Though he was born in County Armagh, BT Global Solutions Managing Director Tom Carson represented Meath with distinction at minor level, winning a Leinster MFC as the Royals saw off Larry Tompkins and Kildare in 1980. We contacted the successful telecommunications executive to look back on his brief but memorable county GAA career. You'd be surprised by some of the names who have played gaelic football in Meath. Boyzone singer Ronan Keating, jockey extraordinaire Johnny Murtagh and rugby sensation Shane Horgan were all reputedly dab hands at the native game in their youth. Local legend even has it that Liverpool and Spain midfielder Xabi Alonso featured for Gaeil Comlcille one summer whilst on a student exchange in Kells. Thus, BT Global Solutions MD Tom Carson finds himself in celebrated company. Of course, it's only fair to point out that the latter played to a much higher level than Keating, Murtagh, Horgan or Alonso. Tom was on the Meath side that clinched the Leinster minor football championship in 1980 and he is remembered by peers and management at the time as a gifted young footballer. Born in Lurgan in County Armagh, Tom arrived in the Royal County as a 16-year-old when his family relocated to Julianstown. His father - an avid GAA man - had owned a pub in a place called Gawleys Gate near the town of Lurgan, and instilled a great love of the game in the young Tom, who nurtured that enthusiasm in his adoptive county, where he would make a brief but defined impact. He joined St Patrick's, Stamullen in 1978 and played at U16 level and the following year at the famous Gormanston College alma mater under the watchful eye of Down legend Joe Lennon, who acted as team trainer. Having played an influential role on the Gormanston side that contested the Leinster senior colleges final against Carmelite College Moate that year, Tom Carson (Tommy) was selected to play for the Meath minors in 1980. They played Westmeath and Dublin en route and finally provincial spoils were secured by virtue of a 1-12 to 1-9 defeat of the Lilywhites. "I felt very lucky and honoured to play for Meath that year and we all felt it was the start of a football revival to win Leinster," the Armagh native reflects modestly. "We beat Dublin in the Leinster semi-final in Navan and I remember that day was of particular note for being Kevin Moran's last game for the Dublin seniors, as he was with Manchester United at the time. We were the warm-up act and thankfully we came out on top on the day. "The Leinster final was against Kildare in Croke Park and we were narrowly beaten by Kerry in the All-Ireland semi-final, Kerry at that time being represented by the likes of Tom Spillane and Ambrose O'Donovan." Great players like Colm Coyle, Liam Hayes, Tom Mathews, Dominic Keogan and Finian Murtagh were all on that Meath team. "We also had my club mates Ivan Curran and David Mooney, the prodigious JJ McCormack from Ballinabrackey, John McEnroe from Oldcastle and Castletown full back George Clarke. It was a great team. Mattie Kerrigan was a great manager and a young man by the name of Sean Boylan was our physio. You couldn't get better mentors - they were top class. It was a great time to be involved in Meath football and a good few of those lads went on to win All-Irelands with Meath in 1987 and '88 - and Colm won another in 1996." Though he was talented at centre half back on that provincial-championship winning side, Tom admits that his football career never truly caught fire thereafter: "I played with the county U21s but I never excelled at that age group, to be honest. I had about two seasons of in and out due to difficult ankle injuries and really just lost fitness levels, momentum and motivation. Did get some trials later with the Meath setup but at that stage I was not in my view a serious challenger for a panel position." However, Tom's club career continued and he served the Pats well at midfield for many seasons. "I played U17, Minor, U21, senior and intermediate with the club and we had some great games and many memorable times. The highlight at underage was winning the U17 championship, beating Trim in the final. Of note in that campaign was in the semi-final where we played Navan O'Mahonys three times, having two draws and winning the 3rd rematch. At senior level with the Pats, the high point was reaching a county semi-final, but unfortunately we were narrowly beaten by Syddan. I regret not having played a more prominent role with the intermediates, who later went on to win the championship in 2000 but I was truly delighted for many of my past club mates who really deserved a county medal for their contribution to the Pat's over many years. Gradually I was then sliding back towards full back on the junior side and I knew my career was coming to an end." I was delighted to captain the junior team in my final season with the Pat's and I remember our selectors that year were Johnny Purfield and the great Red Collier." These days, Tom is still resident in County Meath - in Bettystown, to be precise. For work purposes, this is an ideal base for the BT executive to commute between Dublin and Belfast. Hs love of gaelic football is never far from the surface and he recently spent a couple of years as coach of various St Colmcille's underage girls teams, whom his eldest daughter Aoife represented and also followed in her father's footsteps being part of the Meath panel at U14 level. Tom's other two daughters, Sadhbh and Soracha, are also showing a keen interest in the indigenous sport. Having previously worked with Hewlett Packard, Tom is currently managing director of BT Solutions, which essentially oversees BT Ireland's corporate business on an island-wide basis. BT is now a major player in the Republic of Ireland telecommunications industry with a total of 2,000 employees here, including some 500 in their solutions division. In the 1980 Leinster minor football championship decider, Tom had the distinction of marking none other than Larry Tompkins, who lined out on the edge of the square for the Short Grass County. After transferring to Cork, Tompkins went on to become a GAA legend. "I just felt privileged to have played with so many great footballers at both club and county minor level. Many, as you have noted, went on to great achievements in the game and many like myself enjoyed short spells of county level combined with many years of enjoyment and great craic with the club.! "It's a wonderful game and the heart of many communities and I do owe a great debt of gratitude to many people over the years, who influenced and mentored me at a young age, many sadly deceased and many still involved. They had big hopes for all of our underage teams and everything was done to drive that ambition and I think we all owe those stalwarts that made the GAA the great organisation it is." Tweet

Most Read Stories