Joe Corrigan celebrates Fermanagh’s 1959 first All-Ireland GAA winners

The first, and perhaps the most memorable, Fermanagh team to claim an All-Ireland title was the men's football team of 1959, who became not only Junior Champions of Ireland but Champions of the Western Isles in the autumn of that year.

Most of those warriors have now passed on, but of the 22 pictured in the official panel photograph of the Junior Final in London, several are happily still with us.

I thought it fitting to relive that campaign through the eyes of those men and it was my pleasure to locate and speak to them in recent weeks about their memories of a magical year for Fermanagh.

I was nine years old in 1959 and too young to get to any of the matches, but I remember the excitement and anticipation which increased as the year went on, and the names of those players who became idols to us – Brewster, Treacy, Sreenan, Devanney, Maguire, Cassidy et al.

The campaign began on March 15 with a 0.14 to 1.6 win over Derry in Irvinestown, and this was followed three weeks later by a 4.9 to 2.4 victory over Donegal at the same venue.

On April 19, Armagh became the next victims in the Athletic Grounds beaten by double scores, 2.12 to 1.6, and the Ulster Final in Dungannon on May 3 saw Fermanagh despatch Antrim on a healthy scoreline of 2.13 to 1.4 to become provincial champions.

The All-Ireland semi-final against a strong Dublin team proved to be Fermanagh's most difficult hurdle.

They were held to a draw in O'Toole Park in Dublin on a scoreline of 2.8 apiece, but won the replay convincingly in Irvinestown on September 13 by 4.13 to 2.8, and we were into our first All-Ireland final!

A week later, against the powerhouse of Gaelic football at the time, Kerry, Fermanagh triumphed in the Home Final by 1.13 to 2.3 to become All-Ireland champions.

The London-Irish team, who had already won the British Championship, were awaiting in New Eltham in London, but Fermanagh emerged victorious against tough opposition on a scoreline of 1.11 to 2.4 on an unforgettable night, October 11, 1959.

After a gruelling campaign of seven months and eight matches, Fermanagh were now Champions of the Western Isles!

The first member of that great team I called with was Frank McGurn, an 89-year old Bellanaleck man living in Enniskillen.

A speedy, elusive and skilful corner forward, Frank made a huge contribution to that season, scoring goals against Armagh and Kerry.

A contemporary account read, “It mattered little to Frank whether he faced the goals or turned his back on them, the ball just sailed over the bar with effortless efficiency".

He suffered a leg injury in the final in London and was carried off to be replaced by Hugh Murphy of Derrylin.

He also recalled the key contributions to the campaign by goalkeeper, Lisnaskea's John O'Neill, and the dynamic midfield pairing of Enniskillen's Micky Brewster and Belcoo's John Maguire.

I found Frank in great form despite some recent health setbacks. He worked as a motor mechanic with Erne Engineering both before and after a six-year sojourn in Birmingham, where he played for St. Chad's and Warwickshire.

He ended his working life driving for Lochside Garages, delivering vans to and from ferry ports around Ireland.

Frank and Jim Bartley were the two Bellanaleck men on that panel. He recalled Lisnaskea man, Kevin Sreenan – their left-half forward who was in the Irish Army and played for the Sean McDermott's Club in Dublin – as an exceptionally skilled free-taker off both feet.

Frank showed me the beautiful inscribed Belleek plate which each member of the '59 team was presented with by the Fermanagh County Board on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the win.

He is very proud of two of his grandsons, Darragh and Ronan, who play football and hurling respectively for Fermanagh at present.

Eamon Courtney, a Lisnaskea man living in Irvinestown, was the youngest member of the panel, and enjoyed some game-time during the run to the final.

A sprightly 84 now, he was only 17 when called onto the Seniors.

He and Hugh Murphy had provided the midfield partnership for Fermanagh Minors that year. Eamon recalled, as part of a training tour they did during the campaign, playing against Longford and Westmeath and having as a 17-year-old to mark the Leinster Railway Cup legend, Mick Carley – widely regarded as Westmeath's best-ever footballer.

"I did all right on him too," said Eamon. He recalled a very different world for footballers back then.

"I carried my kit in a Sean Reilly Spar Shop plastic bag – the jersey had to be always handed back; you got the shorts, socks and boots yourself.

“My boots were Blackthorn and my mother treated them lovingly with Dubbin.

“If I had any strains or muscle problems, I'd use a rub given to me by a local greyhound trainer I did a bit of work for.

“He used it on the dogs too, and I always found it helped. It was a mixture of heated olive oil and poitin."

Like many another young man at the time, Eamon had to emigrate to England, for six years, where he worked in Manchester from 1963 as a scaffolder for ICI – a huge employer at the time.

Back home, he worked as a plasterer with Wimpey, and then as a night porter in the Manor House Hotel.

Eamon's son, Paul, played for Fermanagh in recent years too.

Some 89 years young, Jim Collins was repairing a glasshouse which had been flattened in his lovely garden during Storm Éowyn when I called on him.

Jim is a Lisnaskea man but lives outside Maguiresbridge. He was a tough left corner back on the 1959 team, known for his consistency, long clearances and sterling defensive work.

All of the other men I spoke to commented on the fact that until recently, Jim was the man who would contact his colleagues on the sad occasion of the death of a former team-mate and organise a guard of honour.

He showed me his medals from a long career, including his Ulster and All-Ireland ones, and a 100-year-old Lisnaskea football jersey, green with a red sash.

Jim worked in FDH (Farrell, Dawson and Hutchinson) in Lisnaskea in hardware and grocery, and latterly as manager of Cash and Carry in Enniskillen.

He remembered the Kerry and London games as being very physical, and was proud that Fermanagh stood up to them in both instances, and recalled his defensive colleague, Jim Cassidy, from Teemore, as being particularly tough and strong.

He had captained the Lisnaskea team which won the Fermanagh championship in 1953, and was 24 when he won his All-Ireland medal.

He was amazed at the support Fermanagh had in London, with lots of emigrant families travelling from all over England to support their team.

There were McManuses and Collinses from Lisnaskea, McQuillans from Newtownbutler, Gleesons from the Knocks, and Clearys from Killesher.

Owen, or Owenie, Callaghan – known for his untiring defensive clearances and fine, high fielding – has farmed all his life in Annagulpan, outside Roslea, and it was there that I caught up with him.

He played at half-back against Derry and Antrim.

One of Fermanagh's stars, J. J. Treacy, returned from injury to play at half-back against London, and Owen dropped back to corner back to replace Pat O'Loughlin, who had been injured before the final.

He is 86 now, and was only 20 when he won his All-Ireland medal.

From that campaign he looks back fondly on the skills of Hugh Flanagan, Des O'Rourke and Frank McGurn, and the leadership of the captain, Fr. Ignatius McQuillan, who played as ‘Sean Maguire’, as the church then did not favour its clerics playing football.

He recalls Niall Sheehy of Kerry who won a Senior All-Ireland medal as his most difficult opponent.

In the final in London, he marked a Mayo man named Moclair. That London team consisted of exiled inter-county players from a range of counties, including Cork, Donegal, Dublin and Kildare.

Owen remembers the team taking the overnight boat from Belfast to Liverpool, and the train from Liverpool to London.

His two sisters in Birmingham and London attended the final.

The panel, he says, were very well looked after by The Fermanagh Men's Association in London.

Owen's son, Tommy, played for Fermanagh in recent years.

Then 22-year-old Liam McMahon played at right half back, and was the only Aghadrumsee man on the team, and it was there feeding his animals on his large farm that I came across him.

A tireless and trojan worker, and a close marking and mobile defender known for his accurate clearances, the fair-haired – and now 88-year-old Liam – recalled being swept along on a wave of excitement during that summer and autumn of 1959.

He didn't play in the Ulster campaign, but played in the semi-final and finals, and remembers Dublin's Paddy Holden, who won a Senior All-Ireland medal in 1963, as being a particularly difficult opponent.

"Dublin were the toughest team we met that year. We were lucky to come away with a draw the first day in Dublin, but we got off to a great start in the replay in Irvinestown and beat them well."

Like many of the men I spoke to, Liam was full of praise for their trainer, the Antrim footballing legend, Paddy O'Hara, who was recruited at Ulster final stage to prepare the team for the All-Ireland series.

He was a brilliant tactician and motivator, and brought a new spirit, a collective approach, and new levels of mental and physical fitness to the training programme.

The late Joe Pat Prunty, in a memoir, recalled Paddy bringing skipping ropes to their very first training session.

“Our first thoughts were that these were what girls played with, but who were we to argue? We had intensive training sessions and he brought our fitness to a whole new level."

Paddy O'Hara, who had previously trained the first Sigerson Cup-winning QUB team in Belfast earlier that year – which contained four of the Fermanagh panel, Mick Brewster, Des O'Rourke, John O'Neill and Eamon Flanagan – himself commented: "I have never seen a team make such progress. They have got fitter and faster and have developed a team understanding and spirit and determination which will make them a hard team to beat. They have gone from strength to strength and only an exceptional team will beat them."

Two of Paddy's mantras, as recalled by Eamon Courtney, were: "When you get the ball, use your brain and eyes before you use the ball", and, "Fear no-one. Your opponents have two feet and two legs just like yourselves.”

I visited P. T. Treacy in his lovely home in Carryduff outside Belfast. A boyhood hero of mine, it was a privilege to chat with the man, who along with Peter McGinnity, is often talked about as Fermanagh's finest footballer.

He was the first Fermanagh man to win a Railway Cup medal with Ulster and, in fact, won four of them.

Only 20 during the '59 campaign, the now 86-year-old had a strength and maturity way beyond his years.

A number of the other men I spoke to had marvelled at P. T.'s second-half performance against Kerry as the best performance they had seen in a Fermanagh jersey.

In his book, ‘The Gaelic Athletic Association in Co. Fermanagh’, Gabriel Brock writes:

"...the switching of P. T. Treacy to midfield had the desired effect.

"Not only did he foil Kerry's efforts to get their attack moving but he set up counter-attacks for the rest of the game. P.T. had played good games for Fermanagh in the past, but his performance in this game far exceeded anything he had previously done.

"Rising majestically for the high catches, and denying possession to the Kerrymen time and again, he completely dominated this vital sector to such an extent that Fermanagh's anxiety began to evaporate.

"Kerry simply had no answer to this man and it was frustrating for them to see so much of their good work come to naught because of his brilliance...”.

When I mentioned that game to P. T., this quiet and modest man simply said: "Paddy moved me to midfield at half-time, and the ball just seemed to come my way in the second half".

P. T.'s Civil Service career took him to Downpatrick, Omagh, Enniskillen, Dungannon and Belfast until his retirement.

While in Downpatrick he trained with the great Down team which won two Senior All-Irelands in the early 1960s, and he was so highly thought of by them that the great Paddy Doherty once said of him: "I have no doubt that with him in our team we'd have won another couple of All-Irelands".

P. T.'s greatest regret was that Fermanagh didn't go on to have a real crack at the Sam Maguire cup in the Senior championship the following year in 1960.

"We definitely had the potential. We drew with a very good Cavan team in the first round but were beaten in the replay in Breffni Park, and that was that."

The entire full-forward line of McGurn, Clerkin and Devanney emigrated to England shortly after that for work, and a lot of the scoring power had gone.

Speaking of emigrants, I called Roslea man Des O’Rourke – now living over in Washington DC – who was another fresh-faced 20-year-old renowned for his skill, speed and elusiveness during the ’59 campaign.

In the final against London, he rose to the occasion.

Gabriel Brock described it thus: "His devastating speed and all-round brilliance made him a constant thorn in the side of the defence."

Des completed degrees at QUB, UCD and the University of California and spent 30 years as a professor at Washington State University.

Most of his work has been in international marketing as a consultant and he has conducted studies in every continent.

His warmest memories include beating the two biggest names in football back then – Dublin and Kerry – and his role in supplying the ball to great scorers such as P. T. Treacy, Kevin Sreenan and Roslea's Owen Clerkin, the team's vice-captain, who scored three goals against Donegal.

Des almost didn't make it to the Home Final thanks to an officious gatekeeper who wouldn't let him in to the ground until he was eventually "rescued".

Now 86, he looks back with admiration at the team's dedication in travelling to Belfast, Clones and the half-way house of Armagh for training each week, at how the team's success brought Catholics and Protestants together in pride and celebration, and at the reward County Board officials such as Tom Fee, Gerry Magee and Malachy Mahon received for their many years of service to Fermanagh football.

I next spoke with Belleek man Pat O’Loughlin, who began at left back but moved to the right corner back position as the season unfolded.

A solid and dependable defender, he suffered a serious knee injury in the Home Final, being replaced by Joe Pat Prunty, and missed the London game.

Pat travelled with the party but missed the team photo, as he wasn’t togged out.

Pat played with his local Young Emmets, Belleek but came late to county football, never having played for the Minors.

In 1959, he was playing his club football with Dunsford in Ardglass before returning to play with the successful Devenish team of the time, the Emmetts having amalgamated with Garrison.

Pat recalled noticing a springy goalpost in O'Toole Park during the match against Dublin and swaying it inwards as a late Dublin shot was arriving.

The ball hit the post and went wide and Fermanagh survived with a draw.

Still a fit man at 88, Pat ran 40 Dublin Marathons between 1980 and 2021.

He lives in Castlederg in Tyrone, where he had a jeweller's shop for many years, but still travels to Fermanagh games to lend his support.

Sadly, on the very day that I was attempting to contact Hugh Murphy, another member of the '59 team, I received the news of his death in Belfast.

Hugh was a Derrylin man who had lived most of his life in the city and was a valued member of the St. John's club there.

All of the men I spoke to recalled the wonderful homecoming reception they received back in Enniskillen on the Tuesday evening after the final.

The Irish Independent reported that 15,000 people processed behind seven marching bands, from the Jail Square to a victory rally in Paget Square, where the members of the team stood on a large lorry bedecked with the county colours.

Galligan's, the drapers on the Diamond, presented each man with a shirt to acknowledge their success.

In one of the many speeches made, the team trainer, Paddy O'Hara, said that while Fermanagh was a small county, its men were anything but small, and he would be surprised if they ever produced a better bunch than the group Fermanagh fielded that year.

He added that the team were really boys and yet they played like men.

A meal in the Melvin House was followed by a "hooley" and dance in the Town Hall.

One of the things that surprised me when I began to examine the '59 campaign was how young and how small the squad was.

Seven of the team and 11 of the panel were aged 22 or under, and only one member of the team (P. T. Treacy) and two subs (Joe Pat Prunty and Phil Breen) were over 6 feet tall – nine of the team were 5’ 9” or under.

What they lacked in age and height they more than made up for in heart, speed and skill and they undoubtedly were a source of pride and inspiration for succeeding generations of Fermanagh footballers.

My sincere thanks are due to these warriors who so warmly invited me into their homes and shared their memories, and to Niall Corrigan, Tommy McDermott and Eamon Flanagan who helped me to locate them.

Once again – here's to the men of '59!