GABRIEL TAGGART ANTRIM FOOTBALL STAR OF THE SIXTIES By now 1995 is just a dim and irritating memory for Antrim football supporters. By now 1995 is slightly less painful and the hurt suffered is that bit more manageable. Like life itself, championships proceed, one following the other and meantime expectations rum rampant like always in Antrim. Defeat in the All-Ireland decider ten years ago against Kerry was a bitter enough pill to swallow for Tyrone but last year's setback suffered at the hands of Dublin in the final really put the tin hat on it for the success-starved Tyrone hordes. This year's championship campaign can't get underway quickly enough for them. 1997 presents another huge window of opportunity. Antrim folk look on with curiosity. Right across Antrim, nothing but talk of a renaissance can concentrate the minds of gaeldom there quite so much. It even surpasses talk about the weather and latter day phenomenon such as BSE. Gaelic football is not a disease thankfully, more a second religion in places like St Comgall's heartland. Gabriel Taggart is a more than a willing disciple of the code. For the last decade and more Gabriel Taggart has been domiciled in far-off Dublin, capital of Ireland and home of the reigning All-Ireland champions. Despite his voluntary self-imposed exile from his native county, the self-same Taggart has not discarded his Antrim GAA allegiance. Far from it, his interest in the fortunes of Antrim has increased if anything. Absence makes the heart grow fonder all that. First and foremost through, Gabriel Taggart is a successful businessman who just happens to be a very keen gaelic football fan from up north. Based at 154 Rathgar Road in the metropolis, Gabriel holds the franchise for the Spar 8 'till Late premises located at that aforementioned address. Trading under the Spar name, the shop is, however, owned by Eight-to-Twelve Group of which Gabriel is a founding member. He has been running the Rathgar shop for the last fourteen years to be exact and he currently provides gainful employment for seven full-time workers and also twelve part-time employees. Things are going well, he confides. "Yes, thankfully business is going very well for us. We're very happy with the way things are progressing. We're happy that we've been progressing every year to date and as things look at the moment 1996 will be no different," the hard working supermarket boss explained. In truth, it is not difficult to understand just why the Rathgar place of excellence is doing so well for it is in effect, a veritable one stop shop where almost everything the householder requires in invariably in shock. In practical terms, Rathgar's Spar supermarket is a convenience store par excellence, opening from eight in the morning and remaining open until midnight, seven days per week, every week of the year. In essence, the Taggart-run store sells everything that anyone in the traditionally mainly flat area of the south side would require. In addition it boasts a full off-licence, news agency, coal, gas briquettes, a public telephone, hot bread oven, hot chickens, magazines, photocopying service, fax machine, delt, fruit and vegetable counter and much more besides. Expressing himself to be particularly happy with the way things worked out for business last year, Gabriel says that in many ways the store hasn't looked back since it was decided to totally revamp the premises just over three years ago in a major over haul. In the revamp of 1993, a whole new shop front was put in place and the layout of the premises inside was totally changed. New windows and new shop equipment were also added in the modernisation project. Now content to sit on their laurels, Gabriel and his team at Spar Rathgar are preparing to instigate a further upgrading of their already attractive premises next month. In this latest upgrading, more changes will be made to complement the shop's adjacent off-licence which was put in place next door to the site of the actual shop itself some four years ago. "Basically the changes that we have made will be ongoing because you have to constantly adapt and change to stay one step ahead of the posse an we believe that by putting in place these changes the market will respond favourably to what we have to offer the consumer," Gabriel enthused. Benefiting from a ready-made high spending consumer market which is placed in the Rathgar-Rathmines areas, Gabriel looks forward to the continued expansion of his business and 1996 has so far brought a smile to his face. "This first quarter of thus year has given us grounds to be very optimistic about how things will go for the rest of the year and being part of the Eight-to-Twelve Group will help secure for us a continuation of these good times, because being a Group member allows us to benefit from it's greater buying power," the ardent Tyrone football fan explained to the Hogan Stand. Interestingly, Gabriel's Spar Supermarket was the original of the species in the context of the Eight-to-Twelve Group's network in Ireland. It's a measure of just how popular the Group have become that now there are sixty outlets in the Group, each of them totally one hundred per cent Irish-owned. Significantly, the self-same Gabriel can take his fair share of the credit for the rapid growth and success enjoyed by the Group for he was one of its founder members, along with his brother Pascal, Terry Cooney, John Clohessy, Des Connolly and Sean Gallagher. Today the Eight-to-Twelve Group have outlets in Leixlip and Macroom, Bray and Swords but in the main its operation is concentrated in the city of Dublin where its core market is located. "This year we have already opened five new outlets with the latest one being in Leixlip. Our policy is growth by acquisition and under the direction of the Group's Managing Director John Clohessy we hope to open another eight shops by the end of this year," an upbeat Taggart announced. Expanding from just one shop in 1982, to sixty shops just fourteen years later is a terrific achievement but Gabriel Taggart believes that the sky is the limit for his firm. However, he reckons that because good business sites are so rare and limited in numbers in Dublin, the Group will be obliged to expand their horizons in geographic terms. Hence the Group's plans to open their next supermarket out near Leopardstown on the southside. Now living in Templeogue, married to Antrim lady Eleanor and proud father of Aisling (a chartered accountant), Ciara (a B.Comm student) and Stephen (a student at Portabello), Gabriel likes to enjoy life as well as work hard to put bread on the table and take care of the other necessities of life. One of the ways he relaxes is by following gaelic football, a game he himself was a no mean exponent of in his younger days. Gabriel, in fact, played for his native Antrim at all grades of football, starting with a three year stretch with the county minors. One of a family of four boys (brothers Michael and Jim also went on to play county senior football with Antrim) Gabriel Taggart went close to winning a provincial championship medal in 1963 but unfortunately, a crack Down team emerged victors in the final courtesy of a disputed goal. That goal is not the only memory however that Gabriel has from the game. "I remember I marked, or rather tried to mark Paddy Doherty that day. He gave me a fair roasting however. He had a rally sweet left foot and actually proved himself skilled enough to line out for Bristol Rovers soccer club across the water. I was only nineteen at that time and I can tell you it was a real rude awakening for me," reflected Gabriel. After a couple of years with Antrim seniors, the cursed back trouble prempted his retirement from the county scene. The former Saint Comgalls clubman has no regrets however about his career. "I enjoyed every minute of it, had great craic and made a lot of friends through my involvement in football. It's a just a pity that there comes a time when you have to give it up, that's all," opined Gabriel. Looking ahead to the forthcoming Cavan-Antrim Ulster Championship clash, Gabriel reckons that the saffron-clad players will be up against it and he honestly believes that Cavan will leave Casement Park with a win under their belt. "But anything can happen in a championship encounter. No one expected a Donegal man to be sent off in the first few seconds of the match with Down this year so where there's life there's hope," he enthused. And what about Cavan's chances further down the line? "I can't honestly see past Derry. They've a good all-round side and I think they can go all the way and regain the Sam Maguire Cup. Either way, whoever comes out of Ulster should win the All-Ireland." Taken from Hogan Stand magazine 15th June, 1996 Tweet

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