Groundbreakers: seven years on

In 2013, Westmeath GAA broke new ground when three black players were part of the county’s minor football team which reached the Leinster final.

The trio was Boidu Sayeh, Israel (‘Izzy’) Ilunga and Sam Omukoro and, interestingly, each of them hails from a different African country. Sayeh was born in Liberia, Ilunga hails from the Congo and Omukoro’s roots were in Nigeria.

The three players were then from three different Westmeath clubs – Athlone (Omukoro), Rosemount (Sayeh) and Castletown-Finea/Coole/Whitehall (Ilunga). The latter subsequently transferred to Rosemount where he is now a club colleague of Sayeh.

Although Sayeh is the only one who has progressed to the senior inter-county ranks, each of them made an indelible mark on GAA history seven years ago. All three certainly have intriguing and diverging stories to tell.

SAM OMUKORO

Sam Omukoro was born in Nigeria and moved to Ireland when he was six years of age. His family came to Ireland in search of a better life and they first arrived in the direct provision centre for asylum seekers in Mosney, Co. Meath, before moving to Athlone.

Asked about his first involvement in Gaelic football, Sam recalls: “I played soccer for Willow Park and some of the lads on the team asked me about trying Gaelic sport to see if I’d be any good at it. I had never heard of Gaelic football before and had no knowledge of it.”

Tall for his age, Sam was initially placed in goals when he first joined up with Athlone GAA club.

“I was a goalie at first but then I was moved outfield and I enjoyed that more. It took me a while to adapt to the game. At the start I hadn’t a clue what I was doing, I was just running around,” he says with a laugh.

This writer recalls an underage football final in which Omukoro played for Athlone and one opposing fan was heard to mention ’Hightower’ in relation to Sam (a reference to a character in the Police Academy spoof films).

Sam says he did experience some examples of racism when playing football. He remembers an underage match where he got into “an intense battle” with his marker who unleashed some racist remarks in his direction.

“It did not leave me shocked at all,” he says. “Naturally you learn to deal with these bad habits, knowing it does not represent the country and the whole population. But very seldom did this happen. I was always bigger than my opponents at underage so I felt this helped prevent most forms of racial abuse.”

Sam believes playing on the Marist College team helped to improve his skills. He recalls playing for the Marist in a match attended by then Westmeath minor manager Tom Carr and he must have made a positive impression. “Before that I had no vision of playing football for Westmeath,” he says.

With the Marist, Sam played in the 2014 Leinster Schools final, and he quickly reels off the names of some of his colleagues on that team – the likes of Brian Stack (now a Roscommon senior star), Luke Carty, Charlie McMickan and Robbie Curley. Their opponents, Coláiste Eoin had an ace in the pack in the form of a certain Con O’Callaghan, who has since become a major star on the all-conquering Dublin senior team.

Looking back on the 2013 campaign with the Westmeath minors, Sam says: “The game against Meath is the one that stands out for me. I got a point in that game and I remember we put in a lot of serious work and training leading into that match.”

Sam says he was conscious of the historical aspect of three African-born players playing in a Leinster final, and the prospect of playing in Croke Park was a driving force.

He recalls that Westmeath’s Leinster final conquerors Kildare were “very strong”, but he also feels that the team didn’t do themselves justice on the day.

“We hadn’t fully recovered from the Meath match. That was a very tough game and it took a lot out of us,” he recalls. Despite the defeat, Sam feels it was “a great experience” to play in a Leinster final.

Sam studied business information systems at GMIT and now works as an IT analyst for ABP Food Group. His work covers the Dublin and Louth areas but Sam was travelling back to Athlone for training until the Covid-19 pandemic intervened.

Last year, Athlone endured a bitterly disappointing season – losing all of their five championship games and being relegated from Division 1 of the ACFL.

But with former Mayo star Liam McHale now in charge, there is optimism within the Athlone ranks that a major improvement can be achieved this year.

“We had been going well in terms of the league and friendly games before this quarantine came into place,” says Sam. “I do miss playing sport; all I can do at the moment is a bit of fitness work and things like jogging.”

At the moment, Sam (22) is back home in Athlone with his mother Vera and his brothers, Daniel and Paul, and his sister, Joy.

As for the progress made by his former team-mate Boidu Sayeh, Sam says: “Yeah, I’ve been keeping an eye on him. Being honest, of the three of us on that minor team, I felt he was the one who had the most chance of making it at senior level. He always had a lot of determination and he had the football skills too.”

From that Westmeath minor team, only Boidu and Luke Loughlin have regularly featured at senior inter-county level. Sam feels the commitment level required and the challenges involved in balancing college and training can make it very difficult for young players to make progress.

Sam credits the vastly experienced Tommy Carr for “helping me progress and learn a lot about myself”. And at club level with Athlone, the late Davy Allen, Jim Rigney and Tom Coffey are among those whom Sam feels helped his football journey at different stages.

BOIDU SAYEH

Boidu Sayeh is now undoubtedly one of the most high profile GAA players with foreign roots. Indeed, he has emerged as a cult figure in the Westmeath defence over the last couple of years.

Last year, Boidu spoke at a Sports Federation of Ireland conference at Dublin City University, on the theme of increasing diversity in Irish sport.

Ahead of the event, he featured in an ’Irish Times’ article and was asked if he had experienced racism, or anyone questioning his right to play Gaelic football.

“I’d just kind of zone out and let it brush off me,” he told the paper if subjected to any abuse. “People might say stuff, like call me a ‘black bastard’, but I’ve not had any hardcore racism. One of my best friends was playing and a player on the other team did the ‘monkey’ impression. My friend reacted. He went to swing for him. He didn’t connect but he got sent off. He appealed it and won,” he continued.

Asked about being one of three black players on the 2013 team, Boidu recalls: “At the time we just saw ourselves as one of the boys and we were concentrating on trying to win the next game and getting to a Leinster final. We didn’t think about it too much. But looking back when our underage football days were over, it was something special and something different in the GAA.

“For a county like Westmeath – a country sort of county – to have three black lads on the same team was something very different. Now there are a lot of African-born players in club football and playing other sports.

“I never really experienced racism much and it didn’t affect me. Ireland was changing in terms of culture and people were more accepting of people from different backgrounds.”

For Boidu, the Leinster semi-final win over Meath was also the highlight of the 2013 campaign.

“Izzy was subjected to racially abusive comments, he reacted and got sent off, so it was great to win that game after being a man down,” remembers Boidu.

“A week before that game, Theo Watts (a Rosemount clubmate) did his cruciate and that was a huge loss to us. We spoke about Theo coming into the game and, then considering what happened with Izzy during the game, it was a really special feeling to win that match and, of course, it’s always great to beat your neighbours and rivals.”

Boidu was eight years old when he came to Ireland. It was 2004, a historic year for Westmeath when a first ever Leinster senior title was finally secured.

Boidu recalls his grandfather, Tony Kinahan, bringing him to the drawn Leinster final between Westmeath and Laois. “It was my first time to go to Croke Park, I had never seen a Gaelic football match before. I didn’t make it to the replay.”

His uncle Ben met Rosemount woman Thérèse Kinahan who was working in Liberia and they had a daughter, Mairéad. Ben and Thérèse became his parents and when civil war broke out in Liberia, they moved to Ireland.

In addition to his grandfather Tony (now deceased), Boidu’s cousin Dylan Hassett was a big influence in his involvement in Gaelic football. Another mentor was John Keane, an All-Star award winner with the 2004 Westmeath team.

Boidu is actually a nickname that has become his name. His late father was Linus Sayeh (who died in 2012, while his birth mother Cathrin passed away in 2003) and his own full name is Linus Dugbe Sayeh.

Boidu recalls playing soccer in his bare feet in Monrovia, and George Weah (a former AC Milan star, now the Liberian president) would have been a major idol.

He played soccer with Temple Villa and St Coman’s when he came to Ireland but as time went on, Gaelic football became his chief sporting passion.

“At the start I used to just kick the ball away but we had good underage coaches in Rosemount, like John Keane, who would tell me when I should solo the ball and when to pass the ball.”

Boidu has come a long way since then and is now a regular feature of the Westmeath senior team. He was part of the side which earned promotion to Division 2 last year, winning Division 3 in the process.

“It was hard to get on to the senior team. I had to battle for a place with serious footballers like Jamie Gonoud and Mark McCallon. When you get a chance to impress, you get more confidence and then it’s about trying to establish yourself on the team,” he says.

As for the current shutdown on collective training and matches, Boidu says: “We’re training away, we have programmes to follow and GPS monitors and we share what we do. But it’s hard when we don’t know when we’ll be playing a match next or even training as a squad.”

ISRAEL ILUNGA

Israel ‘Izzy’ Ilunga won an All-Ireland Vocational Colleges SF ’A’ medal with Cnoc Mhuire, Granard in 2013. The Longford side defeated Holy Trinity College, Cookstown in the final at Croke Park. It was possibly one of the first times people sat up and took notice of Izzy as a footballer.

“That was class, it was my first time to play in Croke Park,” recalls Izzy. “I had broken my hand and I was only back training a week and a half before the final, so I was worried about whether I’d be able to play.”

Israel recalls James Carroll, a teacher in the school and manager of the team, giving him the nod to start the game. On the very same day, Westmeath began their Leinster MFC campaign with a win over Wexford.

Izzy is full of praise for the Dowling family, his foster family when he moved to Westmeath. “I had my tenth birthday in Ireland,” he recalls, when asked when he came to this country.

“To be honest, I was useless at football at the beginning,” he laughs and, showing he has absorbed some typically Irish expressions, he adds, “I was absolutely cat”.

Izzy admits the ‘steps’ rule was something he found hard to master. He recalls Boidu’s adopted dad Ben, who played basketball, giving him advice on how to tackle in football without fouling.

For Izzy, one of the things that stands out from the 2013 campaign is the commitment of players whose first love was hurling. “All the lads bought into it, even hurlers like Liam Varley, they put in serious work,” he recalls.

The notion of being part of something unique, along with Boidu and Sam, didn’t really register with Izzy.

“It never crossed my mind. Tommy Carr and the backroom staff, people like Aidan Lennon, they treated us all the same. They didn’t care who you were once you played well. If you were looking in from the outside, I suppose it was something unusual.”

Having been sent off in the Meath match, after reacting to unacceptable provocation, Izzy was relieved when he was cleared to play in the Leinster final.

A few years later, Izzy encountered the Meath player (who wasn’t found guilty of any wrongdoing by GAA authorities) involved in that incident and they shook hands. “I don’t hold any grudges, that doesn’t you any good,” he says.

In time Izzy became firm friends with Rosemount players Boidu and Theo Watts. He was living in Moate with his sister, and decided to look for a transfer to play for Rosemount.

The transfer from Castletown-Finea/Coole/Whitehall didn’t come smoothly and he had to be patient. “I didn’t play for a year,” Izzy reflects.

There is a picture online of Izzy in a Rosemount jersey with the intermediate championship trophy. It elicited the comment: ‘Up Finea, one life, one club’.

As for variations of his first name, he confirms it is Israel. Refreshingly candid, he points out that he is dyslexic and admits he is responsible for some of the confusion himself.

“When you come to Ireland and people see you playing football, they are more willing to accept you in the community. I saw that when I was playing for Castletown-Finea and by the time I came to Rosemount, I was already accepted,” he says. “In Rosemount, everyone looks out for each other, no matter who you are.”

Being part of the Rosemount team which won the Westmeath intermediate football title in 2016 is Izzy’s “proudest moment” in football.

“The club had been heartbroken after losing a few previous finals so it was a great feeling to win that final. We believed we had the players to play at senior level and to compete at senior level.”

Indeed, following that county intermediate success, Rosemount came agonisingly close to adding the Leinster title. They lost a thrilling final to St Colmcille’s of Meath and Izzy can still clearly recall moments from the closing stages of that game.

Last year, Izzy took part in the ’Underdogs’ show on TG4 – the programme gives players who haven’t featured at senior inter-county level a chance to impress a panel of coaches.

He found the experience “enjoyable” but found it difficult to juggle it with his work commitments in Dublin. It was a time which involved very early mornings and long days.

Ilunga speaks four languages, including French (the Democratic Republic of the Congo is a Francophone country) and he is considering returning to college in the near future.

He was on the Westmeath senior panel earlier this year, but didn’t make the cut when the panel was reduced.

“It was my first time to get the bullet from a squad, it was a strange feeling,” he says.

“Obviously every player would like to play for their county and when I was younger, I was very focused on playing for Westmeath. But as you get older, you realise there are other things in life as well as football, and you can still represent your club.”

Like every other sportsperson at present, Izzy is missing the buzz of playing games due to the Covid-19 restrictions.

“I suppose we all take things for granted. I’m really looking forward to putting on a Rosemount jersey and playing a game. People might look at me playing for Rosemount and say ‘he’s only a blow-in’, but I must say I’m very proud to play for Rosemount,” he adds.