Passing of Paddy Carolan marks end of an era

Cavanman's Diary

I’ve always thought it a slightly curious thing that relatively few descendants of successful Cavan footballers went on to win silverware in the famous blue jersey themselves.

Of course, there are examples and there are a good many who represented the county but multiple generations playing on winning Cavan teams is rare. Rarer still is the Carolan family from Mullagh, four generations of whom have played Senior Championship football for the county.

The elder of that clan, Paddy Carolan, passed away last Friday. Aged 96, he won an All-Ireland in 1952 and was the last living All-Ireland senior medallist from Cavan and, in that sense, there was a real poignancy to his passing among the wider football community, both within the county and further afield.

The Carolans may be Cavan football’s ‘first family’. Paddy’s uncle Willie was a famous player in the first decade of the last century and played full-back on the team who won the 1905 Ulster final in Newbliss, back in the time when Ulster Championship matches were routinely staged in towns and villages of that size and smaller, like Wattlebridge, a townland on the river Finn not far away across the Fermanagh border.

His brother, Edwin, who sadly passed away in his 40s in Tipperary where he worked as a vet, was part of Cavan’s All-Ireland-winning teams in 1947 in New York, ’48 and, of course, ’52. Paddy’s son Ronan represented the county with distinction from 1986 to 2000 and his grandson Niall, 23, is now an outstanding player on the Cavan team.

George Cartwright, who led the county as chairman and has chronicled so much of its footballing history, was tasked with delivering the oration at the graveside on Monday and spoke warmly of a man whom he had the pleasure to know personally for 50 years.

Carolan played with the Cavan minors in 1947, alongside neighbour and would-be internationally acclaimed actor TP McKenna.

“A couple of months later, on October 7 1947, Paddy saw the euphoria in Mullagh that greeted the return of his brother Edwin and Simon Deignan to the town after Cavan’s historic win in the Polo Grounds and this left a lasting impression on young Paddy,” George recalled.

Those celebrations in Mullagh were extraordinary. St Kilian’s Warpiper’s Band and the Newcastle Brass and Reed Band played and a nostalgic, and indignant, speaker claimed Ballyconnell stole Mullagh’s thunder by naming their club the First Ulsters!

At the time, the young Paddy was studying at St Finian’s in Mullingar, where he honed his footballing craft. In 1948, he played on the Leinster Colleges team, a prestigious competition at the time; alongside him in the forward line were the likes of Kevin Heffernan, Ollie Freaney, Des ‘Snitchy’ Ferguson, who all went on to enjoy illustrious careers in the game, and future politician Brian Lenihan.

Paddy won a Sigerson Cup medal with UCD in 1953/54 and represented the Combined Universities against the Rest of Ireland for three years.

His senior debut for Cavan was against Carlow in a challenge match in April of 1950, 75 years ago. The following week, Cavan were due to meet Kerry in a National League semi-final in Croke Park; listed at wing-back was PJ Duke.

Tragically, Duke fell to a sudden illness. Carolan replaced his friend in the team and they went on to win the final.

Cavan endured lean years in 1950 and ’51 and by ’52, the team had a completely new look to it. For the Ulster final against Monaghan, only five – Phil ‘The Gunner’ Brady, Mick Higgins, Tony Tighe, John Joe Cassidy and Edwin Carolan – who had been on the panel in the Polo Grounds five years earlier were on the starting team.

But they found a way. Edwin’s memorable equalising point forced a draw against Meath – one can only imagine how hotly-contested the bragging rights were in Mullagh, close to the Royal border – and Cavan won the replay, sealing a fifth All-Ireland in 19 years.

“It has always been acknowledged,” George recounted on Monday, “that Paddy’s display in the semi-final against Cork was his best ever in the blue jersey. Cavan were holding on to a narrow one-point lead as the game entered the last 10 minutes. Cavan missed a penalty and immediately from the kick out Cork stormed down the field and scored a goal without a Cavan player touching the ball.

“As time ticked away it seemed inevitable that Cavan would yet again suffer another narrow agonising all-Ireland semi-final defeat. However Paddy and his teammates had different ideas and they scored five points in the last ten minutes without reply to shock Cork.

“Paddy had a hand in four of those points as he ran at the Cork defence and drew fouls each time that were pointed. In the last attack Paddy was taken out of it but he won another free which John Joe Cassidy pointed. As Paddy lay stretched on the ground completely dazed the final whistle blew and he was helped off the field by the great Hughie O’Reilly and told ‘it’s all over Paddy, we’ve won’.”

Carolan went on to win two more Ulster Championship medals and was a regular on the Ulster Railway Cup team. He won a Senior League medal with Mullagh and a Junior Championship and also refereed the 1955 county final. He later advocated strongly for the amalgamation of the Cross and Mullagh clubs, which saw Cuchulainns formed in December, 1969; Paddy was their first team manager and was a selector with Cavan for a number of years, including when they won a famous Ulster Championship in 1969.

He was a familiar figure in Breffni Park through the years, seated usually in the back of the stand.

His son, Ronan, as mentioned, went on to become one of the county’s great forwards and place-kickers and remains one of the highest scorers in Ulster Championship history. He won the Ulster medal his efforts deserved in 1997.

During the oration, George told two more interesting, and sad, anecdotes, which perhaps in some way help explain why the county has not played in an All-Ireland senior final since that replay in ’52. Many – probably the majority – of those great footballers moved away and quite a few passed away too young, including Edwin Carolan.

Returning from a match in 1950, Paddy and some friends found out that Duke was ill and visited him at his aunt’s house in Drumcondra, where he was staying. He was very sick; a few days later, he died in hospital.

Two years after that, Paddy, Edwin and Simon Deignan were coming from a game with UCD and visited John Joe O’Reilly in the Curragh Military Hospital. They found him in great spirits and looking forward to getting out.

“As Paddy put it,” George said, “we were only as far as Newbridge on the way home when he took a fatal turn and died a few days later.”

The deaths of PJ and JJ feel like ancient history but Paddy Carolan remembered them well and was, in fact, a contemporary. With him goes almost a century of stories and lore but his life was long, healthy and happy and his funeral was a celebration of this.

Nothing gave him more pride than to see his grandson Niall make his debut in Croke Park in 2022. With a bit of luck, Niall will become the fifth of the Carolans, and the fourth generation, to bring home major footballing silverware to Mullagh – and he can be sure his grandfather will be smiling down on him if, and hopefully when, it happens.

May he rest in peace.