Without the Turins, there would be no Texacos

Around 20 years ago word reached me one day that my old Galway friend, Joe Mulhare, had died in England. I flew to Liverpool for Joe’s funeral and felt honoured when asked by his family to do the eulogy at the Mass – which, thankfully, went grand.

As the priest said the final prayers after Joe was lowered into the ground, I noticed this guy I didn’t know edging up closer to me at the graveside. When our shoulders touched he whispered – just loud enough for me to hear; “Last time we stood this close together, you were mowing the f#####g legs from under me.” His name was Pat Anderson and he had played hurling for Turin. We had a wonderful chat at the funeral ‘afters’ – and if what Pat said was true, all was forgiven!

I didn’t remember that incident… perhaps because it occurred during a short period when my hurling and drinking careers overlapped – and before I gave up the wrong one first!

I vividly remember, however, the first time I played against Turin, because it was the first time I ever played a real match. On a wet Sunday afternoon and at a notable young age, I got the call-up to the Johnstown NS primary school team and Turin, in their canary-yellow jerseys, were the opposition. We wore blue and white jerseys, donated to the schools by the parish priest to mark the Marian year of 1954. I played OK and we won well… how could we not, with hurlers like Dessie Kiernan and Petey Loughlin on our team.

I have always admired Turin: a small rural club who encompass everything that is great about the GAA and how they are interwoven in the local community. Turin have their own pitch, stand, and changing facilities. The resilience and commitment they show in turning out adult teams every year, no matter what the odds, are great testament to all involved.

In last week’s Westmeath Examiner, I read of Turin Hurling Club celebrating their 100th birthday. How good it must feel to be a Turin man or woman. For the last century, young (and not so young!) men (and now, happily, women as well) have gone into training in the spring for the battles ahead. Most likely, there will be no senior championship medal, no sports award, no red carpet for those warriors; no… just the satisfaction of hurling, love of Turin, and armed with no greater ambition than to ‘go as far as we can’.

Small rural hurling clubs, such as Turin, Crookedwood and Southern Gaels, for example; as well as the football clubs of Castletown-Finea, Ballinagore, St Paul’s, and maybe even Tang, are what make the GAA great and more than that; they have made this country what we are.

Turin have produced some outstanding hurlers over the years: players like Seamus McKeogh and John Egan spring to mind.

If I leave an obvious name out, please don’t be offended, as this is just my own thoughts from memory; but families such as the Careys and the Heffernans have chiselled their names into the history of the club. Thanks to such tireless workers, Turin have also been an exceptional nursery of underage hurlers.

But above all, there was one player who epitomises everything that the GAA and clubs like Turin stand for – and that man was Larry Carey. For more than a quarter of a century, Larry pulled a Turin jersey over his head and trotted out on the field with a smile on his face. He gave his all for his club from the first day he was able to lift a hurl, until the day he couldn’t.

Clubs like Turin and the other small rural sporting enclaves we mentioned are often squeezed by the more successful, more glamorous clubs around them.

The best young hurlers are targeted like a fox eyeing a clutch of chickens – and county boards need to do more to protect the integrity of club boundaries. Those young players should be inspired by David Clifford and Nicky English, who stuck with their junior or intermediate clubs.

The Turins of the hurling world won’t be clearing space on the trophy cabinet for All-Star awards or Croke Park ‘man of the match’ glassware. But they have what no award can equal; the pride and satisfaction of giving their best for their own people; of going out there and ‘going as far as we can’. There will be no ‘Texaco Sports Award’ for Turin players, but without the Turins, there would be no Texacos…

Congratulations to all of you in Turin who set up the celebrations marking your 100th birthday. You are proudly doing it, not only for yourselves, but for the Dick Moores, the Joe Callans and the Joe Scallys. Please God, in a hundred years from now, there will be a committee there doing it for you – and with more silverware on the table!

Don’t Forget

Greatness is not found in possessions, power, position, or prestige. It is discovered in goodness, humility, service and character.