Kevin Beahan was an absolute colossus at midfield for Louth in 1957. The St Marys, Ardee clubman formed a perfect centrefield axis with Dan O'Neill as the Wee County famously captured Sam Maguire with a truly historic run, culminating in that famous 1-9 to 1-7 victory over Cork at Croke Park on September 22. Fifty years later, Gerry Robinson caught up with the Dublin-domiciled Louth legend and discovered that Kevin remains as modest as ever. While his name may not flow off the tongue as instantly as some of the other heroes of '57, there's no doubting that Kevin Beahan's contribution 50 years ago was integral to the historic All-Ireland win. Back then, Kevin was feared and respected in equal measures as one of the outstanding footballers in the country but the Ardee man always shied humbly away from the limelight. Still, he is an unwilling legend in his home county as all Wee County GAA followers will always associate Kevin Beahan's name with Louth's most astonishing success ever. Kevin played midfield alongside his good friend "Danno". The real beauty of this partnership was that either man would have been equally at home in attack; thus Louth effectively had eight forwards on the field. During an illustrious intercounty career, Beahan wore the red jersey in every attacking position bar No.14 and his exceptional reading of the game meant he developed into one of the finest playmakers of his generation. When it came to creating openings for team-mates, few had the cuteness or accuracy of the Marys man, whose unselfish play typified the unity of purpose that permeated Jimmy 'Sogger' Quigley's all-conquering team. In many respects, the unique feat of making no substitutions during the All-Ireland final tells us all we need to know about our most celebrated group of players. The passing of captain Dermot O'Brien in May 2007 spelt the end of an era for Louth football and sparked an emotional, reflective time for the other players from the Class of '57. While the loss of their leader may have cast a shadow over the 50th anniversary celebrations, nothing - not even death itself - will ever take away from the greatness of any group of players who travel to Croke Park and return home with the Sam Maguire Cup. Louth GAA is lucky to have seen the likes of Flood, Conlon, Coleman, White, O'Neill, O'Brien, Lynch, McDonnell, Roe and Beahan - men whose achievements have yet to be emulated. "The whole emphasis was on team-work, as opposed to 1953, when we had a team of individuals," the last-mentioned notes. "I was just a boy in the corner in '53 [when Louth lost to Kerry at the semi-final stage] and I didn't get one pass in from midfield. They never got the full potential out of us that year. "But Sogger Quigley was a brilliant trainer and there were no boys in '57. Frank Lynch, who was 18, was as big a man as Tom Conlon, who was 33 or 34. As a team, we played to our strengths and the support play was always good. We let the ball do the travelling and there were no short passes." Kevin Beahan's eye for picking out a colleague was a lethal weapon. "I loved creating scores," he admits. "When I went out to midfield, I always tried my best to supply the forwards with the type of ball I had never got. With eight forward-minded players on the field, we were a complete unit and the great thing was that nobody thought they were better than anybody else. 'Danno' was a huge asset to the team. Jimmy McDonnell was brilliant on the square and it was a delight to be providing him with ammunition." Why have Louth struggled to repeat the dose for 50 years? Surely back in the day it looked as if the Reds would become/remain a real force in Leinster and beyond? "A lot of things happened, but the biggest was definitely the loss of Sogger Quigley in a fall-out over schillings, after he never got the option to travel with us to America in 1958. That was a disgrace. Also, some of the most important players retired and we never managed to replace them. "I didn't think going to America in May 1958 was a great idea, anyway, as it was a 19-hour flight and we had to play in the first round of the championship when we got back. Having said that, we didn't over-celebrate and the trip was deserved. It was a really big thing to win an All-Ireland but it was difficult to get the mindset right afterwards. You didn't really know what to do once you had won it, so it was difficult to do it again. A lot of thought went into that team, but things change when you win an All-Ireland." The general consensus is that Louth had good enough footballers to win more than one All-Ireland during the '50s. "I'd agree with this," says Kevin, picking up the thread. "We could certainly have done it with the same management, but things changed. We had a trainer who let us express ourselves within reason and his input into the '57 success should never be underestimated. "Those were different times. There were no physios - you were lucky if you got a rub-down from the bag man before a game! You acted as you own psychologist. You had to save for three weeks to buy yourself a pair of boots - but you didn't mind because you loved the old game. It was great fun. You went to work with a ball in the basket of the bicycle. You formed great memories and made great friends. It's difficult now to relate to life 50 years ago, but there were no televisions and very few telephones. It was a different era and it was difficult sometimes to get everybody off work for a match. You'd make great friends, even with a hoor that tried to kill you during a game. That's the way it was. "There were some keen rivalries between us at club level, but once you pulled on that red jersey we were all on the same side. It was a different story. If you made a mistake, somebody would let you know about it, but it was what we might now call constructive criticism. None of us were perfect or thought we were, but collectively we did some damage. We kept out heads, did nothing stupid and supported each other at all times. Of course, you always lose more games than you win, but you have to learn how to lose as well. It was a great game and I loved every bit of it." Kevin was named right half forward on the Louth Team of the Millennium. He still has a box containing all his medals at home but isn't even sure what's in there - but certainly two All-Ireland colleges medals garnered with Ulster in the company of Down stars Kevin Mussen and PJ McElroy; a Leinster minor medal; a Leinster senior; an All-Ireland; five or six Louth SFCs. Nobody counted or listed their medals in those days - you just moved onto the next game. Beahan sums it up when he reveals: "It said in a match programme somewhere that I was the highest-scoring player in Louth ever. Well, that's news to me because I spent a lot of my career at midfield and my job was to create scores." Traditionally, successful Louth sides have been backboned by a strong mid-Louth contingent and Kevin Beahan believes that the presence of so many Ardee clubmates in key positions - plus Ollie Reilly from Hunterstown - certainly helped the team gel together. "They were all great footballers and it was a big help to play alongside lads you knew well." These were days when Louth rubbed shoulders defiantly with Meath and Dublin, grappling annually for provincial superiority. "Dublin were flash but we could be flasher," Kevin quips. "I was living in Dublin at the time and I cycled through Marino every day. I loved meeting the Jim Crowleys and Snitchy Fergusons. The Meath fellas were tougher but they also had great footballers. Meath still play the same way - more traditional. You had to be able to take it or you were dead." Kevin's brother Paddy also played for Louth for many years and Kevin reluctantly took his place on the team for the 1953 semi-final against Kerry, after Paddy had helped the Wee County to Leinster glory. "I'd have left Paddy on the team myself because I did nothing in that game," he concedes. Kevin is also adamant that Louth would have won another All-Ireland final at Mayo's expense in 1950 if Nicky Roe ("as good a footballer as I've ever seen") hadn't been forced off the field through injury. Regarding the modern game, he believes two referees should be introduced as well as the use of video evidence for disputed goals in major matches. What was the secret of Louth's success in 1957? "It's hard to get 15 lads thinking together the same way, but we had that. Also, if you have six scoring forwards and two scoring midfielders, then you'll always have a chance. We played intelligent football and there wasn't a dirty stroke from a Louth player in the entire campaign. But it's a simple game. You win matches by scoring. If they score a goal, you score two. With scoring forwards, you can always win any game as long as you know how to work scores. There were no selfish players on that Louth team - they were all great footballers who worked for one another." Despite his obvious modesty, Kevin must surely take some kind of satisfaction from the knowledge that he belongs to an elite group of players who went to Croker on All-Ireland final day and conquered. Does this make him proud? "You can stick your chest out a bit but if you're stupid enough to develop a big head over it, then you're setting yourself up for a fall. I was in Croke Park for the Meath/Dublin, Louth/Wicklow double header this year. My niece got me a ticket and, as I was going through the turnstile, the man behind the desk recognised me. He said 'you wouldn't be Beahan?' I said 'I hope I am'. He was from Mayo and I was amazed that he knew me 50 years after the All-Ireland final. I had the craic with him and I got as much out of that as I would from somebody putting my name up in lights somewhere." Further proof - not that we needed it - that the Louth breed of 1957 was a rare one. Tweet

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