Ramor United celebrate a half-century as new development takes shape

Feature

Fifty years on from the formation of Ramor United, the club stands as one of the strongest units in the county. Ramor and Lurgan ladies, the parish ladies team, boast a combined 1100 members and compete strongly in all grades of football.

Looking around the grounds today, with further development underway, it is difficult to imagine the humble origins and even controversy which surrounded its birth in 1976.

For the club’s first secretary, Ned Duffy, the memories remain vivid.

“Well, I suppose when you look at a lot of the people that were around at that time, there’s not too many of them left now,” he reflects.

The story of Ramor United did not begin in 1976. The roots go back several years earlier, when the County Board permitted temporary amalgamations for championship football.

“In the early ‘70s, the County Board allowed amalgamations for the Championship,” Duffy recalls.

“In 1973, Maghera won the Junior Championship. They won the Intermediate in 1974. They beat Crosserlough in ’73, they beat Virginia Blues in ’74. In 1975, Virginia Blues won the Intermediate Championship, which meant then that at that stage there was going to be two senior teams.”

That situation prompted a difficult conversation. Virginia Blues, Maghera MacFinns and Lurgan were all drawing players from the same parish. While the clubs possessed proud traditions of their own, many felt that football would be better served by uniting resources and talent.

“Prior to that, there had been a Ramor team, an amalgamation allowed for the Senior Championship,” Duffy explained.

“I think it was only natural that the three clubs came together.”

The temporary amalgamation had already enjoyed success. In 1974, the combined Ramor side won the Senior Championship. However, it remained an amalgamation rather than a fully-fledged club structure. The decision facing the parish in 1976 was whether to create something permanent and the answer was far from straightforward.

“The three AGMs were held on one day so that no-one would know what the other one had done,” Ned remembered.

“Virginia Blues was a unanimous decision. Maghera wasn’t a unanimous decision. Lurgan at the time passed it on the casting vote of Jim Brady, the chairman, who became treasurer of Ramor.”

It was a pivotal moment in the history of football in the area.

“It was a close-run thing,” Duffy says. “In Maghera, there was 10 or 12 that voted against it, but as far as the Blues were concerned, it was unanimous.”

The newly-formed Ramor United established its base on the grounds that remain its home to this day.

“That’s where it all started,” says Duffy.

The venue was then known simply as McDonnell’s Field, a far cry from the modern complex that now occupies the site, including two full-size grass pitches and a smaller astro-turf area.

“All there was for dressing rooms was a shed down at the very bottom there where the stand is now. The cattle, when you came to train, they could be in and out there under the big sycamore trees.”

Expectations were high when the club was formed. Having already won a senior title as an amalgamation, many believed success would quickly follow.

“It was expected,” Duffy admits.

Instead, reality arrived swiftly.

“The first game, we played Cuchulainns below in Breffni Park and we were destroyed. I think it was over-confidence.”

The breakthrough would not come immediately. What followed was a decade of frustration before Ramor finally captured their first Senior Championship as a permanent club in 1985.

Duffy remained heavily involved in those formative years, serving as secretary during the club’s infancy before later stepping back and taking up the same role with the Virginia Show.

Those early administrators faced challenges that extended well beyond football. One of the biggest financial milestones came when the club purchased its home grounds.

“The football field here was bought from Dick McDonnell for £33,000,” Duffy recalls.

At a time when borrowing money was difficult and resources were scarce, it represented a major commitment and naturally brought headaches with it, namely how it was going to be paid for.

Fundraising became essential. Volunteers gave countless hours to ensure the club could survive and develop.

Construction of the original clubhouse and dressing rooms in the mid-1980s relied heavily on local expertise and goodwill.

“A lot of it was done voluntarily. Tommy Sheridan did a lot of the carpentry. PJ Galligan, he lived on the Bailieborough Road, did an awful lot of the concrete work and the cement work. The block work was paid for.”

It was community effort in its purest form. The importance of those volunteers is echoed by current club secretary Annmarie Duffy, daughter of founding committee member Fred Duffy.

“It’s totally in the Duffy blood,” she says.

“Fred Duffy was a past Virginia Blues player, as were his brothers Sean and Myles Duffy.”

Fred became one of the key officers of the new club and served as treasurer for many years.

“John O’Reilly always tells the story of when they’d hold their AGMs and Fred, as treasurer, would have to do the accounts.

“He was a smoker, he would take out his cigarette pack and he’d read the accounts from the back of a pack of cigarettes - whilst having a cigarette! Those were the days. Accounts weren’t huge at the time.”

Like many families, the Duffys grew up around the club.

“We were totally reared here. My mother never saw us, she never saw Fred because we were here.”

For Annmarie, the current developments are another chapter in a story that stretches back generations.

“It’s huge for the club, huge for the community, but it’s also huge for my family. It’s huge for the Hanratty family and Ned and the McDonnells. We’re all children of that generation.”

The Hanratty family occupies a similarly important place in Ramor history. Anne Hanratty’s father, Owen, was the club’s first chairman and later, with Patsy McDonnell, helped establish Lurgan Ladies, which evolved into a major force in the county too.

“That was all he talked about when we were growing up,” she says. “Mammy still says he was here (the pitch) more than he was at home.”

A council worker and farmer, Owen somehow found time to devote himself to the club.

“He was inducted into the Hall of Fame and got a piece of crystal. When we came home and put it on the mantelpiece, he shed a tear. Now, he did not shed tears easily.”

As Ramor United marks its golden jubilee, Ned Duffy takes immense satisfaction from seeing how far the club has travelled.

“It’s great to see things progressing because no matter what you do, everything has to progress. Nothing stays the same.”

The growth of underage football, ladies football and community participation would have been difficult to imagine in 1976.

“The only thing that’s wrong is, you probably could do another pitch or two in here now. There’s so many taking part in football.”

Fifty years after the parish made a leap of faith, sometimes reluctantly, Ramor United stands as proof that their decision was the right one.

CLUB LAUNCH DONATION SCHEME

As Ramor United prepares to celebrate its 50th anniversary this weekend, the club is also looking firmly towards the future.

On Saturday evening at the club rooms (7pm), Ramor are launching a fundraising initiative aimed at helping complete a major redevelopment project at Dolan Park.

The club’s ambitious plans are already well advanced, with a transformed clubhouse taking shape at the heart of the grounds. Vice-chairman Kevin McDonnell is leading the project and, fittingly, is following in the footsteps of his father Patsy, who served as Ramor’s first vice-chairman when the club was founded in 1976.

The McDonnell family’s connection to the club is strong. Patsy McDonnell had moved to the area from Ballinlough and became one of the key figures behind the new club’s formation.

Football was central to family life. Kevin went on to captain Ramor to the Senior Championship title in 1992 and most of the family represented Cavan.

“He was massive into football,” Kevin says of his father.

“His brother won an All-Ireland with Meath and then the five of us were playing, so he was football mad.”

The redevelopment project has been years in the making and will ultimately provide approximately 8,000 square feet of upgraded facilities.

“We’re proud of it. We’ve got a lot done. We’re nearly there. We’ll definitely be there by the end of the year, with the whole building fully open.”

The scale of the development reflects the club’s confidence in its future.

“Well, we’re going for it, thinking of the future as well, that it will all be used, and we’re fairly confident that every bit of it will be used full-time.”

Current chairman Conor McCrystal says the redevelopment has required patience and persistence.

“We intended starting this before Covid but it never happened.

“After Covid, the price of building supplies and getting anything done went through the roof.

“At this stage the building’s well advanced. We’ve drawn down grant funding of €200,000.”

The overall project cost is expected to reach approximately €1.3 million, leaving a significant funding gap still to be bridged.

To help close that gap, Ramor is launching a donation scheme aimed at individual supporters.

“The donation scheme is open to individuals rather than businesses,” explains McCrystal, who operates a pharmacy in Virginia and is in his second year as chairman of the club.

“The club is registered as a charity and, as a result, we can get some tax back on that donation, so it’s a tax-efficient way of making a donation towards the club.”

The club has already benefited from significant fundraising efforts and public support.

Local councillor TP O’Reilly praised the work carried out by volunteers over many years.

“There was a lot of fundraising done and the club has to be commended for that. I was happy to help secure community recognition funding to go a minor part of the way, but there’s still a good bit of fundraising to be done,” he said.

For McDonnell, the project represents another chapter in a lifelong relationship with Ramor United, during which he has been player, manager and sponsor, too.

“It just meant everything,” he says of the club.

“The same as every other young lad, you wanted to play and that was it. I was lucky to play on a good team and it’s been brilliant.

“It’s a great club, always was. I’ve enjoyed it all my life.

“It’s great to be able to be part of this and do it and leave it in a good situation for the next generation.”

And if the club could mark its 50th year with another Senior Championship success?

“Yeah,” he laughs, “that’d be very good too.”