05/10/2023
We were delighted have printed the book for Barry
Minor Victory , Major Victory, Galway Football 1952 Book Launch
6pm Friday, in St Michaels Clubhouse
Invite to all those interested in attending.
Club Stalwart Barry Cummins has published a compilation of events & matches in 1951 and 1952, culminating in Galway winning their first All Ireland Minor title.
The 1950s was a period of economic depression and stagnation in Ireland, with emigration, poverty and illnesses due to Tuberculosis (TB) all front and centre in Society. The only media coverage was through the old wireless (where there might be one in a village) and newspapers.
As a result, trying to retrieve information from this era was challenging and sketchy. Of the 30 players that were involved in the panel of 1952, 12 are still alive today, and it is thanks to the recollections of this group of men who are all headed to their 90th that I have put events of over 70 years ago together.
Add in the fact that this Galway Minor team never played a game in Galway and you have another reason why the local historians of the day didnāt gather the information.
The Catholic Church was in its pomp in this era and hooverd up the top talent within the education system by awarding scholarships into seminaries to those that got the best Leaving Certā Points in the Colleges at that time.
There was only one team photograph taken of this panel, and that was after Galway played Cork in the All-Ireland Semi-Final at Croke Park and therefore were wearing white jerseys. 4 people did not appear in that particular photograph, but yet were involved in the All Ireland Final itself.
The All-Ireland Minor Final that was scheduled to be played in September was cancelled due to the bad weather, and the GAA officials wanted to preserve the pitch for the Senior Final. That Senior Final between Meath & Cavan ended in a draw, so the replay would now be curtain-raised by the re-fixed Minor Final. Because of player unavailability for various reasons including not being allowed Ć¢ā¬ÅoutĆ¢ā¬ļæ½ for the All-Ireland Final from the seminaries, Galway were forced to make a number of changes in personnel for the final & some new faces arrived on the scene. (4 missed out)
After trawling newspaper archives and tracking down the members of the panel still alive, and also finding relatives of deceased members of the squad, I am reasonably satisfied I have accounted for all management and panellists of that team and that the information I have gleaned and retrieved will be preserved for evermore in our heritage, history & archives.
Mayor of Galway - Cllr. Eddie H***e, will launch the compilation on this Friday evening at 6pm sharp in St Michaelsā Clubhouse. The Books cost ā¬20.00 each of which almost ā¬12.00 will go to Galway Hospice.
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