There was a discernible of air of nostalgia around Cremartin over last weekend as the club celebrated its 75th anniversary and the memory of the people whose vision all those years ago started the club, with a series of special events at both their ancestral home in Lismagunshion and their current headquarters. The celebrations had a twofold objective, first of all commemorating the birth of the club 75 years ago and the men whose courage and vision in lean and difficult times laid the foundations for the current club while at the same time the commemorations were held to remind the youth of today of where their club, Cremartin Shamrocks came from. The Cremartin club first affiliated to Monaghan county board in 1934 and the occasion recalled the first team that the club fielded and the committee that was elected to run the club. Speaking at their original home ground in Lismgunshion, or Gunshion as it is colloquially referred to, where a special memorial was unveiled, Emmet Flanagan spoke of "the special pride and a deep sense of gratitude that everyone felt for the legacy that the present Cremartin Shamrocks has inherited. The occasion" he said "is also one for remembering the great players and the great club men who carried on the work over the years and those who are there at the present time." He was also mindful of pointing out that the occasion was specifically designed to acknowledge the efforts of the men of 75 years ago to whom a great debt of gratitude was due for the existence of the club today. The passage of time however meant that only one or two of that original team or committee were present although most of them had lived to a ripe old age but there were many family representatives there and they too were proud of the legacy that their forebears had passed on. The occasion of the visit to the original home at Lismagunshion was marked with the staging of an U10 game between Cremartin and Doohamlet, recalling the first ever match the club had played there against Doohamlet and a game Cremartin had won. Prior to the game the teams were paraded by the Lisnagrieve Pipe Band. Also present at the celebrations was Paddy Duffy, a professor at NUI Maynooth, who is the son of a founder member of the club and the first secretary Patsy Duffy and he was able to evoke vivid images of the times back in 1934 when the club was founded as he quoted from notes in diaries kept by his late father. He was able to talk of events at matches, the lodging of appeals at county committee level and other things that brought events almost back to life. The chairman of the Cremartin club Vincent Boyd spoke of the great occasion it was and how important it was to commemorate those who had worked hard and established the club all of those years ago. He was particularly proud he said that the Cremartin 75th anniversary celebrations coincided with the 125th anniversary celebrations of the GAA itself and he spoke of the benefits that the GAA has been as an organisation to communities right across the country and has even served our emigrants across the world very well. Monaghan county chairman John Connolly in paying tribute to the Cremartin club at the celebrations spoke of the "uniqueness" of the event that they had organised at Gunshion saying that it was "the first of its kind that he had ever experienced" and he complimented those who had come up with such a good idea. He also paid tribute to the Cremartin club for their ongoing work on behalf of the association and the provision of facilities and sporting outlets for the youth of the Cremartin area. The founding Fathers and the first team that the club fielded was commemorated with the unveiling of an inscribed rock by one the current club presidents John Kerr who is in his 93rd year and a man who had played in Gunshion for many a year in the past. "The fear of being forgotten with the passage of time will not be a factor for the men of 1934", Emmet Flanagan said. They wrote their names in history on the football field here in Gunshion and we have now carved it in stone lest we forget". A minutes silence is generally the norm on these occasions but Cremartin club preferred to use another traditional GAA form of respect and called for "a minutes round of applause". Following the formalities at Gunshion there was a parade back to the present Shamrocks Centre which then turned into a trip down memory lane with a great display of pictures, photographs and memorabilia from over the years. The celebration of 75 years was also used to get the message across to all the clubs juveniles and even their senior players of where they have come form as a club and rich heritage they have inherited. "Gunshion may always be remembered as the spiritual home of Cremartin and while it is no Croke Park or even Shamrock Park it is where it all began" Emmet Flanagan concluded. Vying for highlight of the evening though could be the special rendition of the ballad Cremartin Abu, which was a joint effort by Paddy Duffy and his aunt Carmel, a sister of the club's first secretary Patsy Duffy, as they sang all 15 versus to loud acclaim. The day of celebration concluded with a meal in the Shamrock Centre that was served by the Ladies' Committee and the unveiling of a special 75th Anniversary plaque by one of the club presidents Paddy Carragher. The team that represented Cremartin in that first game in Gunshion was: Patsy Duffy, (captain and first secretary), Hughie McGinn, Frank Monaghan, Packie Brannigan, John Maguire, James Carroll, Barney Smith, James McGinn, John Flanagan, John Conlon, Frank Brannigan, Pat Farrell, Gerard Flanagan, Charlie McGinn, Tommy Atkinson. Tweet

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