Colm McAlarney
compiled by Ciarán Crilly
Colm McAlarney is a legend in Gaelic football throughout Ireland. He became a household name due to his highly individual playing style that prompted fans to affectionately call him ‘Arkle’ after that great racehorse of the era. Colm is the only footballer to have won Railway Cup medals in three decades. (1968,1971, and 1980). This was very appropriate for a man who was the complete footballer. His fielding, his distribution, his display of skill and football brains were a joy to watch. "Magnificent McAlarney" was the name given to him by the late Padraig Puirseal. In 1978 Colm won his second All-Star award with the citation "For the elegance of his play and the inspired leadership he gave to his team". Paddy Downey from the Irish Times said that Colm was one of Down’s greatest footballers "he always appeared to be engaged in urgent missions, ranging through the centre ground or invading opposing defences with loping strides, head thrust forward, as if in pursuit of a fleeing but doomed quarry"
This charismatic talent helped Down achieve All-Ireland honours in 1968 and he went on to lead a very successful club career with Leitrim and Castlewellan. Colm was only 20 years of age when he won his All-Ireland medal and after Down’s success in winning 3 All-Ireland’s in the same decade, the young McAlarney never dreamed that he would never play in an All-Ireland final again, even though his County career lasted for 16 years. " In 1968 if someone had told me that I would never play in another All-Ireland final let alone win one I wouldn’t have believed it" Of his All-Ireland glory Colm reminisces that it is tremendous to look back on. "But because we were so young then I did not appreciate it as much as I would have later. I would have loved the opportunity to win an all-Ireland in my mid- twenties or late twenties. Everything came a bit too soon in 1968. It was a wonderful year. We won the National league and the All-Ireland. A rare occurrence nowadays."
When asked what was the greatest match he ever played in he would give no definitive answer as he had played in so many wonderful games. However he did make a shortlist of about ten games. "The National League Final against kildare in 1968 was a great game because it was score for score all the way with us in the end winning 2.14 to 2.11. Then of course the 1968 All-Ireland final is an obvious one. The Ulster Final in 1971(of which Colm captained the Down team to victory) is also memorable as is the National league Q/F against Kildare in 1978. In the same year the Ulster final verses Cavan was another great game. I’ve been lucky to play in so many great inter-county games."
When asked who he believed to be the greatest player he remembers he replied "This one is hard to gauge because people play in different positions. The best defender I think was the under-rated Tom O’Hare because he could play anywhere. He was the original sweeper and made corner play into an art form. In midfield Ulster had many great players but I’ll always say it was hard to beat ‘Jacko’ when he was at his best. The best forwards for me were the great Down half-forward line of O’Neill, McCartan and Paddy Doherty. Paddy was something else. He was just a scoring machine and it is a regret of mine that he was at the end of his career when I was starting mine. I don’t remember him kicking a wide ball. He must have kicked wide balls in his time but I never recall it. Whenever we would be playing an important match, the opposition would be coming out of the traps at us in the first 5 or 10 minutes and throwing everything but the kitchen sink at us, and we might have been under a little pressure. The ball might have got down the field once and Paddy would have collared it and from 30 or 40 yards, he just put his head to one side, in characteristic fashion, and knocked the ball over the bar. You could have seen the opposition visibly wilt, knowing they had all this pressure, they didn’t score and the ball has just gone down the field once and Doherty had scored. The best footballer, probably in skill, ability and potential of anyone I have ever played with or against was Frank McGuigan of Tyrone. Frank was an exceptional talent."
Colm joined the Castlewellan Club when he was 29 years of age after moving to live in the town about 1977. In an interview with Frances Gallagher of the ‘Mourne Echo’ in March 2000 Colm recalls that his first memories were of a very strong Castlewellan side in the late 1970s and early 1980’s. That team with Colm on board went on to win two SFCs in 1979 and 1982. They also did the double in 1979 (SFC, and League winners) as well as two All-Ireland sevens in Kilmacud (1978 and 1981) and one in Belfield (Dublin). Colm also recalls that there were other important individuals that joined the club at the same time as he did and who were to prove very important additions. They were Kevin McElroy, Barney McAleenan, Sean Gallagher, and Leo Flanagan. Colm said "they all added much character, heart and steel to the side which were crucial qualities in any team." Of Fermanagh man Kevin McElroy who joined the Club after his Bank employees moved him to the locality, Colm said "that he was the best team captain at either club, or county level he ever played under". Colm went on to say "as a midfielder I was always very aware of the importance of having a solid half-back line and that particularly your centre half back position was strongly filled. At club and county level I was very fortunate. At Leitrim you had Willie Doyle at centre half and at Castlewellan you had Kevin McElroy and Bengy Toner. For someone like myself, who liked to play adventurously from the middle of the field, it was very important that there wasn’t a space left behind me. Willie, Bengy and Kevin ensured that." Of Barney McAleenan Colm said "as well as being a very skilful player, he was also a trainer and coach away ahead of his time". Colm credits Barney McAleenan with being the first Gaelic coach to change the scene for fitness training, away from the playing field utilising the parks and sand dunes for stamina training. Danny Hillen was the manager of this successful squad and Colm also makes special mention of Danny’s great man management skills that knitted this unique squad of men from different club backgrounds into the championship winning side that it was.
It is of course typical of Colm McAlarney to play down the enormous contribution that he made to the Castlewellan teams and to the Club in general. Although 29 years of age when he joined Castlewellan, he was still in his prime and his very presence was an inspiration to all that played with him. Colm McAlarney had cut his teeth on seven a side football as a youngster with the great Leitrim sides of the late sixties. There was a great seven-a-side tradition in Down and fierce rivalry then as there still is between the neighbouring clubs of Castlewellan, Bryansford, Leitrim and Kilcoo. Colm remembers with great warmth the late Joe McCrickard who he says was the catalyst of the great Leitrim team of the late sixties. He maintains that the Leitrim side then had the edge over Bryansford and the town.
It was no coincidence that only a year after McAlarney’s arrival in Castlewellan that the Castlewellan seven-a-side team lifted their first Kilmacud All-Ireland trophy. This was repeated again in 1981 with the town also winning the county SFC in 1979 and 1982 as well as the Club’s own first All-Ireland Invitation Sevens which had commenced in 1980. Colm featured prominently in all of these winning sides contributing to and creating many of the scores that led to these victories.
Also in 1982 while Colm was still at his peak the new town management of Liam Sloan and Mickey Keown insisted that he should train and coach the championship team of that year. After Liam Sloan and Mickey Keown stood down from senior management and many of the older and more experienced players retired Colm took over the job as player manager, and during the rest of the eighties Colm, Barney McAleenan and Leo Flanaghan worked at rebuilding a team. Colm continued to play on the club’s senior team until he was 44 years old and in 1991 when he played in his last championship final, his son Colm Og (then aged only 17) was also on the team. This remains a special memory for both men, and is probably the first time in Down Club football that a father and son played in a Senior County Final together. Unfortunately the town were piped at the post that year by a very strong Downpatrick side.
In 1993 Colm stood down as manager of the town senior squad. After being involved for so long Colm has said that he took stock and felt that things were getting a bit stale. "I had worked with these players for over six years and felt they needed a change." Colm also remembers saying to the players when he was telling them of his decision that they would probably go on and win the championship the following year. In fact the team went on to win the SFC in both 1994 and 1995, the first time in the Club’s history that a Castlewellan team has won back to back senior championships. But the new management duo of Danny Keown and Paul Duffin were quick to put on record that it was Colm who had been responsible for ‘blooding’ many of the new players that featured in the successful team. It was also acknowledged that it was Colm who had been so heavily involved in the training, managing and coaching of the successful side over the previous six years leading to the historic back to back victories.
A few years later it was time to rebuild again. After Danny and Paul stood down, the Club Committee approached Colm, asking him to once more step into the hot seat (or as Colm is on record as saying – ‘the electric chair’) with a view to building up the team again. This was not an easy task as in the late nineties the team was plagued with serious injuries. His own son Colm Og broke his leg on 2 occasions before he was 23. Other prominent players such as Martin Laverty, and Kevan Owens also suffered leg breaks. In addition there were long term injuries to important players such as Maurice and Connor O’Neill, and to Bernard McAleenan. All of these injuries took its toll resulting in early exits from the SFC over the next couple of years and contesting relegation play-offs in 1998 and 1999. In the 1999 relegation play-off against Bryansford it was Colm’s controversial decision to field Colm Og, who was just back from injury that saved the day for the town and seen Bryansford off into the second division. There is no doubt that after the highs of the mid nineties, team morale was beginning to flag and this as well as the serious injury problem made this a difficult period for any manager. But Colm’s steely determination persisted. On reflecting on this period and in particular the relegation play-offs, Colm said when interviewed by Frances Gallagher in March 2000 that "the play-off games are a real test of character and spirit, particularly in 1999 when there was the added spice of a derby element to it". He was referring of course to the two Bryansford play-off games, which he says was like playing two championship finals in a fortnight. "The players stood up to the pressure very well including all the young lads. They will have benefited a lot from these games".
This ‘luck’ didn’t happen for Colm either a year before when Downpatrick defeated the town in the first round of the SFC. Although out of the championship for another year, Colm was aware that this team had the personnel and the talent to go much further if the injury problems could be resolved together with ‘a bit of luck’. However after coming through a number of difficult and lean years Colm once again felt that his time had come to step down and allow a fresh management team to take this team forward. Success while managing the senior team has always eluded Colm that is if success is measured solely on championship or league titles. But if success is to be measured in building teams, blooding new players, consolidating league positions, coaching and skills training then Colm has been a winner many times over for the town club. It is characteristic of this man who has unselfishly given so much to the game, and as manager at crucial stages when the team required rebuilding, to step out of the spotlight when it appears that the team is on the thresh hold of success. But then Colm loves the game for the game's sake and never for personal glory, whether playing coaching or managing of which he has done all three with distinction.
Perhaps nothing better illustrates the nature of the man than his commitment to the game at all levels. Since Colm first came to Castlewellan when still at the peak of his football career in 1977, he immediately made himself available every Saturday morning to coach the under 10 section of the club in the skills of Gaelic football. Such was his popularity and stature that soon every youngster in the parish was flocking to these coaching sessions, and the foundations of the club’s juvenile coaching policy was laid. Colm, along with men like Barney McAleenan, Colm Crilly, Lawrence McAlinden, and later the Hardy brothers continued with the skills training. Years later many of the youngsters that they coached played alongside their tutors as they progressed through to the senior team in the late eighties and early nineties.
Of other local teams of his era Colm has this to say, "The Leitrim team was built around certain families. There were the McCrickard's, the Shield's and the Doyle’s. Added to that were other naturally gifted footballers such as Joe Moorhead and tough abrasive characters such as Joe Morgan. There were many other great players in that team, too many to single out." His greatest regret in regard to Leitrim is that the team did not win a SFC for Joe McCrickard "No one would have deserved it more. Player for player we were probably superior to Bryansford, but they were the first club to have organised training. They were more disciplined and that made the difference. There was a possibility of winning any one of the championships from the late 1960s to the mid 1970s with that Leitrim side. Far lesser sides have won several. It was unfortunate that we lost good players very early in their careers, for a variety of reasons, such as emigration, illness and sadly in one instance, death.
The late Jerome Shields was a promising young talent when his life was cut so tragically short. Skilful players such as Patsy and Gerry McCabe and the clever Seamus Keown may have made all the difference in those close championship games that were to follow." Leitrim also had a very successful seven-a-side squad and Colm remembers the great tussles that took place in the meadow and at the Annsborough sports, between the local clubs of Castlewellan, Bryansford, Leitrim and Kilcoo. Colm believes that the Leitrim side had the edge over their rivals and feels that it is a shame that the Kilmacud All-Ireland Sevens came too late for his Leitrim team. Of his early playing career with Leitrim Colm also recalls "there was nothing ever said to you before a match other than probably you were exhorted to get ‘stuck in’. There was no such thing as training together. You just met on the day of the match and played. But having spent many hours playing together at the impromptu sessions organised by Joe McCrickard, team play was no problem. I never again had the same telepathic understanding with any other group of players"
Colm has also great admiration for the great Bryansford team of the sixties that won six SFC titles in a row. " Again there were families involved there. The Cunningham’s, the Neeson’s, Willie Kane, Oliver Burns, and Cecil Ward. They were quite exceptional footballers. Cecil Ward reminded me of Greg Blaney. That same kind of strength and very good at laying the ball off. It was just unfortunate that he had a very short County career before he emigrated to Canada."
"Loughinisland had the Masons and the Gordon’s to mention but a few and St John’s had a strong squad in the early 1980s powered by players such as the Savage’s, the Rice’s and Brendan McCann".
"Kilcoo always produced a very natural skilful type of player with a flinty tough approach. Players such as James and Dan Morgan, Owen and Barney McEvoy stand out in my mind" Colm has also great admiration for Jerome Johnston and the young team that he has around him. "Kilcoo last season (2000) gave us (the town) the biggest hiding that I ever remember from any team in my years at Castlewellan. I know that there was the local derby aspect to it and they were really up for it. If they could play like that against everybody else, then the sky’s the limit".
Colm McAlarney’s playing career has spanned 4 decades from the early sixties until the early nineties. and the town team was fortunate to have Colm on their team from 1977 until 1992. Colm too has happy memories of playing for the club and has particularly fond memories of the strong side of the late seventies and early eighties that won 2 championships and the double in 1979, as well as 3 All-Ireland sevens competitions. His one regret is that this team did not win an Ulster club championship. "It was a terrific competition and that Castlewellan side were capable of winning it. But again a little bad luck with injuries did us no favours"
In addition to his All-Ireland championship medal of 1968, Colm has won Railway Cup medals with Ulster in 1968,1971, and 1980. He has received All-Star Awards and selected to play for Ireland in 1975,1976, 1977, and 1978. He has won two Down SFC medals with Castlewellan in 1979 and 1982, as well as Division 1 League winners medal also in 1979. Also with Castlewellan he has won 3 All-Ireland seven-a-side medals at Belfield’s, and Kilmacud’s in 1977,1978 and 1981, as well as countless other schools, college and tournament trophies.
The McAlarney family football tradition is still very much alive in St Malachy’s GAC with Colm Og McAlarney also the proud holder of two SFC medals with the town in the famous back to back victories of 1994 and 1995. Although missing through injury for a couple of seasons Colm Og is back again in the senior squad in 2001 and featured prominently in the SFC team that were beat in the final against Mayobridge. Perhaps no man will be happier than Colm Mór if his son goes on to beat his SFC record by winning another couple of Championship medals with the town before the end of his football career.
back