McAndrew, John
January 08, 2013Last Thursday night the sad news spread of the passing of legendary Mayo footballer, John McAndrew. Modern communications brought me the news of the departure of a warrior from the past. Unable to sleep I wandered around Twitter and read in 140 characters the sad passing of a giant from our past. John McAndrew twice an All-Ireland winner with Mayo in l950-'5l had passed away.
In 1948 his brother simply called 'Big Pat,' was centre back on the Mayo team cheated by the clock in an epic storm and battle with Cavan. In 1950, as Mayo went on to win their second All-Ireland ever, Big Pat had emigrated to New York, but picked up a national league medal with a revenge victory over the self-same Cavan. Emigration would claim John as well, but not before he won a second All-Ireland medal at midfield for Mayo, adding an All-Ireland Junior medal for good measure in 1957, with 1951 county panellist Dr Micky Loftus as his captain.
John soldiered on with the county playing his last championship match against Galway in the 1960 Connacht Championship. Nine years earlier he was a member of the all-conquering All-Ireland winning team, now he was the last of that team to play for his county. I was eight then, born a year after we won in 1951. Today nobody under 61 was on this earth when we last were kings and you would have to be 70 to have any real recall of those mighty men.
We see them as black and white in grainy photos. We should recall them as the cutting edge of their times; young, bright, educated and unfettered by fear. The Mayo team of 1951 was actually very young and had a bright future. Two All-lrelands wasn't what the gods laid out for them.
John McAndrew came into a completive set up. Not on the team in 1948 mainly due to his own brother, John saw competition for every spot. Micky Loftus, Peter Solan, Jimmy Curran, Joko Gilvarry and Mick Caulfield battled for the corner forward spot. Solan's 3-1 against Galway in 1951 Connacht final wasn't enough to give him the start for that year's All-Ireland final. That was the bar those men set for themselves.
Listening to Mick Mulderrig reply to a question I posed him about what motivates young men, angrily he spat at me "John ... if those young men cannot do it for themselves, don't expect them to do it for you, me, their mother or anybody else!" They challenged themselves, they won and lost their places but they never, ever gave up. Competition was what sharpened them.
John played with the great Tom Langan. It's said that the hardest player to play with on the field, especially if you were a forward, was Langan because he demanded such high standards of himself and those around him. He placed the pass where you should be, not where you thought you should be. The trick was to get up to Tom's pace, once mastered the results were spectacular. Surrounded with the likes of Carney, Flanagan and Mongey the likes of McAndrew blossomed. To this day we try and reconstruct the chemistry.
For McAndrew and his cohorts, the men of 1936 were important. They reminded the 1950/51 men of the great pain Kerry caused them in 1939 when officialdom robbed Mayo. In other words the men of '36 exacted their revenge with the men of 1948-51 because they were the right vehicle to do the job. Today's players don't have mentors like that, more is the pity.
In Bangor Erris young men still migrate away in search of the pay. Just like the McAndrew's and countless other Erris men. A nephew of Big Pat and John, also called John passed away tragically back in 1974 with his good friend James Cosgrave as the result of a tragic accident. Both boys were first rate footballers. At times like this we recall the past, we recall those that contributed at the pinnacle and we also recall those that also served. John McAndrew was a legend in a county that craves them. A Dheis De ar a ainm dilis agus go mbeidh se sna flaitheas anocht leis na h'Aingeal.
Courtesy of The Wexford People. Tweet
