Donie Nealon's Devotion to the G.A.A. spans a lifetime Tipperary's Jack of all Trades. Donie Nealon is one of the rare breed of people who have devoted most of their lives to G.A.A. at various levels. He has been a top class player at club, county and provincial level and has also coached his county to All-Ireland success, has been a selector with them and now gives his time to his job as a full-time G.A.A. administrator. The Burgess man's most recent success came just two weeks ago when he led the club to glory in the Tipperary Intermediate hurling final. Last year Donie gave up his post as selector with the Tipperary Senior hurling team, when he became full-time secretary of the Munster G.A.A. Council with responsibility for both hurling and football. It was just the latest step in a long career at the highest level in the sport which started many years ago in the parish of Burgess and Youghdarra - rural area west of Nenagh in north Tipp. The young Nealon first used a caman in the '40's but due to the lack of competitions for youngsters in those days, the only tournament he played in as a Juvenile was at Under 15 level in the latter part of the decade. However, this dearth of competitive matches didn't deter the lads from playing the game and making steady progress. Donie attended St. Flannan's College in Ennis and won a Harty Cup there, but fate conspired to deprive him of a place with the Tipperary Minor hurlers as his date of birth was in December, causing him to just miss out the grade when he was 18. In addition to this the young Premier County lads were particularly strong at this grade in the early 50's, winning eight Munster titles and six All-Irelands in the period from 1949 to '57. At the age of 17 Donie won his first medal when the Burgess club took the North Tipperary hurling title in 1953 and his prowess with the local team wasn't long being recognised at higher levels. Three years later he made the Intercounty Junior side and two more years were to elapse before the Senior selectors were to utilise his talents. 1958 was a good year for him to make his debut as Tipp went on to win their first Munster and All-Ireland titles for seven years. "It's something you'd always dream about", is how Donie describes lining out for his county for the first time. Along the way the Premier County defeated old rivals Cork when they hadn't beaten for several year, Waterford in the Munster final, Kilkenny at the penultimate stage and Galway in the All-Ireland final. Naturally enough, as it was his first taste of All-Ireland success, that '58 victory was particularly memorable for Donie but it was only the first of many Senior Intercounty medals. In addition to those medals, early success was to come at college for the Burgess hurler when he won three Fitzgibbon Cups while at UCD in the 50's. During a glittering playing career at the top of the hurling tree, Donie was to win impressive total of five All-Ireland medals, eight Munster honours, six National Leagues and also four Railway Cups with his province. As well as those prizes he also earned five Oireachtas Cup medals at a time when this competition was attracting huge crowds to its matches and was held in greater esteem than nowadays. Following the 1958 All-Ireland victory the Burgess forward was a member of four more Tipp teams which went all the way as the county won four out of five titles from 1961 to '65. 1961 saw Tipp being taken to the limit by a spirited Dublin challenge in what the left half-forward calls a "pulsating final". The men in blue and gold emerged victorious by 16 points to 1-12, thanks to some late points. "Dublin were a bit unlucky I thought", admits Donie. A victory which Donie remembers with particular fondness is that in 1962 when Tipp defeated Wexford by 3-10 to 2-11 in a thriller. "We got a great start against them, but they hauled themselves back into it and we just held on to win" recalls the man who lined out at right corner-forward on that day, and went on to win the "Caltex Hurler of the Year" Award. In the year after that the Tipp men were shocked by Waterford in the Munster decider but '64 saw them back in the limelight as Nealon scored three goals in the last 20 minutes of the All-Ireland decider to help them to a 14 point victory over Kilkenny. However, along with the glory days, the Burgess men experienced the taste of defeat several times, including three All-Ireland deciders - 1960, '67 and '68. The latter year was particularly disappointing as it was shortly before Donie's retirement from the Intercounty scene and obviously it would have been nice to have gone out on a high note. Tipp were leading Wexford by eight points in the final, but somehow found themselves on the wrong end of a 5-8 to 3-12 final scoreline, cruelly depriving Donie of a sixth All-Ireland medal for the cabinet Donie decided to quit the playing field the year after but his involvement with hurling was by no means over as he continued playing with Burgess right up to the early '80's but also started a new chapter of his career when he took over as coach to the Tipperary team in 1971, leading them to All-Ireland glory when they beat Kilkenny in an epic, high-scoring final. This first phase of Donie's involvement on the sideline with the Intercounty side lasted for a few years but another honour on the player front was yet to come as, in 1976, Burgess took the county Junior title, the first step along a path which will see them playing Senior hurling next year following their victory over Upperchurch / Drombane last Sunday week in the Intermediate final, managed by none other than Donie himself. "It was a great game in very difficult conditions. We put out a young team and were unbeaten this year". A rural club, Burgess have no shortage of local support for their hurlers. The whole parish is behind us", confirms their manager. "I'd say there wasn't a house that wasn't represented at the match and support from surrounding parishes was evident as well". Tipp's 1971 All-Ireland victory was to be their last for 18 long years and again it was Donie who helped them to end the 'famine' in his capacity as selector, along with "Babs" Keating and Theo English - the original 'three wise men. It was late 1986 when Babs was appointed team manager and asked Donie to get involved. He was delighted to do so. "Tipp were really in the doldrums then and it was very exciting to start winning again. There had been despair and gloom everywhere but it was just a question of getting proper organisation. It took a lot of hard work but we knew the players were there". Predictably enough, Donie singles out the Munster final replay victory over Cork in Killarney in '87 as being particularly special as it provided the county with their first provincial title in 16 years. During the next five years Tipp went on to win three more Munster Championships, two All-Irelands and a National League until his decision to quit last year. That move was made when he became full-time Munster Council Secretary, a time-consuming job. Donie's career as an administrator goes back a long way as he has been on his club's committee for over 25 years and was secretary of the north Tipperary board from 1968 to '77 before being appoint part-time Munster Council Secretary. Not many people know that he has also been a prominent referee in addition to all this refereeing top games in many counties and also an Under 21 All-Ireland final in his time. So he's certainly always been kept busy on the G.A.A. front and still is. Donie's duties now include dealing with all fixtures in Munster and making all the arrangement for these, including the four or five all-ticket matches, which the province holds annually. He also does a lot of work with the Players Accident Scheme and with ground development and purchasing. One of the changes which have come about in Munster in Donie's time is the introduction of the open draw in the football and hurling Championship's, a change which he is glad to see. "It's good to see the lesser counties breaking through and taking honours because they all work so hard for the game. It was tremendous to see the Clare footballers winning the Munster title last year". However, he does have some reservation about the system. "If the finals are flops it ends the year on a disappointing note and that's what can happen and unfortunately it's what happened this year". Donie's interest in G.A.A. spreads to the less popular sports also as he was a keen exponent of handball in his time and is now a great support of Camogie. He has strong opinions on the future of the G.A.A., saying that there will have to be strong organisation at local level all over the county in order for it to remain popular. One thing is certain- as long as people like Donie Nealon remain involved, hurling and football in Munster and everyone will continue to flourish. Written by the Hogan Stand Magazine 19th Nov 1993 Tweet

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