The Late Fr. J.J. O'Brien The late Fr. J.J. O'Brien once told Tom Morrison that he had a great passion hurling. Hurling is a sport that has provided many outstanding exponents over the years and whenever Cork men are discussed by shrewd judges of the game, Fr. J.J. O'Brien, who passed away, is quickly singled out as the one player who came through with flying colours during the forties. Many contemporaries spoke very highly to me of his qualities when I began to write on Gaelic affairs and there can be little doubt that he was one of the 'greats' of his era. Even as late as 1958, Fr. J.J. who was Sacred Heart Father in Western Road, Cork City, was still there pulling his weight by helping his native Cloyne to defeat Cobh in a rip-roaring East Cork final. He was a natural forward with a great eye for an opening and he often punished even the slightest of lapses by opposing defenses. It cannot be said that Fr. J.J.'s career was without success. An All-Ireland senior medal or even a provincial award would have crowned a remarkable spell, but it was not something that he loses sleep about. There were disappointments but then there were moments, too, of great joy. He was born in Cloyne, the home of the legendary Christy Ring, which might explain his prowess at hurling. "When I was in the National School in Cloyne in the mid thirties, the late Jerry Moynihan arrived as a school teacher and he immediately set about organising hurling and football in the school. In a short time, football was forgotten about and hurling took over. We had no playing field, but the late Charlie Creed kindly as the Gromeen until the club acquired their new playing field." Fr J.J. was exceptionally talented for his age and was only sixteen when the Cloyne selectors picked him on their 'B' Grade team. However, when Brother Roberts, who was then Headmaster and in charge of games at Midleton C.B.S. heard this, he forbade him to play saying he was too young and too light for that rough and tumble grade. " I felt he was exceeding his powers and ignored the prohibition. In punishment he suspended me from the school teams but he soon come under pressure and had to lift the ban," said Fr. J.J., who went on to win Dean Sexton and Dean Ryan Cups with Midleton C.B.S. and played in the Dr. Harty Cup competition for four years. Meanwhile, Fr J.J. was making tremendous progress on the hurling field with Midleton C.B.S. and things began to look up when they beat the famous North Mon in the Harty Cup semi-final of 1944. "We had suffered defeat at their hands year after year, so it was very sweet to win indeed. For some strange reason, the game was played in the morning and there was severe frost on the ground. The game took place in Midleton and afterwards I was shouldered down the Main Street in a parade led by the Army Band". "Unfortunately we lost in the final to St. Flannan's in a replay that should never have been. The first game was played in Charleville and we were disallowed as fair a goal as was ever scored. The fact that the first game was drawn had interesting sequel for me. Between the drawn game and the replay, the All Ireland Colleges final between Leinster and Munster was played in Kilkenny. As there was no Harty Cup champions, the name of a North Mon player ( champions of the previous year), a St. Flannans's player and my own name were put into a hat and my name was drawn out, thereby giving the honour of captaining the Munster team. "This was his second year on the team and they were holders of the title. Moreover, the first year he played on the team they picked twelve players from the Mon and two from Thurles. Those were heady days for Midleton CBS and some of the other youthful ambassadors were Mattie Fouhy, who went on to win four All-Ireland medals, Ted Barry, James O'Brien, Benny O'Connell, Kevin and Gerard Murphy, Rory O'Connor, Fr. Denis Kearney, Mick Bransfield, Billy Kelly, Fr Joe Spillane, Liam Crotty, Lack Lane, Billy Clifford and Dr J.J. brother, Frank who went on to win Divisional awards with both Cloyne and Castlemartyr. There had been some glorious moments too when winning an East Cork minor medal with Midleton C.B.S. The following year while at Farranferris he played his first senior game for Cork in a tournament game against Tipperary at Fermoy. "Here again I was thrown in at the deep end assigned to mark Tommy Doyle, but I did manage to score a point off him. Some weeks later in 1945 I was given the left half forward position in the Munster semi final against the same opposition and was marking Jim Devitt. This was indeed a great thrill. It is every hurler's ambition to play for this county and to represent Cork has to be a great achievement. To do so before I had finished my secondary education, without being a member of a senior club and without having played minor for the county was pretty unique and something I never dreamed of". However, things ran smoothly for Tipperary on the day and at the end of a keenly fought contest, they put an end to the Leesiders five-in-a row ambitions with eight points to spare. The previous year, Fr. J.J. who also played junior football with Russell Rovers, picked up an East Cork junior hurling medal when his native Cloyne defeated O'Briens. Clearly the East Cork side were good enough to win the county that year with a side built around men like Jerry Moynihan, Timmy O'Mahony, Paddy and Jim Burke, Jimmy Motherway, Liam Crotty, Donie O'Sullivan, Peter Cronin and Fr. J.J.'s brother, Frank, but they came up against a star studded Army side in the final and were beaten by 5-5 to 2-4 in Midleton. In the Autumn of '45, Fr J.J. entered the Noviciate of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart at Glandore and eased out of hurling completely. Twelve months later he went to the Society's House of Studies at Moyne Park, Ballyglunin, Galway. "At the time it was not customary for students of Religious Societies to be allowed home on holidays. However, during the war years, by way of special concession, the late Fr. John Twomey, then Regional Superior of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart in Ireland, took it on himself to allow students home for one month each summer. This concession ran on to 1947 when I was selected to play with the Cork juniors in the Munster final against Clare in Charleville." Again a short while later Fr. J.J. pulled the senior jersey over his head after being selected as sub against Antrim in the All-Ireland semi-final. Interestingly, the panel included four players who subsequently went on to become priests. Con Cottrell and Joe Kelly played on the team while John Thornhill, a native of Newtownshandrum, was also on the subs bench. Cork's seven year wait to ambush the All-Ireland junior title was successful when the team played Dublin at Thurles with Fr. J.J. on the side along with notable players like Billy Barry (O'Briens), Mick Nestor ( Ballymartle), who later played with Galway, Sean Twomey and Willie John Daly, (Carrigtwohill) and the former senior star forward, Ted O'Sullivan. Meanwhile, the seniors duly qualified for the All-Ireland, final following the comprehensive 7-10 to 0-5 win over Antrim and Fr. J.J. was retained on the panel. "Having been allowed out for the junior final I though there would be no problem. However, the Community Retreat overlapped the Sunday of the final and no way would I be allowed out. Not only that but we were not allowed even to listen to the Radio Broadcast. That was when my vocation was tested," he continued. Ironically, Willie John Daly took his place on the substitutes bench as Cork lost by the narrowest of margins to their great rivals Kilkenny on a score of 0-14 to 2-7 watched by a crowd of 61,510. Having severed links with the game for a couple of seasons, Fr J.J. made another dramatic comeback in the Summer of 1950 and in rather unusual circumstances. "My sister Eileen got married and I was given a few days leave to attend the wedding," he says. "The wedding was on a Saturday and as luck should have it Imokilly were playing the Glen in the second round of the championship and I was asked to play. Consequently, I was again put on the Cork senior panel and was picked at left corner forward to face Tipperary in the Munster final. "Mickey Byrne was my opponent and although Tipperary were the winners it was a game Cork could have won and might have done so but for the encroachment on the field by a section of the crowd. I scored a goal in the first half but was never given the credit for it and it was put down to the late Mattie Fouhy in the newspapers. Christy Ring scored a very unusual goal actually, he got the ball about 40 yards from the Tipp goal and without ever lifting it, wove his way through the Tipp, back line in the fashion of a hockey player and then lashed it to the net. "That game was my swan song. I was ordained the following year and that put an end to my hurling career. By coincidence it was also the last championship game Jack Lynch played for Cork. He played at full forward and had a very good game." For the record the Imokilly team that lost (6-5 to 4-8) that year was follows: Mick Keating, David 'Waxer' Barry, Billy O'Neill, Fr Denis Kearney, Mattie Fouhy, Ger Power, Paddy O'Neill, Sean Twomey, Paddy Hartnett, Fr J.J. O'Brien, Willie John Daly, Sean Fleming, Tony Aherne, Gerard Murphy, Willie Moore, Christy Ring was left half forward for the Glen. Ar dehis Dé go raibh a anam. Courtesy of the Imokilly People. December 2002 Tweet

Most Read Stories