Great Rivalries: O'Mahonys v Skryne during the 1950's and 60's
November 27, 2011These are the two most successful clubs to grace the Senior Football Championship, with O'Mahonys topping the rankings on 17 outright successes going back to their first in 1953 when Tony McCormack became the initial recipient of the Keegan Cup. Skryne's breakthrough triumph in the top flight was achieved further back in 1940 and when they defeated Seneschalstown in last year's final it was their 13th crown.
O'Mahonys and Skryne have met in several big matches since that great era of rivalry going back approximately half a century, including Senior Championship finals, but nothing can compare to the extraordinary level of interest generated by their many gripping encounters at a time when the town club was at the height of its powers.
Skryne had already won six senior titles by the time the Navan O'Mahonys' club was founded in 1948 and the 1940s is regarded as the club's golden era. They had won the Intermediate Championship for the second time in 1937 and have been in the top flight unbroken since 1938.
The historic breakthrough in the Senior Championship came in 1940 when they defeated Kells in the final with a team which included Matt O'Toole, who had lined out at midfield on the Meath side which lost the All-Ireland decider to Kerry the previous year, and Packy Mooney, a member of the National League-winning team of 1933 when he was a Donaghmore player.
Skryne retained the senior title in 1941 when Miceal O'Brien lined out in his first final (again against Kells) and regained it in 1944 when it took three games to get the better of Navan Parnells in the decider. Paddy O'Brien came into the side that year at midfield. A fourth senior crown followed in 1945 when Oldcastle were the beaten finalists and when title number five arrived in 1947 with a final win over Syddan Paddy O'Brien was no longer involved as he was lining out with Sean McDermott's in Dublin.
But among the newcomers were Brian Smyth and Tony Donnelly who were part of the half-forward line on a team which is regarded as possibly the best the club ever fielded. O'Toole was still playing at full-back, but when Skryne retained the title the following year he was no longer involved, having called time on a glorious career.
This was the year that Navan O'Mahonys came into existence and they had already made the Senior Championship breakthrough before Skryne claimed their seventh title in 1954 when defeating Kells Harps in the decider. O'Mahonys' 1953 triumph came courtesy of a final victory over Trim and the greatest era in the club's history wasn't too far away.
St Vincent's of Ardcath won their one and only senior crown in 1955 and a year later Syddan claimed the top prize for the fourth time in eight years when Skryne tasted final defeat, just as they did so often in that decade. O'Mahonys demonstrated signs of their potential in 1956 when they won the Feis Cup and Intermediate Championship with a young team, but nobody could possibly have predicted the extent to which they would dominate.
Skryne and O'Mahonys had met in a couple of Feis Cup finals in the first half of the 1950s, but the real rivalry started in 1957, the year that the town club commenced its fabulous run of five successive Senior Championship annexations. The drama started in a Feis Cup semi-final at Ashbourne when they finished level, before O'Mahonys won the replay narrowly at Skryne en route to outright success.
Several months later they contested a brilliant championship final at Pairc Tailteann which became known as the 'Miceal O'Brien Final'. Jimmy Swan goaled for Skryne in the early stages, but O'Mahonys took over and led by 0-7 to 1-0 after 20 minutes.
With full-back Donal O'Brien retiring injured Skryne moved Miceal O'Brien to that position and he turned in a tremendous performance. The Tara men were inspired and recovered to be level with five minutes remaining, but there was drama at the end when Colm Hilliard won it for O'Mahonys (0-11 to 1-7) with a disputed point. Miceal O'Brien was later presented with a special medal by the County Board in recognition of his brilliance.
O'Mahonys easily defeated Skryne in the Feis Cup in 1958 and once again the teams progressed to clash in the championship final. Skryne took the scenic route courtesy of a play-off and it was late November by the time the decider was played at Kells. This time Skryne earned a replay thanks to a late point from Tom O'Brien, but it was a game they should have had wrapped up at half-time when they led by only 1-3 to 0-3 after Michael Dennehy had got their goal. It finished 1-5 each.
Unhappy with their overall performance, O'Mahonys wielded the axe for the replay a week later, introducing 1957 All-Ireland-winning Meath minors Seamus Clynch and Jack Fagan, as well as Bill Shannon who played for both Mayo and Sligo and who was working in Navan for a short spell.
This time there was no denying O'Mahonys' superiority as they won by 2-6 to 1-2, with Dom Tighe and Jim Fitzsimons particularly impressive. A Tighe goal helped the town team lead by 1-2 to 0-0 at the break, by which stage Brendan Cahill and Miceal O'Brien had been sent off. Paddy Fitzsimons scored a second Navan goal and Jimmy Swan's major for Skryne was little more than a consolation score.
A third successive final defeat was another huge blow to Skryne, but they bounced back and when they defeated O'Mahonys in the Feis Cup at Kells in the spring of 1959 their championship prospects were being talked up.
By this stage they had acquired the services of Jack Gordon from Walterstown, who was later to be tragically killed in a motor cycle accident in England, and once again they went on to contest the championship final against O'Mahonys. Trim was the surprise choice as venue and this was arguably the best of all the games between the great rivals in this era.
Skryne trailed by a few points late in the first half and then lost Miceal O'Brien with a head injury, resulting in the introduction of the talented Frank Carty short of his 17th birthday. O'Mahonys led by 1-5 to 0-4 at the interval, with Harry Ratty getting the goal, and by 1-8 to 0-5 with 10 minutes remaining. However, goals from Colum Cromwell and defender Gordon put Skryne level.
The Tara men pushed forward in search of a winner, but with time running out a draw looked likely. However, there was more drama and more agony for Skryne when a mix-up in defence allowed Patsy Ratty in for the winning point as it finished 1-9 to 2-5. It was O'Mahonys' third successive final victory over their great rivals.
O'Mahonys and Skryne were back in championship opposition when they met in the first round on Easter Sunday, 1960. Again, the Navan men won, but it was an encouraging performance from a weakened Skryne team which gave hope for the future. This was Miceal O'Brien's last game for the club. O'Mahonys later won their fourth successive title, beating Drumbaragh in the final.
O'Mahonys completed the five in-a-row in 1961, getting the better of Trim in the decider after scoring a comfortable 3-6 to 1-2 win over Skryne at the penultimate hurdle in Trim. A Paddy Lynch goal helped Skryne to lead by 1-2 to 0-3 at the break, but second half goals from Jim Fitzsimons (two) and Colm Hilliard propelled O'Mahonys towards victory. That left the Navan men one success away from emulating the feat of Bohermeen who won six consecutive senior titles between 1909 and 1914, but it proved a step too far.
Having suffered so must heartbreak at the hands of the town team Skryne, at last, got a first SFC win against them, but it didn't come without controversy in 1962. The great rivals clashed in a quarter-final in mid-July and it looked like O'Mahonys would maintain their dominance in the head-to-heads.
They held a substantial interval lead, but with Dom O'Brien and Davy Carty starring Skryne came from seven points behind to lead by one with 10 minutes remaining. Amazingly, O'Mahonys failed to score in the second half and Skryne held out for a sweet victory. Or so they thought!
It was argued that referee Gerry Tuomey blew up four minutes early and he later reported that he erred in his timing. The County Board deemed that the result should stand. O'Mahonys appealed to Leinster Council and, after what seemed like an age, a replay was ordered. Skryne were angry, but the rematch took place at Kells in mid-September and attracted a huge attendance.
Skryne played with ferocious determination and led by 0-5 to 0-0 at the interval and by 0-7 to 0-0 at the three-quarter stage. It looked all over bar the shouting, but young Tommy Monaghan started to cause serious problems for the Skryne defence and O'Mahonys cut the gap to a goal.
Skryne were rattled, but with O'Mahonys pressing they rallied and scored a scrambled goal which secured a truly memorable win. Defeat followed in the semi-final against champions to be Trim, but the Tara men still derived enormous satisfaction from that overdue victory over O'Mahonys.
In 1963 O'Mahonys and Skryne progressed to meet at the semi-final hurdle, with St Vincent's awaiting the winners in the final. Skryne had a new full-forward in Dubliner Aidan Kavanagh and O'Mahonys a new full-back in Cavan man Vincent Cahill. With young Willie Shiels a big influence the town team led at the break, but Skryne took over and with Kavanagh and Frank Carty scoring goals they led by a point near the end.
But, just as they had done so often before against Skryne, O'Mahonys pounced late as Seamus Clynch equalised with a brilliantly struck free. A week later they won the replay by two points and went on to make it six titles in seven years.
O'Mahonys and Skryne were beaten in the early stages of the championship in 1964 as a new super power in the making entered the arena - Kilbride. The great rivalry was over, but it's still talked about in glowing terms today.
Dom Tighe won six SFC medals with O'Mahonys between 1957 and 1961 and in 1963 and recalls those years fondly.
"It was a massive rivalry between ourselves and Skryne, like Meath and Dublin," he said. "It was terrific and the couple of draws added to the excitement. We possessed great self-belief and that was hugely important to our successes.
"There was great understanding between the players, great comradeship. Even if things weren't going well for us at half-time we believed we could turn it around. We exploited our assets, played to our strengths. Of course, we had some great players, like Tony McCormack who was a terrific footballer. He had been captain for the SFC win in 1953.
"We also had a great backroom team who instilled that self-belief in us, men like Boiler McGuinness. They would tell us it could be done even when things weren't going well. But there was no shouting or anything like that. It was a great dressingroom to be a part of."
Dom believes that enjoying successes at under-age level played a significant role in the development of O'Mahonys into an outstanding senior team.
"The nucleus of the team which won all those senior championships came from winning the under-14 title in 1949 and three minors in 1950, 1952 and 1953. We won the intermediate championship in 1956. It all generated great friendship, great comradeship. We won something like 13 championship titles."
Dom O'Brien won two SFC medals with Skryne 11 years apart in 1954 and 1965 and was the only player to be a member of both teams. In between he suffered his fair share of disappointment against O'Mahonys.
"It was a great rivalry between Skryne and O'Mahonys and there were so many great games," he recalled. "They were usually close and I think they beat us by a point on three occasions. We drew one final with them, in 1958, but they beat us in the replay.
"O'Mahonys beat us in three finals in a-row between 1957 and 1959. That was heartbreaking. We had the winning of any of them, but they had the better balanced teams. They had 15 solid players all the time, with some very good individuals, like Brendan Cahill, Eanna Giles and Tony McCormack to name a few.
"They also possessed great self-belief and had great motivators on the sideline. We were the best two teams in the county in those years. The defeats against O'Mahonys were tough, but we were able to keep coming back. There were many disappointments, but they were great years to be part of." Tweet
