Boland, Eugene
January 11, 2013On 21 December 2012, Eugene Boland, one of Co. Leitrim's most gifted and noble sons, died at his home at Portarlington, Co Laois. He and his late wife, Mary, had four daughters and two sons, to whom we offer our deepest sympathies.
Our sympathies, also, to his sister Sr Catherine Boland, of the Marist Order, and to his brother Willie, Kilmore, and to all his many relatives and friends
Eugene was bom, on 1 Sept 1929, to Elizabeth McGarry and Tom Boland. He was reared at Derrywillow, Dromod. His grandmother was Mary Guckian, Derrywillow. He was both kin and a kindred spirit to me. As a youngster, he excelled at music, thereby keeping up a great family tradition.
He was intellectually very bright and, tutored by Tommy Morahan NT, Principal at Annaduff NS, he won a scholarship to St Mel's College, Longford. There he blossomed into one of Ireland's greatest footballers.
He was only in first year when Fr Sean Manning moved him on to the College Junior team. He was a central player when Mel's won the Leinster Colleges Senior Football finals of 1946, 47 and 48. He was at centre half-forward when the College won the Hogan Cup in the 1948 All Ireland Final v St Patrick's, Cavan. That team is often described as Fr Manning's masterpiece team.
That same year, playing at centre half-forward, Eugene captained the Leinster Colleges team which won the Interprovincial Final, at Longford, before 5,000 people. Kevin Heffeman was at full-forward on that star-studded team. Eugene was on par with the great Iggy Jones and Sean Purcell. Scoring memorable goals was his forte and on one occasion, in Longford, he drove the ball so hard that it went clean through a new net.
Early in 1948, Annaduff and Carrick-on-Shannon joined forces to form "Shannon Gaels". With Eugene to the fore, they came very close to winning the Co Leitrim Minor title. That summer, he played Senior for the Gaels and he was chosen on the Co. Leitrim Junior team. In 1952, he played Senior for the strong emerging Bornacoola team. In Feb 1953, he was chosen at left half-forward on the Connacht Railway Cup team - a rare honour for any Leitrim , player at that time.
Eugene received his third-level education at Maynooth and at UCD. In 1953, he went to teach in Portarlington. There he served for 41 years as teacher, Deputy Principal and, finally, as Principal.
In a letter to me, dated 9 July 1979, he wrote "I have been managing a fund-raising campaign for a new Secondary School which fully occupies all my spare moments". In recent years, he was a well-respected member of The Dublin Diocesan Marriage Tribunal.
Eugene was fond of playing golf. It was stated at his funeral Mass that he had the same putter for 41 years and that he would "neither sell it nor give it away". He was Captain of the Portarlington Golf Club in the year 1983. After his burial in Emo, the meal was served in the Portarlington Golf Club, with the flag at half past outside.
On 28 Nov 1983, Eugene was devastated by the death of his dear wife Mary, but he was consoled and buoyed up by the achievements of their talented family. At his funeral Mass, it was a real thrill to hear lovely classical music excellently played by two of his young grand-daughters, helped by two of their friends. It was a fitting tribute and, no doubt, he was smiling down with justifiable pride. The Bolands were not just relatives of ours, there was a very deep friendship between us.
I'll finish this tribute to Eugene by quoting John- son's Latin tribute to Oliver Goldsmith "Nullum quod tetigit non ornavit" (there was nothing he touched that he did not adorn). May the sod of Emo rest lightly o'er his noble body. I mease na Naomh go raibh se.
Courtesy of The Leitrim Observer. Tweet
