Rice, Pat
March 20, 2006
Pat Rice, chairman and senior football manager of Éire Óg Doire Achaidh, passed away on Sunday 12th March on his 50th birthday. Pat, and indeed the rest of the Rice family, was Éire Óg through and through. Éire Óg had been Pat's only club and without the likes of him and without his hard work and enthusiasm the club probably would not be where it is today.
Pat played first game at age 10 in a minor football match against Mitchells at McRory Park (1966) and his first Senior game at the tender age of 13 in a South Antrim Football game against Clonard in Falls Park. A footballer and a hurler Pat has won nearly everything for both Éire Óg and his school St Mary's CBS.
At St Mary's Pat won an All Ireland Colleges Hurling medal and four Ulster Colleges Hurling titles. He also played County Minor Football for three years, losing to Derry in the Championship semi-final in 1973 who went on to win All-Ireland. He has only one Senior football call-up - reserve in a Dr. McKenna Cup match against Down in 1975.
For the Ógs Pat has won an Intermediate Football Championship, 2 Junior Football Championships, 2 Beringer Cups, 2 Martin Cups, a Junior Hurling Championship and various league titles, both football and hurling, as a player and also as a manager. He also captained the Minor team in 1974 and once or twice captained the senior team too.
Winning the Intermediate Football Championship was perhaps the highlight of his club footballing career. Losing an Intermediate Championship final to Moneyglass was perhaps the biggest disappointment, although never playing in Division 1 of the All-County League comes very close - finished as runners-up in Division 2 on three occasions. Also losing the Minor Championship final to St. John's in 1974 also still hurts.
Pat recalled watching Antrim take the field in 1989 All-Ireland Final as a real highlight, but on a more personal note his all-time highlight was winning All Ireland Colleges Hurling with St. Mary's in 1974. Pat also regarded wearing the saffron jersey in Ulster Minor Championship as an honour and he always felt very proud when taking to the hurling pitch alongside his three brothers. His best match was when he scored 11 out of 13 points in ACFL Division 4 game against McDermotts. Éire Óg won the match 0-13 to 0-12.
Pat played hurling and football for Éire Óg since 1966. He stopped playing in 1993 and worked with Juvenile teams for about four years. He became manager of Senior Football Team in December 1999 for a second stint. He won the Junior Championship in 2001 and gained promotion to Division 3 of ACFL. He has 3 sons and a daughter who are currently playing with the club at various age groups and intends working for the club for as long as it wants him.
The committee of Éire Óg would like to offer their condolences to the Rice family.
Most Read Stories