Dennigan, Jimmy
January 10, 2013Yes indeed it was a sad farewell not only to his wife Kathleen and their families, but to the thousands of sporting people from all parts of Cork County and even further afield who will remember Jimmy with great affection not just from his playing days with Fermoy and Cork teams but also from his many years spent as the man in the middle at games from juvenile grade right up to the top level senior grade.
I refer of course to the recent sad death of the former Fermoy clubman and inter County referee the late Jimmy Dennigan RIP. The late Jimmy had a lifetime of involvement with the Fermoy GAA club, as player, coach and referee. In the early 1950s he played both U14 hurling and football with the club and was on the Fermoy side that contested one of the first Co. finals in this grade when they played Turners Cross (later to become Nemo Rangers) in 1953. At minor level in 1956 he made the Cork team which defeated Tipperary but lost later to Limerick in the Munster Semi-final. The following year he was still eligible and he was centre half back on the team which defeated Clare but eventually lost to Kerry in the Munster final.
In 1958 Jimmy played junior football with Cork and senior with the Avondhu team, in 1959 which was probably the best year of his playing career, he had a number of trials with the Cork senior side but perhaps one of his greatest thrills as a player came when, with his fellow Fermoy colleagues, they succeeded in winning the very prestigious Kelleher Shield in 1959, on that team Jimmy figured at left half back and had as his colleagues the famed Bermingham Brothers Tom and Maurice both of whom were later to become stalwarts of the Grange club, this line was often spoken of as being the launching pad of that particular team.
An injury received in 1960 severely hampered his playing career and eventually forced him to retire from playing the game he loved, but not before he had played with the Fermoy junior
hurlers in 1964 and he played no small part in helping them to victory in the well remembered North Cork JHC final and replay against Ballyhea in Kildorrery.
Never satisfied to be just looking on, Jimmy, with encouragement from his friend Derry Gowen who was a prominent Inter county referee at the time, decided to take up the whistle job and in a short period of time he was up there officiating between the biggest and best of the stars in the county and even at National League level.
His career in charge of the whistle saw him in charge at all levels locally and within the North Cork Division, he quickly became one of the top officials in the county and was a regular at Co senior football finals controlling nine in all as well as several in other grades. He officiated at all grades in Munster except senior finals where Cork and Kerry were mostly involved.
Further up the line Jimmy took charge of the following games - All Ireland Minor semi finals 1968/76, final 1978, NFL SF and Final 1979, All-Ireland SF semi-final Dublin v Roscommon, as well as a host of other important games including top level schools and colleges games.
In 1982 he was rewarded with a tour as referee for the Bank of Ireland All-Stars and had charge of games in both Gaelic Park New York and in San Francisco that year. The pinnacle of his career came in 1986 when he was selected to referee the All-Ireland SFC final between those great rivals Kerry and Tyrone on a day when he was also a selector with the Cork minor team in the first game on the programme.
Another side of Jimmy's involvement with the GAA was that of coaching, following his retirement as a player, he enlisted as a coach at Gormanstown College in Meath under the then top coaches Eamonn Young and Jim McKeever. He coached his home club to three successive North Cork titles; he also coached the club's junior footballers and the Avondhu senior team. He was probably one of the first to go to outside clubs as a coach and amongst his clubs were Grange who won the Co. JFC, Kildorrery, St Catherine's and Castlelyons in some of their C/ship victories. In more recent times Jimmy switched his interest to greyhounds and in a short time he became a well known owner/trainer in places such as Youghal and Curraheen Park.
Sport runs in the Dennigan family as his brother Kieran was also a senior footballer with Fermoy while his son John was also a very prominent player at minor and junior level with the club. His wife Kathleen brought her own sporting talent to the family as she won a Co. C/ship medal with the Fermoy Camogie team in the 60s while his daughter Colette Swift was a very prominent lady cyclist in France in recent years.
Jimmy will be sadly but lovingly remembered by his loving wife Kathleen and family daughters Siobhan (Maher), Sharon (Maher), Colette (Swift), son John, brothers Kieran and George, sister Joan (Howard), sons-in-law Pat, Dickie and Matt, daughter-in-law Deirdre, grandchildren, nephews, nieces, relatives, neighbours and friends, as testimony of his esteem both locally and countrywide, large crowds, representative of many sporting bodies and clubs, attended at his removal and at his Funeral Mass in St. Patricks Church and afterwards to Kilcrumper New Cemetery where he was laid to rest. Ar dheis De go raibh a anam dilis.
Courtesy of The Corkman. Tweet
