Tuam. Population just over six thousand people. One of the largest towns in Galway. Famous for its distinctive slang and home to the Sawdoctors. The town is also the home of the Tuam Stars, the local football club that has, down the years, spawned some of the best known footballers ever to come out of the west. The renowned Galway stars of the fifties, Frank Stockwell and Frank Purcell, came from the Tuam area and played for the local side. Both men were on the Galway team that carried the Sam Maguire across the Shannon in 1956, after beating Cork in the final. Here was a truly marvellous occasion for the Galwaymen who had won the All-Ireland for the first time in sixteen years and only for the fourth time ever. But the Terrible Twins were seen as exceptional players. Rare talents who had combined with the other players in the 1956 team to lead Galway out of the wilderness. Then there was the glorious sixties. 1964, '65 and '66 when the men in maroon marched to Dublin to push aside the challenges of Kerry twice, and Meath to carry home Sam. Here, too, was a team of well known names such as Enda Colleran, Mattie McDonagh and Jimmy Duggan. And there was also the Tuam contribution in the form of Mick Reynolds who played in midfield in the '64 victory over Kerry, and Mick Garrett who was part of the '64 and '65 triumphs. Tuam then, is no stranger to producing a richly talented crop of footballers. And the tradition continues. In recent years, Galway's football selectors have been putting on the team sheet the name of a young, but highly experienced defender who has shown that he has enough sparkle and nerve in his boots to get himself nominated for an All Star award. Not bad for a player that has spent much of his inter county career playing in the dog-eat-dog, often very harsh environments of Division Two and Three. It is unfortunate for John Fallon and his colleagues on the inter county team that Galway has been experiencing some impoverished times of late; when the heady days of the fifties and sixties must have looked like a very distant mirage. But Fallon, who usually plays in the backline for the county, while in midfield for his club, is not complaining too much. He just enjoys playing football. And after five years the surge of pride that he feels when he gets the call to play for his county is still undiminished. Besides, Fallon already knows what it is like stiffening to attention for the National Anthem in Croke Park before playing a big game, of what it is like winning a Connacht final, or captaining his county, or winning a county championship. And he is still only 26. Fallon first lined out for Galway against Roscommon in the Connacht Championship Final in the summer of 1986. Since then he has come to know the deeply contrasting fortunes associated with promotion and relegation, victory in the provincial final and defeat in an All-Ireland semi final or playing in front of 30,000 people or in front of a few hundred. But 1986 was a good year for Galway. A year when they began to reawaken the memories of past glories as they defeated Roscommon in the Connacht Final to earn a place in the All-Ireland semi final against Tyrone. The Westerners lost by three points but Billy Joyce's team had at least tasted the big match occasion. And they liked it, and were back for more the following year. This time against Cork. In that game John Fallon played in his customary right full back position but he still managed to score the point, in the dying minutes of the game, that looked like putting Galway in the All-Ireland final for the first time in three years. "I remember I had followed my marker into midfield and I got a pass from Brien Talty and ran with the ball, took a shot and lucky enough it just managed to go through the posts. But immediately Cork came back, got a free and even though it was about sixty yards out, Larry Tompkins still sent it over the bar," he recalls. In the replay Galway were never really at the races as they collapsed in the face of what Fallon remembers as a "totally different Cork side". The Tribesmen lost by 0-18 to 1-4 but some hint of Fallon's own performances that year was given in his nomination for the All Stars. Naturally playing in big games such as All-Ireland finals was a marvellous occasion for the Tuam player. But since the mid eighties Galway have been struggling to regain their once total supremacy in Connacht. First Mayo and later Roscommon have emerged as the best in the west in the late eighties and early nineties. For most of those years Galway have spent their time moving up and down between the second and third divisions as a team rebuilding process has continued, first under Cyril Dunne and then under the present manager John Tobin. There has been strong signs of a revival but then there has also been the sudden, sharp reversals such as the heavy defeat inflicted by Mayo in the Connacht semi final last summer. A game John Fallon and his team mates would wish to quickly forget. "That game was a terrible disappointment for us. We had been training hard but I just don't know what happened to us. We got a very bad start and it just seemed to shatter our confidence." Part of the reason for that defeat Fallon puts down to the relative youth and inexperience of the team. At 26 the Tuam man is one of the older players. "The average age of the side at the moment is about 22 or 23. There are the more experienced players such as myself, Alan Mulholland, a young veteran and Val Daly, but there is also the younger players who have come into the side in recent years. Players such as Conor McGowan, Alan O'Donoghue, Ger O'Farrell and Conor O'Dea. If we can stay together over the next couple of years then I am sure that we could win something substantial." Winning something substantial for John Fallon means victory in the National League or an All-Ireland. "You have to be ambitious to get anywhere. Of course, it is great to win a Connacht final but it would be great to go all the way." Looking back, the Tuam player regards his inter county career as one filled with "small highlights", such as winning a Connacht Final or winning promotion from division three. But the big prize has so far escaped him. Yet, he is very hopeful that under the management of former county player John Tobin, he can be part of a Galway side that can continue to build on the success achieved by gaining promotion from division three last season. "John Tobin is a very influential figure. Since he took over two years ago the team has been built from the ground up. But he is a former county player himself and he knows exactly what it is all about. His credentials are very good. He has brought the Galway minor team to All-Ireland success. A good manager is very important but in the end it is down to the players to win games." Last spring's elevation from the third division suddenly found Galway - by means of the restructured league - back in among the big guns. Salthill was the setting for the first outing against Dublin, who won - but only just. By a single point. One newspaper report described the Dublin victory as equivalent to a "larceny". For John Fallon it was a game that Galway could and should have easily won. But the performance itself was one that gave great encouragement. Then there was the second game against Armagh. Another defeat but the margin at the end of only three points and the fact that Galway scored two goals and conceded none in the 1-11 to 2-5 scoreline provides John Fallon with some solid optimism. "Playing against both Armagh and Dublin were two very tough games for us and considering the standard of opposition we didn't' do too badly. We still have a chance to qualify for the later stages of the league if we win the rest of our matches but it is very important for us to stay up once we have got this far."But while John Fallon's search for glory on the inter county front continues his adventures with the Tuam Stars have been proving very fruitful recently. Long looked upon as mainstays in senior football in Galway, the club won their first senior championship for twenty five years in 1984 when they defeated Dunmore in the final. They have added to this success with further triumphs in the '87 and '88 county championships over Annaghdown and Corofin. Apart from the achievements of the club, the strength of football in the area has been reinforced by the success of Tuam CBS and St. Jarlath's in college football. In 1982 and '84 John Fallon was one of the players on the Jarlath's side that won the All-Ireland. Altogether Jarlaths have won ten All-Ireland College championships - by far the most than any other institution. A teeming breeding ground of talent. One of the young players whose talent has been fostered in the college is Jarlath Fallon, John's younger brother. Already on the minor county team for the last two years Jarlath, according to County Football Board Chairman Jack Mahon, has the potential to emulate his older brother. "Jarlath is certainly one of the players with great potential for the future. But down the years John has also given great service to Galway football. For a player who is not heavy he plays with great tenacity. But the greatest display given by John Fallon was in the 1987 Connacht Final against Mayo. He was marvellous that day." Another brother Murt has also been involved in helping Tuam Stars win the county championship finals in '87 and '88. Victories that once again put Tuam in the headlines and reinforced it's image as a town with a unique place in gaelic sport, especially in the west. Taken from Hogan Stand magazine 22nd November 1991 Tweet

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