Golden memories of great GAA days recalled in Baconstown

Mattie Kerrigan is a towering figure in Meath GAA. An integral member of the Summerhill football team that was a major force in football in the 1970s. He was also, of course, part of the Meath team that won the Sam Maguire in 1967 and toured Australia the following year, the first Gaelic football team to venture Down Under.

Kerrigan also savoured success as a hurler. He was a member of Baconstown teams that claimed the Junior and Intermediate hurling titles in 1964 and '66 respectively. They were two of the golden years in Baconstown's eventfull, if relatively brief history, as a separate, individual identity on the local GAA landscape.

Baconstown GAA club was officially founded in 1960 and it stayed in business until 1999 when it became involved in an amalgamation with Enfield. The new club operated as Na Fianna from 2000 onwards with footballers from Rathmolyon also becoming part of the new identity. At first Baconstown fielded only a football team but it wasn't long until hurlers wore the club jerseys which were blue and white stripes until the change to maroon was made sometime in the late 1960s.

Those hurling victories in 1964 and '66, and many other events involving the GAA in Baconstown, were recalled at the launch on Friday night of a book - 'Baconstown GAA Memories.' The aim of the publication was to record, for posterity, the efforts by a group of people to put the local area on the GAA map and Mattie Kerrigan was correct and present at St Patrick's NS, Baconstown for the launch.

Also in attendance was Liam Gaffney, another figure well known in Meath GAA circles. He was chairman of the committee set up to compile the book. The other committee members were Mattie Dargan (secretary), Gabrielle McDonnell, Carmel Finnegan, Ray Kirby, Pat Holton and Adam Burke.

Chairman Gaffney recalled how winning the junior hurling title in '64 was a major breakthrough - and the team continued to climb. They lost the IHC showdown to Kilskyre in ‘65 before the following year claiming the IHC crown with Gaffney as captain. "It was the highlight of my career to captain that great team of 1966, to lead wonderful men into battle and overcome all the odds to win the trophy," he recalled.

"I'll never forget the excitement leading up to the game because we played local rivals Moynalvey, a south Meath derby played in Trim and the referee was Brian Smyth who, of course, captained Meath to their first ever Sam Maguire success in 1949."

The team went senior for a year but the reality of trying to sustain football and hurling teams in small rural club hit home. Emigration proved to be the club's most formidable, daunting opponent. The hurling team slipped back down the ranks.

Despite the odds, the lack of playing resources, a remarkable achievement was chalked up when Baconstown won a junior titles at both hurling and football in 1984, the centenary of the GAA itself. "What a wonderful achievement by the club to do the double," added Gaffney. "Wonderful," to emphasis the fact.

Mattie Dargan was another in attendance on Friday night. Speaking to the Meath Chronicle the following morning this Baconstown man outlined the reasoning behind the book project. "A committee was formed in 2019 to look into the possibility of documenting memories of past players and founders. A lot of the founders have gone to their eternal rests but we said this was an opportunity to do the book before more passed away."

The Dargan family had a central role to play in the Baconstown story. Eamonn and Vincent Dargan were two of the club founders. The family had a shop in Baconstown that doubled as a clubhouse. "It was where the players met to go to games, where they had meetings, where they selected teams, organised transport, refreshments," explained Mattie. "The shop is no longer there but it was the nerve centre, the centre of life in Baconstown."

Opposite the shop was the Baconstown pitch, their home, their theatre of dreams. The field was owned by local man Jack Deering who generously made it available to the club. Such people, as Mattie Kerrigan highlighted, were vital to the formation and sustenance of the GAA itself. Few who were at the launch of 'Baconstown GAA Memories' would have disagreed with that perceptive assertion.

“To those who inspired this book, but who will never read it, we remember you with fondness always," Mattie Dargan added, quoting from the book. The publication is a fitting tribute to great heroes. Local heroes all.