Shannon, Bill
December 23, 1994
Bill Shannon
A 'Seasoned Master' of the National code.
Versatility comes in many guises on the playing field. An invaluable part of any player's baggage and a winning ingredient that too few players are blessed with unfortunately, it's largely conspicuous by its absence in sport generally. However, gaelic games covets more than its fair share of exponents of the art of slipping into slots people who would be stuck in the muds in any other sport.
Have bike will travel is an often used cliché which is a ready made bedfellow of every cliché ever invented for waxing lyrical on the genius of versatile players. But it was as appropriate forty years ago as it is in modern times as former seasoned club and county player from way out west, Bill Shannon can testify. Albeit with more than a sprinkling of modesty.
A renowned player in Connacht football circles back in the fifties and sixties. Bill is involved with a company called Season Master which is located at Corrandulla, some twelve miles from Galway city, almost equidistant between Headford and Tuam. A native of Balla, County Mayo, Bill is based at the company's office in Corrandulla and commutes from there to Straide, Foxford where the production facility which manufactures all types of double glazed windows for the commercial, industrial and domestic markets is based.
Specialising in the commercial end of the market, Season Master is a firm which has been awarded, in recent times, contracts for work which have been worth up to two hundred thousand pounds in value. Jobs such as the furnishing of schools with top quality double glazed windows factories, shopping centres and other jobs of very high specification have catapulted Season Master up the ladder of renowned manufacturing businesses in the Mayo and Galway area.
Established twelve years ago by Michael Jordan, Bill and Michael, who were formally in opposition, joined forces six years ago and since then Season Master has gone from strength to strength since its foundation. Sourcing all its raw materials, i.e. aluminium and PVC Extrusion, from across the water, Season Master is concerned with the fabrication and installation on site of high quality windows. The company has recently received a good deal of work in the Dublin area but at present the body of its work is concentrated in the Connacht region.
Such has been the rapid success of the firm since it was founded in 1982 that the number of staff employed by the Shannon/Jordan partnership has risen from four at start-up to a present high of sixteen due in the main to a broadening of their market niche. As is nature of the business in which they operate, Season Master obtain a lot of their business through mutually beneficial contacts with local architects. Being a local firm among discerning local customers has helped Season Master gain confidences within the market place. By being on the grapevine, being able to respond quickly to business enquiries and being able to provide a better all-round service has helped Season Master's star fly skywards. It's been a great year for the building industry, one of the best in recent years and thankfully we've already established a good order book which will leave us in good stead up until March of next year which is very good in our type of business", the son of former Mayo Senior Jim Shannon enthused.
Born and reared in Balla, of farming stock, Bill Shannon went to the local National School and there was greatly influenced by his teacher Paddy Mulanney who was as keen on gaelic football as any impressionable schoolboy would have wished. In truth, Balla National School was Bill's best apprenticeship at school level as far as gaelic football was concerned as his other alma mater Castlebar Vocational School had neither the playing facilities nor Mulanney look-alikes to add to young Shannon's learning process in the football world.
In spite of the lack of ready-made back up resources, Bill Shannon showed himself to be as good as there was at Minor level in Mayo and promptly made the county team in 1950 and '51 (in the same years as the Mayomen won the Senior All-Irelands). He had plenty of Senor stars then to admire and imitate. He never met them on the field of play but men like Paraic Carney, Tom Langan, Eamon Mangey and Sean Flanagan were heroes nonetheless. Others such as Paddy Prendergast of Ballintubber were ones to be admired too.
The first Balla man to figure on the Mayo Senior team since the great John Eddy McEllin in 1932, Bill Shannon was elevated to county Senior status in 1956, three years after he joined the Garda Siochana. Stationed in Dublin for five years 1953-'58, Bill played with the Garda football team and confesses to having enjoyed every minute of his Garda team at that stage. It was a good all-round team with players such as Tom Langan and Paddy Irwin of Mayo, Cavan's Tom Maguire, Paddy Harrington of Cork and Gerry Daly of Galway on the side".
Silverware was conspicuous by its absence with the Garda club during Bill Shannon's time. "We never seemed to get the better of the Saint Vincents team of the time which was hardly surprising in hindsight when you consider that they had players like Des Ferguson, Ollie Freaney, Kevin Heffernan and Jim Crowley. They were undoubted the best club team I ever played against. They were tough and physical but had plenty of skill and ability".
An out and out midfielder who togged out an impressive thirteen and a half stone and six feet one inch block, Bill Shannon won a plethora of admirers in his time as a high-fielding midfielder with stamina and strength to spare in barrow-loads. He reminisces on the great players he came up against. Players like Mick Carley of Westmeath, Victor Sherlock of Cavan and Meath, Jim Mc Donnell of Cavan and Sean Purcell and Mattie McDonagh of Galway spring readily to mind as he flicks over the pages of his exciting career at county level.
Bill Shannon's career was to take an interesting turn when he resigned from the Garda Siochanna and moved to Navan in 1958. Amazingly, his first game for his new adopted club of Navan O'Mahonys then was in the Meath Senior county final when Skryne lost out to the county town side in Trim. Later within twelve months he was to again switch his allegiance to play with Civil Service in Dublin where he teamed up with the talents of such notables as Armagh flyer Jimmy Whan, Frank and Felix McKnight and Mayo's Frank Fleming and his own brother Jim who played Senior football for Longford and was later to become a well known referee.
One of a family of four, Bill later transferred his allegiance to play with Sligo in 1962, one year after throwing in the towel with Mayo. From 1962 to '66 he played with the Yeats county and helped his new club Coolooney to a county Senior Championship title win in 1965. Interestingly as far as county action went, Bill went nearer to achieving success with his adopted rather than his native county and had the distinction of being selected for Connacht as a Mayo player for 1958-'59 and again in 1965-'66 with Sligo.
"I was on the Sligo team that lost to a great Galway team in the Connacht final in 1965. The same Galway team were in the middle of their three in a row so there was no shame attached to our defeat. In fact, that Galway team was the best county team I ever came up against. They had great players and a great mentor in John Dunne who won many matches for them from the sideline with astute moves. I always reckoned that if Sligo had have beaten Galway in those years, we could have went on to win an All-Ireland or two".
What was the piece of the jigsaw missing then in the Sligo scheme of things? "I think the players were good enough but there was a lack of experience in the team that was fatal. In the 1965 Connacht final, we were ahead by 2-3 to 0-2 after twenty nine minutes of the first half but they scored a goal before half time, which made an awful difference. We collapsed in the first fifteen minutes of the second half and ended up losing by 2-6 to 1-12. I think there was a bit of self-belief missing on our part too but in fairness as well it was a great Galway team".
Now living in Galway, married to Monaghan lady Anne and proud father of three girls, Bill confesses that he wouldn't like to play the modern type of football, especially that employed by the most modern centrefielders. Interestingly he was a member of Croke Park's rules revision committee in 1969 but admits to being disappointed then when the committee's recommendations were given the thumbs down by Congress in 1970. Still Bill Shannon is thankful for all the good memories he has garnered from the game he graced so well for so long. No regrets for Bill, no tears to cry. With the success being enjoyed by Season Master at present, there's unlikely to be any tears around for a long time too!
Written by Hogan Stand Magazine
23rd Dec 1994
Most Read Stories