Strokestown
In this week's 'My Club' feature, we talk to Roscommon footballer Cathal Compton about Strokestown GAA.
The town of Strokestown is located in north Co. Roscommon, situated on the N5 Longford-Westport road. The town and its rural hinterland have a combined population of about 1,500 people.
Strokestown GAA club was founded as Strokestown Brian Boru's back in 1889, and it has gone through various guises and name changes in the 127 years since. However, it has been known simply as Strokestown for around 100 years now.
One of the great clubs of Roscommon GAA history, Strokestown have won 10 Roscommon senior football titles, with only three clubs, Clann na nGael, St Brigid's and Roscommon Gaels having won more. Strokestown's glory years were the best part of a century ago - they won county titles in 1912, 1915, 1916, 1917, 1922, 1926, 1928 and 1933.
In 1992, the club ended a 59-year wait for the county title, defeating Roscommon Gaels after a replay in the final, and their most recent county title came 10 years later, in 2002, when they defeated St Brigid's in the decider. They reached the Connacht senior final that year, where they lost to Crossmolina of Mayo.
The club have had several Roscommon representatives over the years, with Tom Shelvin, John 'Jigger' O'Connor, Michael Donlon and Damien Donlon among those who played senior championship football for Roscommon.
In more recent years, Colin Compton, Cathal's brother, has played senior football for Roscommon, as has Paddy Brogan. Cathal is currently on the senior panel, along with Thomas Corcoran and Seán Mullooly.
Cathal is one of five Strokestown players on the Roscommon U21 panel that will take on Galway in the Connacht Championship this coming Friday, along with Keelan Beirne, David Neery, Diarmuid McGann and Seán Mullooly.
Q: Where exactly is Strokestown?
A: It's fairly central, in mid Roscommon. We're a town club I suppose. But in saying that, we're quite a small club, and we wouldn't be the same size as some of the big clubs from further south, such as Clann na nGael, Pádraig Pearses or St Brigid's. We draw our players from both the town and the surrounding areas. I'm not sure exactly what the population is, but we're punching above our weight in terms of county footballers at the moment.
Q: Where are you from in terms of the Strokestown area?
A: I'm from about four or five miles outside the town so I'd be from a fairly country type area, a good journey from the pitch. But I'm in around the club nearly all the time, I spend most of my life on football pitches. I'm from a football crazy house and football is the priority.
Q: Is there any hurling or camogie at the club?
A: No, it's all football. Strokestown is a pretty football mad place. It's always the talk of the pubs. We're trying to get a good vibe going this year, to get the community behind the team. All the players from the 2002 and 1992 teams are still all around and that kind of drives the club on.
Q: With five Strokestown players on the Roscommon U21 panel at the moment, yourself included, your underage team must have been successful at Strokestown?
A: Yeah, we won everything. I have a clean sweep of medals from the various grades. We won U10, U11, U12, U14, U16, minor, U21, all at Division 1 level. I've lost championship games with the club alright, but not too many at my own age group. The only county title I have yet to win is a senior, so hopefully I get that and I'll have the lot then.
Cathal Compton
Q: It's now 14 years since Strokestown won a Roscommon county title. Is it a big target for the club to end the wait?
A: In the last few years, we haven't performed that well, really. People are probably looking at the team and thinking that there are a lot of good footballers and that they're not performing as well as they should. But we have new management this year, John Rodgers is the new manager. He was involved with the county U21s last year as a selector. We have a new mindset and hopefully we can challenge, get to the semi-final and final stage and push on. We didn't even get out of the group last year and that was a big disappointment. But it's looking good this year and we're all optimistic.
Q: Who are your big local rivals?
A: A lot of the older people in the club have a huge rivalry with Elphin, our neighbours. But for my generation and a lot of the younger players, it's Clann na nGael or teams we would have played in finals. Roscommon Gaels are another. We would have been up at the top as underage teams alongside those clubs and I suppose that rivalry will probably continue on into senior.
Q: Does your family have a strong connection with the club?
A: My brother Colin is involved, he's 24 now. He's been playing for a good while with the senior team. I have a fairly big family around the area. As well as my brother, I have a sister as well, but she's probably the singer of the family, while me and Colin are the footballers. My father and my uncle both played for the club. My father actually played for quite a few clubs, as he moved around a bit, working as a postman. So he was all over the place! But he's heavily involved now with the club and with our new pitch. There's a new pitch at the club. A lot of money was put in, €1 million or something in that region, and he was on the committee that was heavily involved in organising for that.
Q: What kind of facilities do Strokestown have?
A: We're lucky at the moment. We have an all-weather main pitch, an all-weather training pitch. We have a new school that was built close by, and as part of that development we have a gym, a community centre and an astroturf. That all happened in the last few years so we are very lucky with the way everything worked out. The principal of the school pushed hard for a new gym, and as it happened, it's all right beside each other. So we have no excuses not to be winning games now, with the facilities that we have.
Note: The main image shows the Strokestown GAA pitch
Q: Who did you look up to at the club when you were younger?
A: John Rodgers, our current manager, played county football for years. His commitment alone is to be admired. He's football mad. His whole life revolves around football and he has given so much to it. He has been our manager at underage level as well, so a lot of the players know him well and respect him a lot.
John Rodgers in action for Roscommon in 2012
Q: Who are some of the Strokestown legends, players who have played for Roscommon over the years and the like?
A: 'Jigger' O'Connor used to play years ago for Strokestown (father of Donegal footballer Darach). He's not in Strokestown anymore though, he's up in Donegal, but he played county football for years. Ronan Owens played, Tom Corcoran played. A lot of lads from the Strokestown team that won a county title in 1992. A lot of them are mad to see Strokestown win another county title, so they are involved with underage teams and the club still.
Q: Does your generation feel a sense of obligation to win a county title, given that the 1992 and 2002 teams did so? It seems like it's your time to step up...
A: That is probably the case in every club. All you can really do is give it your best. I'm really looking forward to this year with the club. I really want to get a good year under the belt. A lot of us went away last summer, myself included. We went to America and it didn't help as we were away a lot. So this year we are going to push hard and give it a good crack.
Q: Do you remember the 2002 title win? You would have been very young...
A: I do remember it, yeah. I remember having a mascot with me, some teddy bear or something. I think it was some kind of monkey! The final was against Brigid's in Hyde Park. I remember the game quite well. Brigid's had a lot of county footballers at the time and we had none so they were favourites, but we beat them and won the county title. I remember the celebrations as well. It's a long time waiting but hopefully my generation can end it.
Strokestown lost the 2002 Connacht senior club final to Crossmolina
Q: What's the highlight of your club career to date, from the very beginning?
A: My highlight would have to be when we won the county U21 title in 2012. The whole year, we had a lot of tight games that went to extra-time, and then we had the final against Pearses that we won at the very end. I had given away a stupid foul for a close in free-kick but the Pearses fella missed it with the last kick of the game and we won by a point. It was just glory stuff and it was on December 23, so the feel-good vibe was all around the place over Christmas, it was just a great win and a great Christmas after. My brother was on the team as well so it's definitely the fondest of all football victories I've ever had.
Q: You mentioned that you didn't get out of the Roscommon group stage last year - have you been competing much in the senior championship in recent years?
A: From a personal point of view, I've been struggling myself. I've had quite a few injuries, and because of that, I haven't really had a good run yet with the club and that has really annoyed me. I really want to get a good year under my belt with the club. But we do have a strong team and once we get everyone out on the field, we feel we're a match for everyone in the county. We have been competing but people feel that there is more in us and it probably has been worrying us a bit. But at the same time, we have time on our side.
