Two-thousand-and-six saw former Clones footballer Ted Duffy inducted into the Monaghan GAA Hall of Fame. It was a timely acknowledgement of Ted's contribution to Gaelic Games in the county as, 50 years earlier, he starred at centre half forward on the Monaghan side that powered to outright success in the 1956 All-Ireland junior football championship. How time flies! It's been half a century now since Monaghan made history by clinching their first-ever All-Ireland in the shape of the 1956 All-Ireland JFC. Ted Duffy from Clones was one of the stars of that team and also had the distinction of featuring on a glittering UCD side in the mid-to-late 'fifties. Half a hundred years on, the Dublin resident entered the county's GAA Hall of Fame - much to his obvious delight: "I was surprised and very pleased," says the retired veterinary surgeon. "Fifty years is a long time and I wasn't expecting an honour like this. It's nice to be remembered, particularly as Monaghan football has always been very special to me. It's extraordinary that they still remember me because there aren't a lot of people still involved from those days! I still keep a close eye on Monaghan and I'm delighted that they appear to have a very good side again." Back in 1956, Monaghan's juniors defeated Kildare by 1-8 to 0-5 in the All-Ireland final before accounting for London (3-7 to 2-6) in the 'home' decider. (The Oriel County had struck provincial junior gold for the very first time by thumping neighbours Cavan on a satisfying scoreline of 0-10 to 0-2.) The victorious side on duty against London at Carrickmacross was: T McArdle; G McArdle, O O'Rourke, B Hamill; D McGuigan, D Ward, P McGuigan; J Byrne, S McElroy; S Mulligan, T Duffy, P Murphy; P Clarke (captain), N Ward, E McCooey. Sub: E Murphy. How much does Ted remember about that glorious campaign? "I have a very clear recollection of those years. After JP Graham rang, I began to think back and a lot of it came back to me. I don't see any of the characters who were involved any more, but I remember it well. I suppose that's natural because it was one of the highlights of my life. I loved playing football and was honoured to win an All-Ireland with my county. The only thing that surpassed that was lining out for Monaghan at senior level." Growing up close to St Tiernach's Park, the young Ted Duffy was hooked on football from an early age and soon fell under the guidance of Pat McGrane and Jimmy Murphy. Ted represented Monaghan at minor level for three years - 1952-54 - and also garnered a MacRory Cup medal with St Macartan's College in '52. While at UCD, he played in the Dublin SFC and collected county senior league and (two) Sigerson Cup souvenirs. That was a star-studded college side, with an abundance of intercounty talent including Sean and Seamus Murphy (Kerry), Jerome O'Shea, Ciaran Denver (Down), Jim McDonnell and Charlie Gallagher (Cavan) and of course our own Ted Duffy! No doubt, playing in such esteemed company led to Ted being chosen on Monaghan's Lagan Cup squad in 1955 and he went on to win the All-Ireland JFC the following year. In 1957, a Lagan Cup final was reached and Ted also participated in the three-game marathon against Cavan in '58. He represented Ulster in the Railway Cup before a knee injury sustained in 1959 effectively ended his career (though Ted made a brief return to help Monaghan to another Ulster junior championship in 1962). "Growing up in Clones, football was always very important," Ted says. "We played in St Tiernach's Park a lot during the summer holidays. A man called Anthony Davey from Belfast taught me the technique of taking free kicks and he was spot-on. Even today when I look at free-takers, they do more or less exactly what he taught me to do. I finished up taking the frees on the junior team in '56. "The first game was against Down in The Marshes and I remember my Clones clubmate Dennis McGuigan was right half. I got a ball and saw him coming up, so I gave it to him. He took off on a gallop and sent it in to full forward Eamonn McCooey from Donaghmoyne, who got a goal. Eamonn then got another and those two quick goals finished it." As for the Ulster final: "I vaguely remember coming home from Dublin. Anyone who hadn't played for the county seniors the previous year was eligible and Oliver O'Rourke, who was a stalwart of the Monaghan seniors, had been suspended, so it was great to have Oliver on board for all the games. "After Cavan, we played Kerry in Clones in the All-Ireland semi-final and drew with them. The replay was in Newbridge - Kerry were so confident they didn't take us the whole way down. "It was a bit like last year's Division Two league final where Monaghan beat Meath at Croke Park. The GNR was still running and the whole county went up to Newbridge to support us and we won by a point. We were four up and they got a late goal, but that made no difference. Playing Kerry was very special and it was great to beat them because they were very confident they'd win…" Interestingly, Ted doesn't regard the All-Ireland win as the high point of his career. "The highlight came the previous year, 1955, when I was selected on the Monaghan senior side for the first time," he confirms. "I made my debut against Donegal in Castleblayney in the Lagan Cup alongside players like John Rice, Hugh McKearney (who got 2-5 that day), the Moyna twins from Scotstown and Oliver O'Rourke - all players who represented Ulster around that time." Ted played Lagan Cup football again in the autumn of '56: "Tyrone had won the Ulster championship that year and we drew with them, but unfortunately I missed the replay due to exams. I played in the Ulster championship and Lagan Cup in 1957 as well as the three Ulster championship games against Cavan in '58. I played again in '59 but then got a cruciate ligament injury. I was faced with a choice between an operation and indefinite rest and I couldn't afford the operation so that was more or less it for me." After qualifying as a vet, Ted lived and worked in his native town for ten years before working for the Department of Agriculture in Donegal and then Dublin. He's retired now and resides in Stepaside, but the lure of Monaghan football is never far away. Ted is a big fan of the modern game: "The game has evolved and it's much better now than it ever was. There's always something happening on the pitch and I find it fascinating. The levels of fitness and the training the players do is just extraordinary. Monaghan have a good team coming through again and hopefully it won't be long before we're winning Ulster championships again." Tweet

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