Mullingar Shamrocks player Kieran Gavin was a key player for Westmeath during his inter-county career.
By Cian O'Connell
Though it has been a difficult time without games, Mullingar Shamrocks have still found a way to engage with the local community and beyond.
Shamrocks’ PRO Tom Hunt, a former Waterford footballer and Sigerson Cup winner with UCD, has a most interesting and varied sporting story himself, but a passion for writing and taking photographs ensures the Westmeath club’s archives are nicely stocked.
That has proven to be a valuable resource with Shamrocks connecting the past with the present in a nice manner recently.
Armed with a proud tradition Shamrocks have blended old and new members of the club together with Hunt stressing the value of such an approach.
Amongst the social media offerings have been juvenile players telling stories, while adult members recount what they miss most at the moment.
“It has been getting a great response, it is keeping a lot more than Shamrocks entertained, informed, and giving them something to enjoy in these lockdown times,” Hunt admits.
“We have a lot of new members so it is great to go through the club's history. We have new people involved so it gives them a sense of where we came from and where we are at.
With the family tradition we now also have a whole new network of people in the club, who have added considerably. We have really broadened our horizons and the club is extremely inclusive. Efi Siode is one of our leading senior players for a long time, Efi was born in Lagos. We are very inclusive.”
Families link with the past also carry weight with the 2018 Westmeath Championship triumph illustrating the drive and desire passed through the generations.
“There is no parish rule in Westmeath,” Hunt explains. “There is a really strong family tradition in Shamrocks. The team of 2018 would be sons and nephews from the teams of the 80s. Denis Corroon and Denis Corroon won about seven championship medals for Shamrocks, Patrick Fagan who scored a goal in the county final, his father played in '86 and '87. Ned Moore captained the team to three of the titles in the 90s, and managed the team in 2018 with his son Eddie as captain.
Tom Hunt pictured with his nephew, current Waterford senior football goalkeeper Paudie Hunt, who won a County Championship with Rathgormack last year.
“Richie O'Donoghue managed the team in eighties and nineties, Donal is his son. There is a real family tradition.
“In the last five years we have transformed our structures with brilliant contacts and a whole new network of people has opened us to us.
“In 2018 we won the first all Mullingar county final. St Loman's had won the three previous ones so that was a bit special, no doubt. We had a golden era from '86 to 2000 when we won eight championships.
“That was against normal Westmeath GAA history. We thought those days would last forever, but they didn't.”
Hunt played a part in the Shamrocks glory days, on and off the field. Having moved to Mullingar as a teacher in 1975, Hunt continued to return home to Clonea in Waterford claiming three Waterford Senior Football Championships.
A spell in UCD during a fondly recalled time offered plenty of inspiration. “It was a big thing, absolutely,” Hunt admits.
“In my innocence my ambition was to make the UCD team. I played good football in Waterford, but I did make it eventually which was huge.
“For a Waterford person to make the UCD team was a big deal. There is another dimension to it too, I was from a very working class background so for a working class person to win a Sigerson medal was rare enough at the time.
“You were mixing in good company, absolutely serious company. We probably had a half dozen All Stars on the team in '73 when we won the Sigerson, at least a half dozen.
“We had Joe Waldron, an All Star at corner back, Pat O'Neill got All Stars, John O'Keeffe, Dave McCarthy, John P Kean, Kevin Kilmurray, it was an amazing time.”
Mullingar Shamrocks' supporters have enjoyed the recent media offering supplied by the club.
Between 1976 and 1983 Hunt featured for Waterford before eventually switching his club allegiances to Shamrocks.
“I went to Mullingar in '75, but I didn't transfer to Shamrocks until '84, I would say myself that I was probably overage for football then,” Hunt laughs.
It wasn’t long before Hunt, a History, Geography, and English teacher, was afforded duties on top of goalkeeping matters culminating in a couple of Westmeath titles.
“I won two '86 and '87,” Hunt recalls. “I was there at the start, I think I was PRO in '87, writing with a pen and paper, handing notes into The Westmeath Examiner and Midland Topic at the time.
“It wasn't a nice job because you were on a deadline. Now you have a bit more flexibility now because Facebook is like a daily newspaper for GAA stuff.
“I was Treasurer and Chairman and so on. At the time the PRO job back in the day was fairly demanding because you had to get your notes done on a Sunday night.
“You were tied to a deadline on a Sunday night when you had to sit down to write with pen and paper. I couldn't type so it was pen and paper, handing the notes in the morning after for the local papers.”
For Shamrocks it was a most rewarding and silverware laden stint. “It was great, they were fantastic times for Shamrocks, wonderful times,” Hunt acknowledges.
“We won '86, '87, '90, then we won four in a row '92, '93, '94, and '95. They were brilliant times for Shamrocks, I had some role in all of them treasurer or whatever. I was treasurer for most of the 90s.”
Since retiring as a teacher in 2012 Hunt has continued to serve the Shamrocks cause and the progressive club continues to earn respect and admirers.
Juvenile members of the Mullingar Shamrocks club.
“We have a very dynamic Healthy Clubs programme and we have really got in touch with our community,” Hunt responds.
“It is very much a family orientated club, our facilities have everything we need - a gym, a walking track, we have clubrooms, there is very much an emphasis on health and fitness, and integration. We cater for all social classes across the board, there is a wonderful mix.”
The inaugural ‘Know Your Sport’ quiz winner Hunt’s thirst for sporting knowledge remains intact. “I was, I started reading the papers from the back page,” Hunt says.
“I probably learned to read by reading the papers from the back page. I have a massive interest in sport, across the board.
“The PRO role takes time, that is for sure. I'm busy with lots of things, I do a bit of writing here and there.
“I like taking pictures and doing a bit of writing so maybe the PRO job suits me. I had to learn all the social media stuff, I wasn't on Facebook until I became Shamrocks PRO again.”
One of his other passions is following the fortunes of his nephews, Stephen and Noel Hunt, who both graduated to represent Ireland at senior international level.
“I went to lots of Premiership and Scottish League matches, all sorts of games when Stephen and Noel were at their peak, Ireland matches,” Hunt reflects.
“It is a fantastic story because they defied the odds to become Premiership players with talent and brilliant mental attitude by both.”
So joy was taken from Swindon Town’s recent promotion to League One with Noel acting as assistant manager, while Stephen is involved in the sport as a football agent.
Kieran Gavin pictured during a trial at West Ham United.
“They got up from League Two as champions,” Hunt adds. “Stephen is in the agency business, his hands are full at the moment, I'm sure. I haven't been talking to him in a while. No doubt his hands are full.”
Uncle Tom has a hectic schedule too at the moment supplying and unearthing interest content for the Shamrocks faithful.
Kieran Gavin, for so long a solid presence in the Shamrocks and Westmeath defence, was one of the first to offer an insightful tale about his own journey in sport in the series stitched together by Hunt.
“For the first two weeks of the lockdown I didn't do anything,” Hunt remarks. “Then I just happened to say it to Kieran Gavin. I always had the idea about getting people to write, there was great co-operation from people I asked to write.
“Kieran Gavin had a trial with West Ham, most people didn't know about it, but I knew about it. I just asked Kieran to write a piece about it on Shamrocks' Facebook and straight away he said he would.
“There was no hesitation and he said his father had pictures too. Not alone did we get a piece on his week at West Ham, we also got pictures so that started the ball rolling.”
Suddenly people’s attention was caught and there is a pride associated with those who have represented Shamrocks and subsequently Westmeath.
“I remember the West Ham trial, I remember one of my students telling me Kieran Gavin is not going to West Ham, he turned down West Ham because he wants to play football with Mullingar Shamrocks,” Hunt states.
“That is why the story was in my mind, it started the ball rolling. Barry Kelly did a piece, Donal O'Donoghue did a piece, Alan Lambden, Karen Hegarty. At the moment we are doing a skills challenge, Karen and her sister Sophie are doing that every weekend.”
Hunt is certainly doing his bit to promote Shamrocks. Events from decades ago combined with the emergence of a new wave of club activists ensures the future glimmers with promise.