There’s nothing like an old photo to arouse interest

What is it about old photographs? Blasts from the past, of course, maybe of special interest to those with a family member included?

The Louth senior team of 1943 appeared on these pages last week along with a story on Peter Corr.

It wasn’t the first time it was featured here, but there are many who hadn’t seen it before. Such as a female e-mailer, who asks that it be published again, this time with a caption.

‘Catherine’, who doesn’t want to be identified – “I’m happy to keep my name out of the papers”, she says – is not a regular reader of Inside Track, which doesn’t come as a surprise.

She was alerted to the photo by a relation, who, like ‘Catherine’ is a grand-daughter of one of the players.

“It was a surprise to me. I knew granda played football, but didn’t know he was in an All-Ireland semi-final. I cut out the picture last week and will do the same again if you put the names with it,” she promises. (She might even, she says, become a regular IT reader.)

Glad to oblige ‘Catherine’, and also, if it interests you, make a correction to what appeared in the final paragraph of last week’s story accompanying the photo.

We said: “There’ll be no-one in Ardee this weekend for Louth’s renewal of rivalry with Roscommon who witnessed the 1943 tie...”

The game in question, last Sunday’s, wasn’t played in Ardee, but in Drogheda, whose Gaelic Grounds welcomed a return of inter-county football after an absence of six years. The change of venue was due to the hammering Páirc Mhuire took from Storm Éoywn.

Trees behind what’s known as the top goals were blown down, flattening the ball-stopping net and surrounding wall. It will take a lot of work and expense to repair the damage, but Mary’s chairman, Mickey Rooney, says the club is determined to get it done.

“You’re probably right when you say there’ll be no-one at the game (Sunday’s) who was there in 1943,” says another correspondent.

However, he adds that he was in Croke Park all those years ago – and much as he would like to have been in Drogheda, laments: “I’m not getting about as well as I used to.”

He’s another who doesn’t want to be named – which is a pity, because anyone who is well into his 90s and still retains an interest in the game deserves recognition.

He was a boy when his father took him along to Croke Park. Understandably, he doesn’t remember much about the game, but the train journey, his first ever, was exciting.

World War 2 was at its height, and travel was greatly restricted. This explains why the crowd was only a few hundred above 18,000.

Another writer, Colm Ross, who doesn’t mind getting his name going up in lights, says that his father – the legendary Johnny Ross – told him that he and others often rode from Ardee to Croke Park, while others walked the railway line (which ran parallel with today’s road from the motorway to Ardee) to catch the train to Dublin at Dromin Junction.

The Louth team travelled by train to the All-Ireland semi-final, and on the return journey Peter Corr got some grief form ‘supporters’ over his missed frees.

They weren’t aware that the star of Louth’s Leinster final defeat of Laois, with 1-8, played almost the entire match with double vision after shipping a foul blow in the early minutes.

There was something in last week’s piece that was definitely wrong. It was said that the 1943 meeting of the sides was the only time Louth played Roscommon in the championship. Not so.

In Val Andrews’ time as manager, assisted by Niall O’Donnell and Terry Hyland, there was a meeting of the sides in a 2005 All-Ireland qualifier at Drogheda, Louth had put behind them a poor National League campaign in the first half of the year, and were beaten by Offaly in the opening round of the Leinster.

The qualifiers brought better luck. There was a 1-12 to 1-8 win over Waterford also at the Gaelic Grounds. Only 751 turned up for that game, but the crowd was over 4,000 at the same venue a fortnight later for the clash with Roscommon.

Louth got another good result, winning by a point 0-11 to 0-10, Darren Clarke top scorer with 0-4. Two weeks after that Monaghan were taken on in Clones in front of over 13,000, and having been well in arrears early on, Louth fought back to be beaten by the minimum, 1-12 to 0-14.

The team for the Roscommon game was: Shane McCoy (Roche); Jamie Carr (N Blues), Brendan Reilly (J Mitchel’s), Simon Gerrard (N Blues); Alan Page (Cooley K), Aaron Hoey (St Bride’s), Conor Sheridan (Glyde R); Paddy Keenan (St Pat’s) John Kermath (O Plunkets): David Devenney (Glyde R), Darren Clarke (St Mary’s), Pádraig Matthews (Hunterstown R); Mark Stanfield (O’Connell’s), Shane Lennon (Kilkerley E), JP Rooney (Nh Mairtín).
Nicky McDonnell (Nh Mairtín) came in as a reserve.