Geordie, Theresa and Darly Fegan

Geordie Fegan

Pool and getting set-up by ‘The Beast’

“It was the bad old days and we used to have difficulty going here, there and everywhere. Everybody was on their nerves about it and playing pool was often a great distraction and something we thoroughly enjoyed. I remember one time there was a final up in Lámh Dhearg and ‘The Beast’ [Paddy McCann] set me up. He said ‘Geordie the finals on can you get a dickie-bow and pair of white gloves’? I said no problem”.

“I knew a good Orange man and I contacted him and he leant me the white gloves- I think they were playing the Pound Loney Club- a very popular club in it’s day with some colourful characters. There were spots and ordinary balls, this guy said ‘I’ll take the spots’ I said okay and he walked around the table or twice and said ‘I’ve changed my mind’ I said you can’t change your mind – I thought I was going to be lynched ! I didn’t know what the ruling was on it 100 percent,  but he made decision and walked round the table twice and said ‘I’m changing my mind’ I said you can’t- you’ve already made up your mind and there were a few words exchanged. It was great craic for the club and all the rest of it”.

Thriving social club:

“We used to sit in Theresa’s mothers house across the road and it wouldn’t have mattered if it was a Friday, Saturday or Sunday night; whether the sun-shine was shining, or it was pelting down with rain or hail- there was a queue up outside it to get it in. I know the times were bad, but it was actually good for the club because the club was thriving”.

“In those days you were always restricted to where you went to and the girls from the darts didn’t want to take a chance. Shanty [Pat McCague] would have ran anybody anywhere so he would have. I hadn’t much interest in the darts – but any night you’d have gone up and there would have a game on for anybody. You’d have thrown in 20p, a pound  or whatever the case maybe and taken your chance against whoever was running. The atmosphere and the camaraderie in the club was absolutely brilliant – many a night we were the last ones and we were brushed out of the place”.

Club characters:

You’d have had the big characters like Fitzy and Shanty but ‘The Beast’ [Paddy McCann] and wee Joe Finnegan were two guys that were comedians, they’d craic and organise this and that. Then there was a colourful character  nicknamed ‘grumpy’ Gordon McQuillan.

“We used to over there on Sunday morning for a cure and they’d be over there drinking- Paddy McCann used to have all these gimmicks. He used to have a wee pen and as soon as you lifted the pen a banger went off in it. Gordon turned round and called everyone all the you know what’s”.

“The following Sunday or a couple of Sundays after there a half a crown and the same thing again- because Gordon was Gordon , lifted the thing and the same thing happened. The language was purple and blue and everything. They were great days”.

Family connection and sponsorships:

“I’m not actually from Hannahstown- I’m a blow-in from Belfast. We came up to Hannahstown in 1982 and took the kids out of the environment down the road and ever since that- the rest is history. We’re all affiliated with the club and I’ve sponsored the club on many occasions with different events”.

“There’s one sure thing about the club – nobody was embarrassed to ask you for anything, away back in the early doors there was no ice-machine, and somebody dropped a hint to me, and I went and bought a brand-new ice-machine which lasted a lock of years. These were all things that you did as a community to keep the club alive and kicking and all the rest”.

“We’d five kids in those days and now we’ve five kids and 18 grandchildren so I must own some part of the club with the donations I’ve given. It’s like everything else- it’s for the community and it’s great to see the likes of Fitzy, Joe and Shanty- they’ve certainly done their bit to hold it together. Now the younger generation is in there and they know all the challenges of fundraising, money for events and whoever is there behind the wheel now is doing a great job”.

“I think every single one of the grandchildren are playing for Lámh Dhearg in some shape or form. When we get this other new pitch built- I donated as well the same as everybody else- Shanty, Fitzy and Joe are getting on but we want to see the pitch up and running before we’re buried. It would have been great to see it in our day and everybody is leaving a lasting legacy. Theresa and myself have done a lot for the club and it will kick on and on with the next generation of the family. The club has been good for my family and will continue to do so. Finally it was an absolute honour to be inducted into the club hall of fame with club legends such as the late Felix Mulligan and Sam McGarry and others which I have mentioned earlier.

Theresa Fegan

McQuillan connection and the darts team:

“My Father played for the club back in the 40s and 50s – ‘Ginger John’ McQullian. My two brothers Pat and Sean then played – Pat was known as ‘Badger’. I used to go and watch the games and go and watch Antrim when Sean played. There was no ladies team or anything like that in them days, so you just had to go and watch the men playing”.

“The darts team started up in 1978 in the club with Agnes [McGarry] and Marie [McCann]. It started off as a bit of craic and then we decided to join the league- which we did in August 1978. When we first went into it we won the ‘Clubhouse Cup’ and in 1982 through on 1990 we won the league all of them years. We had Marie McCann, Agnes [McGarry] and my mother played, our Rosie [Crilly], our Eileen [Murray], Rita Finnegan, Ann McKee and Annie Boyle – who were mother and daughter, Mary McCann- who was Marie’s mother and myself. Then Trese Lundy, Geraldine Mulvenna and Coleen Thompson. Over the years a few came and left, and others would have came in”.

“Shanty [Pat McCauge] would have ran us down a few times and came back and lifted us in the minibus because there was a lot of hi-jacking and burning of cars. He had have ran us down at the minibus and left us at the top of the Whiterock and we would have walked down to the bars. We played on through the troubles and there was some good craic. The first year we joined we won the Club House Cup and Fitzy told us ‘if you win it  girls, I’ll fill it’. He probably never thought we’d win it – but we did win it and he filled it. There’s a photograph in the Andytown News of him filling the cup for us”.

Benefits of being involved with Lámh Dhearg in the community:

“It’s great now for all the kids- but in them days the craic was good. We used to play darts on a Saturday night in the club and we used to make it doubles. There used to be a lot of husbands and wives came and played and we had so many that we couldn’t even get it finished at times- you used to run it into the next week to get the semi-finals and finals. It was always good craic and always something to look forward to. We played 25s at the club and there was good craic at that. It was the like of Shanty, Agnes and Sam [McGarry], the Priors, Maeve McPeake, Joe Finnegan and myself and others that played on and off”.

“The ladies had to fight for everything we got – they didn’t like woman coming into the club, it was an all man’s thing – but we soon won them around eventually. We used to run nights at the races and discos and the club made a few pound for it. At the weekends there would have been queue’s right down the road to get into it. The troubles were on and the club was going really, really well. They would have been queuing right up the lane and right down the road to get into the club. Ray and Marty ran it – it was very, very popular”.

“The most successful thing my family ever ran at the club- my sisters and I- Rosie [Crilly], Eileen [Murray] and Angela. Not long after my mummy died we decided to run a school reunion from Hannahstown school. It was a very, very successful night at the club and It was bunged to the rafters- I’d almost panic stations in case everybody wouldn’t fit in, but it was a brilliant, brilliant night. There was people came from England, Dublin and Australia for it. There was a couple of young fella’s from the Suffolk Road – the Finnegan’s- they said it was the best night they ever had in their lives. They went to school in Hannahstown and would still come up to the club if friends died and were up for the funeral- they would still call into the club. It was a great night”.

“Things have changed over the years and I was on the committee for a while- I don’t remember what year that was mind you. It was good to help out, I’m getting older now and the younger ones are stepping up. It was always very family orientated the club”.

Family generations:

“Most of my grand-children all play for the club – Declan [Straney] would be the oldest and you’ve Ryan and Callum. You’ve Louise’s two girls that still play- Hannah and Sarah. Graham’s kids – Dylan and Shea still play. They all used to, and Gavin’s wee boy plays, and Daryl’s wee girl plays, and wee ones are only 4 and 5 – they’ll get there too”.

“It’s good that they have the club to go to – whenever Daryl and them ins were young- I could have been at three games on the Sunday. There’d have been U-12, U-14 and minor. They played dual when they were younger and football and hurling so there was always a match to go to. They were nearly all local, so you were going down the road to the Johnnies and you hadn’t too far to travel. When they were older you’d go up the country to Cushendall and Waterfoot- it was always a day out if it was a good sunny day”.

Living on the doorstep of the club and the glory years:

“The club wasn’t always there- the club used to be up in Budore- but when they eventually moved the club to the current location we were just next door to it. I lived in Dalebrook for a long time and moved up here in 1982 and the pitch opened in 1984. It was a great day too and Of course winning club of the year in 1992 when Jim Herron was chairman. It was a great achievement for the club, and everybody involved”.

“I remember the day we played two Championship finals – the U-14s were playing Sarsfield’s at St Pauls in the morning and the minors were playing at Casement in the afternoon. The club won a lot that year- it was a great time and great to go and watch them. I remember in the U-18 Championship and we were getting well beat at half time and we came back and beat St Johns. Paddy Tumelty created the song and Donal O’Hara’s father wrote a poem about it in one of the books”.

Daryl Fegan

“We moved up from Dalebrook Park to Hannahstown when I was about 10 and my first recollection from the club was the opening of the pitch. We were part of the parade that day and Cuff [Gary Murray] and myself were standing facing the video camera- we were freezing and shivering with the cold- I think the video was being sent across to family and friends in England and Australia. My uncle Sean [McQuillan] played for the club and Ulster and Antrim- it was a big deal the opening of the new pitch”.

“I think Barney touched on it- there was a trip to Tullymore Forest Park. I remember on the Sunday morning and we all went up the mountain and there was a national water slide and I remember going over to the edge of the water to feel how cold the water was and next thing I knew- I was lying in the pool at the bottom- I think Paddy Tumelty might have pushed me”.

“We went onto playing U-12 and Bukey was coaching us, we got to U-14 and Bukey coached us for both football and hurling in U-14. We got to the final of the All-County Feíle in 1988- we beat St Pauls in the Belfast league and then went up the country to play Loughgiel. It was the worst day ever; the wind was blowing a gale from one end of the pitch to the other. I think we scored 18-points in the second half, but PJ Mullan scored six-goals on his own and that’s what beat us. I think we were beat by 2-3 points in the end, but nobody gave us a chance at that stage, and it was an achievement to get to the final of All-County Feíle and I think the only club team to do it. I don’t think we won too much at U-16 level but beat in Football Championship Final and runners up in ’91 Minor Championship- we were there and there about’s but never progressed and then obviously we had success at minor”.

The class of 92′:

“Frankie Quinn took us in 1992 in minor hurling- we beat Loughgiel in the final, so we got our revenge eventually four-years later. Nobody gave us a chance against them, but we went out and I don’t know whether it was the wee drop of Brandy and Lucozade at the start of the match that Frankie gave us to calm our nerves or what it was? But we went back and beat them off the park”.

“I got sent-off with about five or six minutes to go- me and the man I was marking got sent-off, the referee had, had enough of us beating each other. The two of us were sent off before Maxi [Paul Maxwell] scored a wonder goal to win it. Nobody gave us a chance against a superb Loughgiel side”.

“After every football or hurling match- we would have went out for a pint- the Whitefort was never as busy midweek with us all going into it- I remember that. I don’t think Frankie minded because we were all fit. It was a male bonding session every night and the majority of the team were all out”.

“A few weeks later we played the Johnnies in the final of the football, we were nine-points down at half-time and one of their players kissed the cup on the way off. We went into the changing room at half-time and Jim Brady gave the best speech ever- he pulled out the photographs and match report of us celebrating and winning the minor hurling. He says, ‘is this want you want lads or what is it you want’? we bucked up our ideas in the second half. I think Kipper [Cormac Carmichael] levelled it and the guy I was marking turned round to his team-mate and ‘that’s us beat, we’re beat here’. I thought to myself we’ve got this won and we went onto win it. Paddy started singing it’s the feeling you get when you beat the Johnnies – from the old Coca-Cola advertisement. It was unreal”.

“After that we then went on win the U-21 final against the Johnnies- which no-one gave us a chance in either- we’d some team. It was unreal and back then you think you’re invincible because you’re 18 years of age. Pat Toland and Paddy Elliott tried to give us a bit of advice, they told us ‘to stay off the drink for a couple of years and concentrate on the football and hurling’ Of course we didn’t listen to them and I think we’re still partying I think from it”.

Quiet years:

“I think one was the downfalls of the 90s was losing Kipper, Anto Finnegan and Donal O’Hara- they moved to other teams and I think it was a major factor of us not having any great success in the later 90s. We also found it hard to break onto the senior football team, Fitzy [Frank Fitzsimons] was the manager at the time and he had a very strong panel backboned by a nucleus of players from the 1988 minor team and actually won 2 league titles. It was very difficult for us lads to break onto it and I think there was only a handful of us that ever played on for the club out of the two teams- we’d certainly more hurlers than we had footballers”.

“In the late 90s I’d fallen away from the club- I’d become concentrated at stock-car racing. Our Graham started a major row at Nutt’s Corner. I got threatened and didn’t get back to it. It was coming towards the end of the troubles and I got back into the club towards the early 2000s- not that I was never really away- I just began concentrating more and training and playing football and hurling”.

“We’d success in hurling in 2003- we got promoted into Division One hurling after beating Sarsfield’s in Corrigan Park one Saturday afternoon. I think it was a replay and I scored 1-02 that day, it was probably one of the best days of hurling I’ve ever played. It was great to get promoted into Division One hurling and to be a dual club in Division One- it was a great accolade for the club to have”.

“Division One was a massive step-up and I think the following year we pushed on and played Senior hurling Championship instead of trying to win the Intermediate Championship first. If we had have stuck and played Intermediate- we would have won it the next year. But the decision was made, we did play well over the years in Senior Hurling Championship and we were the only team to beat Cushendall in the 2007 Championship. It was a real stinking night of weather in Hannahstown. They were great times”.

Senior football:

“From the football terms I started playing under Jim Herron and Bandy [Brendan Lenaghan] and I think I was beaten in three finals [St Galls 03’ and 08’ and Cargin 06’]. I would have played in all three and in 06’ I gave away the free for Cargin to score the winning point- it was one of my lowlights. It was heart-breaking. I remember Kevin Murray’s goal in the first match in 03’ – how it got through the crowd I’ll never know- the goalmouth was completely chock-a-block, but he still managed to score the goal”.

“Watching the 2017 team win the Championship was unreal- Gaelic had gone backwards for a bit- it was hard to watch for a time. The last couple of years the guys have really upped the game and we played unbelievable that day- it was unreal. There was a great elation and great feeling about the club. The amount of support we had that day and I seen guys that I’d never seen in years to come up and witness it. It was absolutely fantastic for the club”.

Hope for a return to dual status:

“The run of the Junior hurling was fantastic and was great for the club as well. A lot of young lads came up and played hurling- I thought that success would have breeded success- but a lot of boys who could play hurling decided to concentrate on the football which is understandable because of the amount of time and effort that is required nowadays. It was sad to see that a lot of the dual players that should have been there- couldn’t and hopefully moving forward that will change. A lot of them have given commitment to both codes, hopefully going forward we will see that change, hurling will come back up again in the club and hopefully we will see dual status once again in years to come and Division One maybe”.

Coaching:

“I really enjoyed coaching- it must have been about 10 years back. Myself and Christy [Tumelty] took the U-14s for a couple of years. I really enjoyed the time with it, from we started taking them the hurling level has come up well skills wise. It’s good to see a lot of them are still there playing for the club in both codes of football and hurling. We’d Ryan Straney, Pearse Fitzsimons, Jack Trainor, Ryan Diamond and Sean Paul Gibson and a few others. You read statistics from people and the amount that come from minor to coming through to play senior- you only get about 5 or 6. But there seems to be a big squad of them that are actually playing both codes- which is good. My two young kids are playing U-6 and U-8s at the minute and I will get involved again- hopefully this year- if we ever get back playing this year. but if not this year then certainly next year, I’ll get back involved in taking the kids at underage level”.

Friendships:

“I think Sambo hit the nail on the head ‘these guys will carry your coffin to your grave’. Paddy Tumelty and myself have had our indifferences over the years – there has been a couple of fisticuffs that Bukey had to sort out a couple of times in secondary school. But we’re real, real good friends from we’ve been U-12- still to this day. We still go out and have pints and keep in contact, we’ve a WhatsApp group together and we keep in contact with each other. The bond is good”.

“I’d have also have been close with Beansy [Brendan Elliott], Micky [McGuigan], Gavin Brown, Dee O’Connor, Kevin Finnegan and all that squad- there are loads. Walking into the club at any time- you’re always going to have friends that you can have a pint with and have a chat too. Tony Stanley or Peter Kane or anybody- the club is a family organisation and you’d never sit and have a pint on your own”. I even had the chance of knocking the ‘dumbbells’ out of my mate Mickey McGuigan in a white collar boxing match in 1995 as a fund raiser for American trip.

Tour De Fitz:

“When you stop playing football and hurling- there is a massive gap in your life. You have that camaraderie from playing as a team whereas cycling is an individual sport. Whenever Eddie sadly passed away and Micko decided to do a fundraiser- I jumped at the chance to get back out again with all the lads. Every Sunday morning there was a group of 10 or 15 of us that all went out training and we cycled up alongside and had a chat – it was brilliant, and I really, really enjoyed it. It was great with the camaraderie around the club”.

“The day we had it is was an absolute disaster in terms of the weather, I think a radio station down south said that if anyone is out on that day- they’re mad. Somebody phoned in and said there’s a group of headers that are cycling from Belfast to Dublin and we were the ones doing it. But we done it and there was a great sense of pride when you cycle round the corner and see Croke Park in front of you. I was near in tears coming up- tears because I was glad it was over”.

“A lot of boys stopped in around Drogheda for a break – but our group was one of the only groups that stuck together. We ‘re all club men and Micko was in it- I think we were group 2. We all stuck together because we all played alongside each other and we all pulled each other along. Any time anybody stopped- we stopped with them and kept going as a group and as a team”.

Family:

“My Granda ‘Ginger John’ McQuillan played way, way back at the beginning and growing up I’d a lot of uncles that played but Sean and Pat were the two that played the most. Whenever we moved up to Hannahstown I had no choice but to go to training- my Ma would have beat me out of the house- to get up the road and made sure that I trained in my younger days”.

“My Granny had 16 kids and out of the all the families- myself, Gavin, Graham, Sharon and Louise all played for the club. Cuff [Gary Murray] was the only other family that actually played but since then we’ve come along way. We have the Crilly’s and the other Fegans and lots of great, great grandkids are all playing away. We’ve Declan and Ryan [Straney] and Gavin Quinn’s kids as well are my granny’s great, great grandkids. The connection is there and is still really, really strong at the minute- it’s getting stronger actually”.

“I’ve moved up to Hannahstown as well beside my mum and dad on the doorstep of the club. I’ll get a lot more involved within the club and get back to coaching with the kids. My kids are coming through and they’ll be playing as well. Sarah [my wife] was playing for the Mothers and Others for a wee while until she tried to catch the ball with her face and decided to give it up. But she’s there playing her part as well”.

“As a family, we were really surprised but proud when my dad [Geordie] got the Hall of Fame award at the senior presentation a few years ago. He has only ever donned the jersey once and that was for an over 40 game during one of the summer festivals at the club. But when you look at the support he has provided to the club over the years and the sponsorships he has provided, then we knew he was a worthy winner” .