Brendan 'Sonny' Keogh
Originally published: Town Tattler Vol 1 Issue 10
Odlums Field
I was born in 1952 and grew up in St Johns Square, before we moved to the Ridge Road around 1961 or 1962. I remember just outside, where the Leisure Centre is now, was all corn fields. Odlums’ field it was.
There was a sandpit there just outside the wall of our house and we used to play there the whole time. I remember my father cutting corn in Odlums Field. It ran right to the back of the houses where Parkview, Moneyballytyrrell, is now, and Dr Murphys and Johns Square was over to the right. St Brigids was non-existent at that time.
There was a little ditch just in the front of where St Brigids is now and we used to play street leagues there. Christy Higgins, John Dooley and all those lads. I played a little bit with Dr Murphys but it was very little. It was kind of amalgamated at that time, we had mixed teams out of the school and that.
Playing for The Town
In my early days I didn’t play any hurling at all. The earliest I can remember is U16. I remember we won two U16s in hurling and football in the one year and the following year we won the U17. I missed out because I was playing a match up in Prosperous in Kildare, with the Tech, and I broke my wrist.
I got that mended and came back hurling minor with the town in 1968 I think but I’m not great on the years. Bill Phelan was over all those teams. We played the minor hurling final against Rathdowney. They had illegal players, they had two or three in from Tipperary and they beat us by a couple of points.
Thomas Deegan, Forney Walsh, myself, Pat McEvoy and Louis Duff were on that team. I used to play half back in the hurling and full forward in the football. We made the semi-final of the football in the same year. And after that I gave it up.
Family
I’m married to Pauline, 42 years now. But some would say I’m having an affair with the GAA, I spend so much time in Rathleague.
I’ve two boys, Gareth and Niall, and six grandchildren. Three of them are playing with the Town, Adam, Lauren and Alyssa, and three more with Park Ratheniska, Fia, Tadhg and Daithi.
The Keoghs of the Ridge
There were seven girls and three lads. I was the fourth eldest. Brid, Marie, Pattie, then myself, Ann, Kathleen, Bernie, Sean, Pat and Angie. We lost Pat. He’s dead 27 years now. He was killed in an accident outside Monasterevin, then my mother and father died a few years after that.
Brid, who sadly passed away in 2016, was a fierce supporter of Portlaoise. No matter where she was she’d ring home to find out how Portlaoise got on. She lived in Tipp for a while, and they moved over to England. She still always kept in contact.
Sean lives in Dublin but he comes down for all the matches, mainly the finals. Pattie the same. She never misses a match along with the Kehoes and Heffernans. They all go to the matches. We even have Willie, Bernie’s husband, an O’Dempsey’s stalwart, converted now. He was caught roaring for Portlaoise on many occasions.
Dad
My father was always involved in the club and he was the President before he died. I used to always go up to O’Moore Park and I’d be watching the two boys, my father and Jim Loughlin, and they’d sit there, and they’d criticise everyone.
They’d criticise this one and that one and laugh about this and that. All in good humour and great memories.
Memories Mascot in 1958
I can’t remember much of that. I can just about remember John Dunne and Phil O’Keeffe playing. I don’t remember the other players much but I was only five or six. But I remember we won that match and there were great celebrations and a great crowd at it.
I remember going to a match in Graiguecullen, Portlaoise and The Heath, I think it was, and it ended up 3 points to 2. The Wok Kenneally started a row, and all hell broke loose. I remember the Jas playing and the Rake, Mulhaire, all that crew.
John Fennell’s scissors kick
I remember the Rake playing, Harry Mulhaire, Paschal, Brian, Teddy, the Murphys, Paddy Bracken, Sydney Harkins and John Fennell. They were a great side. John Fennell scored a goal in O’Moore Park. This ball came in across the square and it looked like it was going wide and Molloy from O’Dempsey’s was in the goal.
Next minute he leapt up and hit a scissors kick and pulled on it and buried it into the back of the net and they won the match. I never seen anything like it and I remember it well.
9 in a row (12 in 13 years)
There were some magnificent players over the 13 years who brought great joy to me on a personal level and the club in general. We had many great days with plenty of heartache too I suppose.
Sadly a lot of those players have retired by now but owe the club nothing after great years of service. Cahir Healy, Brian Glynn, Aidan Fennelly, Craig Rogers, Kevin Fitzpatrick, Adrian Kelly, Mick Nolan, Brian Gaynor and Bruno to name a few.
This crew were like a second family to me. A day wouldn’t pass during the season that one of them wouldn’t be knocking the door in Fielbrook. “Is Sonny around, can I get balls in the shed”. And that tradition is still going strong.
What’s next?
We still have an exceptional team led by players like Kieran Lillis, Conor Boyle, Gareth Dillon, Graham Brody and Paul Cahillane. But the future is bright with the 5 Bens, Gary, Macca, Frank, Damon, John Kavanagh, Kevin Swayne and the O’Connell brothers and many more.
Managers
John Mulligan was next manager and he asked me in, and I was in with him for three years. John was a great trainer. Great motivator. Great discipline. He stands out to me as one of the best trainers we ever had.
Mick Lillis and Mark Kavanagh were next. They were good also. I used to laugh at Mick and Mark, they’d be kicking frees when the lads would be running around the field in the fog.
Then you had Tommy Conroy, and Malachy then Niall Rigney. And Kevin Fitz now with his team. All great town men and very good managers and trainers. We were and continue to be blessed with the talent within the club to lead and guide our teams.
Still enjoying it
I get great craic out of it. I never lost my appetite for it. I still keep going doing the same thing. I don’t have as much to do now as at the start.
That time I used to have to do the water, go get fruit, to do this and do that. Now I’m not too bad. I’ve only the jerseys to wash and the footballs. I’d always be there maybe half to three quarters of an hour before any of them.
Winning... and losing
The best part of being involved is winning. I get great pride out of winning. I tell ya I cried like a child the time we were bet against the crowd from Clare, Kilmurry Ibrickane. I couldn’t believe we were bet.
The referee made some mess of that match. He was reffing it with old rules and new rules and that’s why Brian Mulligan should never have been sent off. We still could have won it. We missed a sitter of a goal but that was a game left behind in a big way.
Marking the Pitch
I do tell the lads I have leprosy, no one will come near me when I’m marking. The only time I need someone is if I have to re-line the pitch.
It would take me over two hours to line it but I don’t need anyone when I’m marking it as I just fly up and down the lines. I’m doing it the last 10 years. Takes 2 and a half hours to do a pitch. I would come out at 7am and start then, because any later and the sun can make it hard to see the line.
Rathleague
I was out here in Rathleague from the start. Jim Gaynor was one of the best men ever in the club as far as I’m concerned. Knew every detail of the place. No matter what you wanted to know Jim Gaynor knew it.
Brian Gaynor was great too, with all of the trees and the look of the place out here. Philip Harrington was another man that deserves great credit for the work he did out there. Jim McManus was another man who helped a lot when we came out here first.
More recently Malachy McNulty Snr and his son Danny, Ronan O’Gorman, Colm O’Sullivan and all at Brady Signs. We have a good crew. There can be murder here in the mornings. Breen, Ollie, myself, Pat Keegan, Pat Loughman, Seamie Smyth, JP loves coming out, Malcolm does be out the odd time, Jas, Fats Brown too.
Always stirring and banter and most of all telling lies. Great craic out here. We do our work, and the tea-breaks are great fun. One thing for sure you have to leave your feelings at the door. We’re very lucky with that man across the road there too, Pat Keegan. Great man and would help you out in any way.
AGMs
I went one year, and it was in the courthouse. Joe Bracken was chairman of the club at the time. Ned Campion used to come up with maybe a drink or two in him. And Ned used to always start about the finances. No matter what it was, Ned would bring it up and there’d be murder.
Then there would lads in at it and they’d be half shot. And Joe Bracken would be sitting up on the bench, where the judge would sit, trying to keep order.
And they’d ask Denis Kavanagh for the finances and Denis would pull out an oul match box or a cigarette box and he’d have everything written up on that! The place would be packed.
Another year we were up at an AGM in the old GAA grounds and the meeting was going on and they were raising the membership price and Jack Critchley came in through the door and Jack was paying and anyway someone said the price has gone up. And Jack says, “Are ya takin it.” “No,” he was told, “you’re getting nothing so.”
And Jack came in through the door and next minute there was a vote. They were told anyone who was paid up was entitled to vote. Next minute Seamie Beere put the hand up and says “Hold it there’s a man here voting and he didn’t pay his membership, Jack Critchley!”
Well, there was uproar!! Jack shouted across to Seamie “I’m a member of this club a lot longer than you are. I offered ye money and ye wouldn’t take it. Ye’re getting nothing now!!”
Dinny Bowe laughing like I don’t know what. Ah it was brilliant.
Characters
Ned Campion was one. Great sayings. Someone got into bother with money. Next minute Ned says ah the poor divil, he got his own money mixed up the company money! He had the wittiest sayings like that.
And Paddy Fitz. Paddy is some character. Jaysus you’d always have great gallery with Paddy. I always remember there was a breakfast booked outside Drogheda one day.
We were on our way to play Leinster Club in Dundalk. It was in a roadhouse cafe, and someone says to Paddy “What are you having Paddy?”
“I’m having a fry,” says Paddy. Karl Lenihan said “I’m having a fry as well.” This one came out anyway and she put scrambled egg, beans and toast in front of us.
Paddy says to her, “I don’t want that yoke, I want a fry.” “Oh, there’s no frys,” she says.
“What do you mean,” says Paddy, “there’s no fry’s. The only thing that was ordered was scrambled eggs.” The club had pre-ordered the food.
We used to drive Paddy mad about the fry, even today. Harmless but just pure fun with slagging.
Different Eras
I’d never say that any player was the best of all time in the club. They were different eras. Like the lads of the 60s played a different game to the lads in the 70s and 80s and the very same on to today.
The 60s was a slower type football, it was more a mans game at that time. There was hitting and there was boxing off the ball and you got away with it. You had to win your own patch.
But the following eras it became a bit cleaner, more movement.
1982/83 - The All Ireland Team
Jas would always get me in on the line. Curly and Colm were outstanding on that team. Curly would break any team’s heart and Colm was an All-Star and made the Ireland team against Australia too.
Then you had the Brownes, Bohans, Scullys. Thinking back we have some great family names with traditions in the club. And it’s great to see the next generations of all these families coming through now.
LGFA & Camogie
The Ladies footballers and camogie are after making some strides in recent years. It’s brilliant to have them fully involved and integrated into the club and the club is all the better for it.
That will continue to grow and hopefully we have great times to look forward to as a club for many years to come.
Sonny - The Kitman
I worked in the Prison Service for 32 years. I was in Mountjoy for two years and then was transferred to Portlaoise where I worked for 30 years.
When I retired in 2005 I spent most my time in Fr Brown Avenue. I went up there this day and was talking to Plunkett, George, and he asked me would I give him a hand doing the water. That started it off. That’s sixteen years ago.
The rest is history as they say. Water boy, minding footballs, kit man, I was even a nutritionist one of the years.
Curly Prendergast
Curly scored two goals, in an All-Ireland semi-final against Austin Stacks from Kerry, that we never saw the likes of in O’Moore Park since.
He buried the two of them in the corner. I still remember them. He scored them into the town end. He came down the field soloing the ball and he came in around at an angle and he shot two super goals. They were absolutely brilliant.
The conversion of Colm Browne
I remember Jimmy Bergin was picked as a half back and wasn’t he sick the morning of the match and had to cry off. And Colm Browne was brought back into the backline, that’s how Colm came to be a back.
He was always a forward before that. They were bet after, but Austin Stacks had a great team. Ger Power, Mickey Sheehy and all of those.
Matches
I’ll never forget the game against Athlone in a Leinster Semi-Final, 1970-71. I think they were down 1-11 to 0-2 at half time and came back and won it and they won the Leinster after.
I remember Harry Mulhaire scored one of the goals. Harry used to play the basketball. Ya may ask Breen about that match, he has a great memory.
Then obviously the game against Austin Stacks with Curly and them, that was a great match. There was a lot of close calls in Leinster against the Dublin teams in more recent years.
I remember the match that went to extra time against St Brigids and it was a great match.
Hurler on the Ditch
The great thing about being bred into a dual club is following both codes week after week.
If the footballers are not out we are at hurling. Senior, intermediate, junior, I go to them all.
There have been some tremendous hurlers down the years, too many to mention them all. But one would have to remember the likes of John Taylor, who should of got an All Star, Zoom, the Keenans, the Bohan’s, the Bergins, the Rigneys, the Duggans, Cheddar, Matt Keegan, Goggie RIP.
I remember the great battles in the 80s where we did the four in a row and won six finals in the 80s. There were some games, where men were men.
Players
There were so many. I wouldn’t know where to start. I have mentioned a good few already. The 60s lads like I said. I always thought Cyril O’Meara was a great player.
Then after I thought Mick Dooley was a great club player, one of the best we ever had. Curly and Colm and Atch. Gerry Browne, ah I can’t name them all, there were too many.
Right up the present day. I always reckoned that Tommy Fitzgerald was one of the best half backs we had and a bit under-rated. He was a great man to attack. A dual player. He probably didn’t get as much credit for the football because he was known as a hurler mainly.
Karl Lenihan in his day, nobody was able for him at time. Some man to catch a ball.
Zach
I remember Zach Tuohy coming home. Zach would always fit in there. He was a great boost to the lads, and they were happy to see him.
He is some ambassador for The Town and we hope to see him in a green and white jersey in the near future again.
Peter McNulty RIP
Poor oul Peter. I remember shouting after him after training on a Thursday night. I had a jacket belonging to him that he’d left behind. And the boys said no, he’s gone home. I never seen him since.
But we still have the jacket. I was at a wedding over in Stradbally and John Mulligan called me and said “There’s after being a tragedy, Peter’s been found”. I couldn’t believe it. Such a sad time.
Mná na gClub
The ladies committee were great up in the old club. Ladies like Francie Conroy and Sadie Bohan and the crew then, and then you had Antoinette, Maureen O’Keeffe, Marie Daly, Catherine, Imelda and many more.
And not forgetting the men Jim Lanham and Mick Mulhall & co. They were brilliant and used to serve up meals and teas and sandwiches and it would be great to revive that.
Memories
I remember Paddy Brennan playing and Tom Lalor, Tom Preston, Joe Lalor, Zulu Brown, Tommy Brown, Hackey Dunne, Pat Dalton, John Hughes, the Jas, Butch Coss, Mick Larkin. I saw all of them playing.
And Mick Dalton, he was from Borris in Carlow, and he was either a butcher or a barman in Dunnes of Stradbally and the boys got wind of it.
So my father and I can’t remember who went over with him, but the lads asked him would he play with Portlaoise. And that’s how Mick came to play with Portlaoise.
He came here and he ended up in the DOS, O’Sullivans Grocery Stores on Main St, where Kevin Fitz is now with Blue Sky. He went in there as manager and then he joined the prison service in the 60s sometime. Mick was some hurler and footballer.
I remember lads like Tom Phelan, Mick Rigney, Mick Twomey too. They were juniors but some men. Great times.
Sore leg - Cant' Travel
I was to go the All-Ireland semi-final against Bellaghy and didn’t I get something in my knee. The knee started to swell, and I couldn’t walk, and I couldn’t go the match.
I remember I couldn’t get a doctor on the Monday morning and the only doctor available was Dr Dwane on the Dublin Road. Up I went to him, and he told me “Do you what’s wrong with you, you’ve Housemaids Knee,” he said.
Its swelling on the joint and he gave me these tablets and I was grand the next day.
Next Phase
It was great to see the presentation last week of Town 25. The crew I mentioned earlier have brought us to here but now it’s time for the next generation to bring it to the next level.
We have a great leader in Teddy and I’m sure every man, woman and child will rally behind him and his team in the future. We are all very proud of what we have achieved in Rathleague over the past few years but this will really bring us to the next level.
I hope I will be marking pitches for many years to come out there.