By Cian O’Connell

“It was the curiosity that killed the cat, my uncle was bragging that he had a medal, and I was thinking he was bluffing me; there wasn't any reference to him, that is what started it,” Barry Cummins laughed about the adventure detailing Galway’s first All-Ireland minor football triumph in 1952.

Undoubtedly it was a journey with many twists and turns. Ultimately, Barry Cummins refused to give up. Earlier this year Cummins launched ‘Minor Victory, Major Breakthrough, Galway Football 1952’ detailing a successful campaign for the maroon and white county, culminating in a final victory over Cavan.

“There were two programmes for that particular final because of an unplayed final, the first day,” Cummins explains. “It wasn't played because it was wet, that was the September date. It was refixed for October, and because it was played in October a number of players were unavailable.

“You also had one or two players, who weren't available for the refixed final. So, they had to scramble to get replacements for those and one of them was a first XV player, Mick Hawkshaw.

“He is a grandfather of David Hawkshaw, who is playing for Connacht at the moment. My uncle got into the panel, he never kicked a ball in it, but he has an All-Ireland medal.”

When St Michael’s clubman Cummins started researching the project, all sorts of different tales unfolded. “I had a list of names to go working on, to find out where they all ended up,” he says.

“It proved mighty difficult. You had Brendan Donoghue, who is actually a Clareman, he was from Ballyvaughan, but he went to secondary school in the Bish (St Joseph’s College), he had a part time job in a little drapery shop where Winstons used to be when I came to town.

“It was called Blackrock Clothing, nobody knew anything about him because he didn't continue to play football afterwards in Galway. He got TB afterwards too which meant three years in Dublin. So, I had a job to find him.

“When I wrote a draft of this project, publishing it in March 2020, I was still fishing for information. A man, who happened to go to St Mary's with some of those players, he was able to tell me that Brendan Donoghue was living in Ballyvaughan.”

Cummins was delighted that he kept persevering to ensure all the players efforts were documented with all proceeds from the book going towards the Galway Hospice. “Last Sunday week I attended his month’s mind mass, he died five weeks ago. He was a second year minor, a fine footballer by all accounts.

“It was great to put it to bed for the family, to give him the recognition that he had played in all of the games leading up to the final, even though he didn't play in the final because of injury. His two sons played a lot of football, one of them, Patrick, actually played rugby too with Corinthians in Galway.”

An eventful process, Cummins enjoyed the challenge of stitching all the pieces of the puzzle together. “It led me a merry dance trying to find where people were,” he laughs.

“Some people are dead and buried in England. You definitely had people who knew the story, but trying to find them was difficult. To talk to the right person was sometimes elusive and difficult.

“Sometimes the whole thing was thrown into the attic and forgotten about, but the next thing I'd bump into someone on the street, and there would be a lightning rod about some individual, and away I'd go, again.

"Something as simple as reading The Tuam Herald about John Waldron, who was a great historian around Tuam.

“Didn't I put two and two together, I figured he must have been related to Brian Waldron. It was through getting little nuggets of information like that, I pursued it. Eventually I completed the jigsaw.”

Newspapers archives and regular conversations with team captain Brian Mahon supplied Cummins with valuable information. “Brian Mahon, who is still alive, he was the captain of the team, he had a great recollection of a lot of the players and where they were.”

The 1950s and 1960s proved to be a productive spell for Galway football. Something was beginning to stir in the west. “Galway had lost a few finals in the 40s, they won in 38, Tull Dunne played,” Cummins says. “Then the 40s was very blank. Tull Dunne got involved in the managerial end of it along with Fr Paddy Mahon, they were put in to manage a promising minor team.

“That is the start of the story. In 1951 the minor team won a Connacht title, but it got thrown out because of an objection. Back then objections were 10 a penny at the time.

“Galway regrouped under new management for 1952 and went all of the way. Every single match was an away match, they didn't play on Galway soil, and they still won the All-Ireland.”

Cummins was delighted by the response of those involved. “They were very helpful and very chuffed, the family members and the actual members of that team,” he says. “They've considered themselves a forgotten team. About nine are still alive.

“I'm quite pleased with it, I'm very happy to have found out bits and pieces about every one of them. There was a Mitchell man, who was photographed on the semi-final day, but his name was always given wrong by the newspapers.

“I remember having a chat one day, there was a Seamus Mitchell, who was on the team and I met Jo Fahy, the librarian, she said her colleague had an uncle on the panel. I said 'yeah, he initially went for the priests, but he is now married in Arizona'.

“She said 'no, he is in Africa and he is active in the mission'. So, we argued on the street, on Dominick Street for a while, we eventually figured out there was two Mitchells. That was great for the Mitchell family in Menlough to acknowledge that Tom Mitchell was on the panel, he is an uncle of Damien's.”

Damien Mitchell won an All-Ireland senior medal with Galway in 1998. Members of some of the other 1952 players have also flourished in the sporting arena too.

“Liam Manning, the wing forward, is a grandfather of Ryan Manning, the soccer player,” Cummins says. “You have Mick Hawkshaw, who has a granddaughter Sarah, she plays hockey for Ireland, and the Hawkshaw brothers play rugby, one in Leinster and one in Connacht.”

Cummins’ uncle fondly recalls his stint with Galway in 1952 too. “He is still alive in the Bronx, he was chuffed.”