played with Maghera through five different decades," Larry explained
"Emigration around the 1960s was very bad. There would have been 27 young people within a couple of miles radius in the parish that left for England and America during those times. We still had a great social club though and there was still a lot of great characters knocking around the club that kept us playing football. It was the auld characters that kept us going."
Back then, Maghera were far from the minnows of Cavan club football. The MacFinns had strong players like Kevin McCormack, Ambrose Tobin and Larry Mulvany, who lined-out with Cavan in the All-Ireland JFC semi-final of 1962, in their ranks, while 1952 All-Ireland SFC winner Paul Fitzsimmons was coaching the senior team.
"Paul Fitzsimmons, you could say, would have been my idol growing up," Larry enthused.
"He was a great player and a good trainer too. When you were training and you got out in front and caught a ball ahead of him he would encourage you, rather than say anything negative to you. That's the way he was when you were playing and we all looked up to him."
In 1973, Larry and his team mates hit a hot run of form and got the club into a long-awaited junior championship final. On the day, the MacFinns would come up trumps and announce their arrival into the intermediate ranks of the Cavan club championships.
Twelve months would see the men in blue and black one better, as they overcame Drumlane in the IFC decider to make history and capture the club's first ever intermediate championship crown.
"The 1973 final was one of the greatest days of football for me," Larry stated. "We had great players like the two Tobins (Paddy and Ambrose) and Jim McHugh, Jim Garrity and Aidan O'Connor and we had John Lynch, John McNamee and Paul Fitzsimmons all over the team, not forgetting Dan Daly, a great organiser.
"The following year we went on to win the intermediate championship and I won the senior as well with Ramor, who were Maghera and Virginia joined. In the semi-final of the intermediate we played Virginia Blues and I remember it was a rip-roaring game. In the senior championship final, I played centre-field up to the semi-final and in the final I was brought on at full-forward."
1974 proved a year to remember for Larry and co, and the following summer would see Maghera take the decision to go out on their own in the senior championship. Larry would play a couple of years with Ramor before going back to Maghera, and with them he would go on to win a junior league in 1989. Two of his sons, Michael and Edward, would be part of the team, with Edward lining-out at the tender age of just 14.
Playing alongside two of his sons was an undoubted highlight for Larry, who soldiered on until the age of 50, but one of his fondest playing memories was helping Cavan to an All-Ireland final in his early playing days.
"I played with the Cavan junior team that beat Cork in the All-Ireland semi-final in 1962. We won the game by five or six points. There were some great players on that team and in the final we ended up losing to Meath by a single point," explained Larry.
While the defeat was hard to take, it wouldn't derail Larry's passion for the game and he would go on to enjoy some of the sweetest success that in Maghera and Ramor's history through the 1970s.
Despite residing in Kells, he is still a keen follower of the Cavan football scene and like so many Breffni supporters he struggles to pinpoint exactly where the Blues are going wrong these days.
"What I always loved about the Cavan team was that they played good football, but this current team doesn't play good football," Larry put it simply.
"You don't have the great players that were around back then and it's sad to see. There were always great players like Charlie Gallagher, Mick Higgins and John Joe O'Reilly around in the times when Cavan were doing well, but not anymore."
Larry feels that the modern generation are somewhat more preoccupied than his was. He also thinks that other sports apart from Gaelic football have attracted the attention of youngsters, effecting the smaller populated counties more than others.
"I certainly wouldn't have given up my childhood for today's. Even though we hadn't a lot back then, we always had something. Whether it was fishing, shooting or football we always had something to keep us going and we were happy," he stated.
"So many young people left this country back when I was playing, but when I was given a jersey I was so glad to get it that I gave it everything when I got on to the field. I think that's the problem today. When some young people get that jersey, they take it for granted."
Larry may have a point, but this past season saw Cavan end their famine for Ulster silverware on the double when the Breffni County's minor and Under 21 footballers landed provincial glory.
In March, Terry's Hyland U21s delivered on their promise, having lost the 2010 Ulster final to Donegal, by upsetting the odds to defeat Tyrone at Brewster Park in Enniskillen to claim the Irish News Cup. The following July, the Breffni minors travelled to the same venue and overcame the challenge of Armagh to end a 37-year wait for provincial glory at this level. While both sides would miss in their bid for All-Ireland success the victories were much-needed boosts for the county.
Larry was there to witness both triumphs and while he is convinced that Cavan won't be tasting the glory days of the 1940s and 50s any time soon, he does feel that there is a strong calibre of players coming through the ranks.
For now tough he's left to focus on training winners of his own on the racecourse and look back at his own playing days with Maghera MacFinns, Ramor and Cavan.
"I played with my four sons, John, Laurence, Michael and Edward, on the Maghera team and by the time I finished up playing I was 50," he revealed.
"The last game I played was in Virginia back in 1993 when the All Stars played Jimmy Magee's All Stars and the half of Ireland was on Jimmy's team. I think it finished a draw that day," laughed Larry. Tweet
