Joe Carroll: Sporting ranks provide Grim Reaper with a bountiful harvest

Author unknown, but words quoted by the then-Senator John F Kennedy at a New York Irish Institute gathering in 1957:  “They are going, they are going, and we cannot bid them stay.” Sport lost three outstanding practitioners recently.

Sean McCague was a county team manager, but is better remembered as a ground-breaking GAA President; Jim McArdle was one of Louth’s best-ever footballers; and James Mackin, best known to his friends and just about everyone else as Roy, was an avid follower and great advocate of Dundalk FC.

When he took charge of the Monaghan senior football team in the mid-1970s, Sean McCague would have had ambitions, but could hardly have envisaged the success his tenure would bring.

At the Scotstown clubman’s side was Paraic Duffy. Together they saw their team blossom to become not only one of Ulster’s best, but one which, in 1985, won the National League and also went desperately close to giving the county a place in the All-Ireland final for the first time in 55 years.

Eamonn McEneany’s last minute free from beyond the 45-metre mark gave Monaghan a draw with title-holders Kerry in the All-Ireland semi-final. It would have been a winner if earlier chances been taken. Though beaten, McCague’s team put up another fine performance in the replay.

Monaghan were league champions at the time, having beaten Armagh in the final earlier that year. They’d have made it two-in-a-row the following year had they been able to account for Laois in the decider. One point divided the sides at the finish.

It was after that when Sean McCague and Paraic Duffy turned their attention to the legislative side of the game. Here they enjoyed even greater recognition.

McCague was elected Association President in 2000 and served for the statuary three years, and Casleblayney-born Duffy succeeded Liam Mulvihill as General Secretary in 2008 and remained in the post until handing over to Tom Ryan, nine years later.

It was during McCague’s time that the contentious Rule 21, which forbade British and Northern security forces from GAA membership, was removed for the statute book. His tenure is remembered for his astute leadership.

Both he and Duffy have done their clubs and county proud, filling the Association’s highest posts with distinction and before that bringing much-needed and morale-boosting success to Farney on the football field. The county’s 1979 Ulster win, under the pair’s guidance, was a first in 41 years.

There was shock among the many who knew him on hearing of the sudden passing of Roy Mackin. He’d have been out and about on the days before, and as always would’ve had a hello and maybe a chat with many of those he encountered.

He was a regular Oriel Park regular, even on days when Dundalk weren’t playing. In his younger days the Redeemer Athletic Club, whose base was close to where he lived, was his port of call, not only supporting the many young athletes, but also helping with their preparation.

And back before then he was a regular at the old dog track on The Ramparts, working as a parade boy. This was followed by him joining the track staff of Terry Rogers, Roy relating to this writer the role he played for the famous bookmaker, for the 2019-published The Story of Dundalk Stadium.

Roy’s task was to take his place on the finish-line, and if there was a photo, get back to the boss as quickly as possible, giving his opinion on the outcome.

He also was on the Dublin bookie’s team for the Galway Races. His father had serious reservations about his teenage son going on such a trip, but Rogers had words of assurance; “Don’t worry, Mr Mackin, I’ll have him in bed at 10 o’clock each night.” And he did, Roy dispatched with a glass of milk and a few biscuits.

Roy was a gentleman, and if you were one of those he met on the street, you were privileged to be in his company.