Sad to report the passing of Ger Dowd, the only man to win a championship medal and ride an Irish Grand National winner, Brown Lad in 1978.

Dunshaughlin & Royal Gaels paid tribute to one of their all time greats.

So sad to have to record the death of one of Dunshaughlin’s all time greats, Ger Dowd. Along with his brother Val, he was front and centre of the club from the 1970s to the 1990s. His sons Ian and David followed in his footsteps with Donaghmore-Ashbourne, Ian captaining them to intermediate success in 2007, while Val’s sons–Graham. Clive and Trevor– were to the fore with Dunshaughlin.

Ger played minor football for Dunshaughlin and Meath in 1972 and in 1976 was part of a talented Meath Under 21 side alongside Colm O Rourke and Gerry McEntee, scoring 1-1 against Louth, before the Royals exited to Dublin. He was an ever present on the Black and Amber side in the 1970s, that lost two semi-finals and a final in 1975, before eventually capturing the elusive intermediate title in 1977, playing alongside his brother Val. The Drogheda Independent report on the final declared that ‘the most adventurous forward afield was the fleet footed Dunshaughlin No. 10 Ger Dowd.’ In the same year he helped the club win a third successive intermediate league title–the forerunner of the All County Leagues– when he posted four points in the final against Castletown.

Following his marriage to Bernadette Carey he settled in Ashbourne and joined the local club for a couple of years. But he concluded his career in the black and amber of his home town, assisting the club in two All County League Finals, Division 3 in 1988 against Ballinlough, and Division 2 in 1991 versus Dunboyne. Although both ended in defeat, the club was promoted on each occasion and has never lost its Division 1 status since the 1991 final. He played in the Junior B championship final of 1992 against Batterstown, on a team managed by his brother Val, but was back on the intermediate side in subsequent years, playing in the semi-finals of 1993 and 1994 and was still a member of the extended panel when the club again regained the intermediate title in 1997. Ger was club captain in 1979 and 1992.

It wasn’t just on the GAA field that Ger excelled. He was also an excellent jockey with the Jim Dreaper stable and rode Brown Lad to victory in the Irish Grand National in 1978, one of three Nationals won by that famous racehorse.

A verse from a poem written by Ger’s team mate Pat O Brien to commemorate the 1977 intermediate triumph summed up his ability

Did you know that Ger Dowd that day

Was the baby of our team?

Let it be Fairyhouse or Tailteann Park

He usually ruled supreme

Sincere sympathies from all in Dunshaughlin and Royal Gaels to Ger’s wife Bernadette, sons Ian, David and Paul, daughters Geraldine and Susan, his brothers Val, Joe and Tom, sisters Violet, Sylvia and May, and the extended Dowd and Carey families.

Go dtuga Dia suaimhneas síoraí dó.

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