By Ruth Chambers - Photos by Alicia Reynolds

The year was 1984 and Chaka Khan, Wham and Duran Duran were all the rage. Frankie went to Hollywood and Tom Keegan went to Walterstown. It was the last time the most coveted trophy in Meath GAA laid it’s silver head to rest in the home of the Blacks. 

Last Saturday, however, that Keegan Cup, on loan from current kingpins Summerhill, paid a visit back to where it used to reside back in the late 70s and early 1980s. Christy Bowens was the first captain to bring it home and Gerry Cooney the last. 

Indeed on five occasions from 1978 to 1984 the Keegan Cup called Walterstown home. This year marks the 40th anniversary of the club’s last Meath SFC victory and Walterstown marked it, and the previous four wins, with a very special event in their clubhouse last weekend. 

The McLoughlin brotthers - Gerry, Kevin, Liam, Noel and Joe pictured with the Keegan Cup.

A get together of greats took place, as one of the best club teams of all time reunited and what a night it was. They, of course, were joined by their manager Mick O’Brien, former trainer and Kerry legend Jack O’Shea and greats from beaten finalists such as Sean ‘Player’ White from Skryne, Summerhill’s Mattie Kerrigan, former Syddan man Jim Curtis and the acclaimed Navan O’Mahony’s legend Joe Cassells. With the one-and-only Brendan Cummins as master of ceremonies, many great memories were re-lived as Walterstown heroes regaled guests with side-splitting stories from those glory years. 

A packed function room heard tales from the victories of ’78, ’80, ’82, ’83 and ’84 and, of course tales of Leinster Senior Club Championship glory of 1980 and 1983. Former players and guests travelled from London, Louth, Wexford and indeed all over beautiful Meath for what was a very special night on the Oldtown Road in Johnstown. 

“It was great for me at the time to go in with a club team at that time and they are probably one of the greatest group of people I have ever met,” said Jack O’Shea, who helped train Walterstown to SFC victory in 1983. 

Denis O'Sullivan, Frank O'Sullivan, Mark O'Sullivan, Neil O'Sullivan and Conor O'Sullivan.

“They were just a fantastic team but I didn’t do much with Walterstown that Mick O’Brien hadn’t already done. They were such a very good club team. Today we hear about not taking a ball in to a tackle and back then they didn’t do that; they used the ball all the time and they foot passed and moved the ball all the time. They played a very simple game. The thing that struck me most about them was their commitment. They were a close-knit community and all close-knit families and you can see what these men have brought to this club as we sit in this fabulous building tonight. That is all down to the success of this team, I was privileged to be part of it and it was one of the greatest times of my life,” added O’Shea. 

Close knit it was. Indeed, the five SFC wins were spearheaded by what was then a small parish team with no home to actually call their own, long before the days of the current urbanisation of Johnstown. Families such as the Reynolds’, O’Sullivan’s, O’Brien’s, McLoughlin’s, Barry’s and Wards were the backbone to Walterstown’s success. Sean Reilly was ever-present between the posts for the five victories, but the Blacks also benefitted greatly from transfers. In came former Donegal man Paddy Carr, who was living in the parish in St Columban’s, Dalgan Park at that time, while the arrival of JJ McCormack from Ballinabrackey was a major boost for O’Brien’s team. Legendary full back Willie Clarke came from neighbouring club Seneschalstown. Indeed the latter was known for his tough as teak style of play and perhaps a book could be wrote on Clarke alone if stories from last Saturday night are anything to go by! 

The Reynolds Brothers - Gerry, Pat, Ray, Christy and Paul.

“Willie Clarke, of course came from Seneschalstown along with his brother Tossie. Seneschalstown couldn’t handle Willie!” joked Ollie O’Brien from the stage on Saturday night. 

He added: “Probably the funniest thing over them years happened in Newbridge against Baltinglass in the Leinster Club Championship. Your man scored a goal from Baltinglass and he was running behind the goals like the soccer players do now and when he came back out Willie clocked him. But Willie never stopped but he kept walking towards the dressing rooms and all the while Seamus Aldridge (the referee) was running after him,” added O’Brien. 

“The players did it on the field but you have to hand it to people behind the scenes, people like Tommy Reilly, who got the players we didn’t expect to get. Just look at JJ McCormack over there. He played in the final against Skryne and had a mighty game and he was some addition,” insisted O’Brien, who claimed the man of the match award in the 1980 SFC final. 

The Barry Brothers - John, Eamon and Martin pictured with the Keegan Cup.

The contribution of Walterstown to the annals of of Meath GAA history should and won’t be forgotten. Indeed so many of the players from the five SFC winning teams donned the famous green and gold. Mick O’Brien, a current president of Meath GAA coached Meath to a National Football League title in 1975, his brother Eamon is the last Meath manager to taste Leinster Championship success, Pat Reynolds a right hand man to Sean Boylan for many a year, Eamon Barry also took charge Royals, while Gerry Cooney managed Meath at Under 21 level and was a selector alongside Andy McEntee. And that, quite literally, is to name but a few. 

And while it is often said that one should not live in the past, it is the past that quite often shapes the future. The escapades of Walterstown men of that era have never been replicated by the Johnstown club but their prowess and their achievements cannot be forgotten. With so many of the current crop of Walterstown players watching on last Saturday night, the club certainly hope the recounting of such memorable times spurn them on to great days in the not too distant future.

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