Football

The summer of '69 when Antrim U21 footballers were kings

Andy McCallin, Mickey Culbert, Gerry McCann and Jimmy Mullan outside the gates of Casement Park in west Belfast. The quartet were part of the 19169 Antrim U21 team that won the All-Ireland. Tonight they will remember the summer of 50 years ago Picture: Matt Bohill.
Andy McCallin, Mickey Culbert, Gerry McCann and Jimmy Mullan outside the gates of Casement Park in west Belfast. The quartet were part of the 19169 Antrim U21 team that won the All-Ireland. Tonight they will remember the summer of 50 years ago Picture: Ma Andy McCallin, Mickey Culbert, Gerry McCann and Jimmy Mullan outside the gates of Casement Park in west Belfast. The quartet were part of the 19169 Antrim U21 team that won the All-Ireland. Tonight they will remember the summer of 50 years ago Picture: Matt Bohill.

RESTING on Mickey Culbert’s table is a faded yellow jersey whose beating heart lived the dream in the summer of ’69.

Long-sleeved with elasticated wrist cuffs. A thick, floppy white collar. In dark, rich navy the number seven is stitched onto a patch of white cotton on the back of it.

A boxer would never make weight wearing this kind of jersey.

It was worn for the last time on this day 50 years ago, the 1969 U21 All-Ireland final at Croke Park.

When a group of happy-go-lucky Antrim footballers scaled the highest peaks.

“I never played Gaelic football at school,” says Billy Millar, the team’s classy centre-back.

“In the latter days of St Peter’s Secondary School, they had a guy called Phil Stuart. He taught us Geography. He was a Derry footballer that I didn’t know at the time.

“He used to have these Mars Bar matches on a Friday. We went to McCrory Park and the winners got a Mars Bar. That was my introduction to Gaelic football and somebody showing me how to pick up a ball.”

A self-confessed “soccer man”, Millar hailed from Panton Street in the Lower Falls Road area, so it wasn’t long before Michael Dwyer’s GAC got a hold of him.

Millar displayed great aptitude for Gaelic football and represented Antrim at minor level.

After receiving a letter to attend U21 training at Casement Park, he didn’t fancy going.

“Gerry Begley and Mickey Monaghan were at the club and they asked me was I going up to training,” Millar remembers.

“I said: ‘Yeah.’

“I got on the bus and in those times the bus turned at Casement Park. So I was looking out the window and I saw all these fellas waiting for training. I didn’t know a lot of them.

“So I stayed on the bus and went back down to Dwyer’s on Leeson Street and Begley and Mickey were there. They asked: ‘Was training cancelled?’

“I told them I didn’t want to go. They said: ‘What?’

“They literally man-handled me into Mickey’s Morris Miner, took me up to Casement Park, sat on those concrete steps where the players would come out and they waited until I ran out onto the pitch before they left.

“Years later,” Millar reflects, “I realised what it meant for somebody down ‘our way’, as we called it, to get on an Antrim panel never mind on the team.”

 ‘There were much better footballers than me'

UNDER the calming influence of Tommy Hall, Antrim’s U21s were destined to carve out the most unlikely piece of history in 1969.

Hall, a St John’s man, drew the vast majority of his players from Belfast clubs.

Dual goalkeeper Ray McIlroy was John Mitchels. Donal Burns hailed from St Enda’s Glengormley.

Gerry McCann, Andy McCallin, Martin McGranaghan and Danny ‘Din Joe’ McGrogan were ‘Johnnies’ men. Culbert, Joe Dowds and Gerry Pollock St Gall’s.

Aidan Hamill and Jimmy Mullan were O’Donovan Rossa and St Malachy’s, a junior club, supplied the team captain Liam Boyle who was partnered in midfield by Terry Dunlop of O’Donnell’s. Gerry Neillis was Sarsfields.

Ahoghill man Seamus Killough emerged as one of the best full-backs of that tumultuous era, while full-forward Gerry Dillon made his way from Dunloy.

“I was a good journeyman footballer,” says Culbert. “Hard-working, fit and all that. The beauty of it was we had great quality footballers in that team. So the journeymen could do the journeymen stuff and the quality players could put the ball over the bar. There were much better footballers than me.

“Andy McCallin, Aidan Hamill and Liam Boyle stood out. Liam stood out for his athleticism. He was the greyhound; big Dunlop was similar. We’d a good mix of people at the one time.”

‘One for the money / Two for the show...’

MENTION Danny ‘Din Joe’ McGrogan to any of the class of ’69 and their face will light up.

“Ah, Din Joe,” sighs Culbert. “Din Joe was Elvis. He had the hair, although the hair was ginger. He’d do his act, had the collar open. He was an entertainer, an extrovert. I don’t know of anybody that didn’t like him.”

Gerry McCann, Antrim’s imperious centre forward, has equally fond memories of his club and county team-mate.

“Din Joe could keep a nation going,” McCann says. “He’d be up and down the aisle of the bus doing his Elvis act, singing ‘Blue Suede Shoes’.

“A fantastic player, a very brainy player. He was just a class act and a real character.”

Doreen McGrogan remembers her older brother being mad about Sheffield Wednesday and how he idolised the great Denis Law.

“His sister Marie was under orders every Saturday afternoon to take down all the football league results on television and dared not miss any,” Doreen says.

“Outside of sport, Elvis Presley played a great part in Danny’s life. He was in the Elvis fan club and, without invitation, Danny would break into an Elvis number, at any time, anywhere, favouring Blue Suede Shoes – ‘One for the money / Two for the show...’”

‘The Western Land nervous under the beginning change’ – The Grapes of Wrath

VIA his Twitter account, Andy McCallin started the ball rolling, marking each of Antrim’s unlikely victories in ’69.

‘This day 50 years ago…’ And so it goes.

June 1: Monaghan were first to fall to the young Saffrons with Gerry Dillon twice hitting the net in a comfortable preliminary round win.

June 18: Antrim saw off champions Derry, who fielded eight of the side that won the U21 All-Ireland title in ’68, on a 1-8 to 1-7 score-line. ‘Din Joe’ nipped in for Antrim’s goal and McCallin helped himself to four points.

July 13: In an Ulster semi-final that was described bleakly in The Irish News sports pages as a “lifeless and listless” affair, McCallin, ‘Din Joe’ and Sean Boylan rippled Fermanagh’s net in a handy victory.

As Antrim prepared for a rare shot at Ulster glory against a star-studded Down team - which included eight of the ’68 All-Ireland senior winning team - vast swathes of Belfast were engulfed in flames.

There were nightly riots on the lower Falls Road, which made life difficult for some players outside of west Belfast to get to training.

Donal Burns was corner-back on the Antrim U21 team.

His mother and father were farming people who moved to the city from Armoy.

To make the team’s training sessions, Burns hopped on a trolley bus in Glengormley that brought him to Castle Street in the city centre.

From there, he walked up the Falls Road, onto the Andersonstown Road before reaching Casement Park.

“I remember I was walking up the Falls Road and a British soldier asked me what was in my bag,” Burns recalls.

“I told him: ‘Football gear.’

“He opened the bag, walked over to a puddle and emptied it out.

‘Away you go,’ he said.”

Another time, Burns remembers trying to get home from training.

The security forces were firing CS gas to disperse rioters down the Falls.

“I got to Castle Street and my eyes were burnt out,” he says. “A wee woman came out of her house and gave me a towel and said: ‘Put that over your mouth.’ It was a rough time.”

If anything, Andy McCallin felt the outbreak of the 'Troubles' brought the U21s closer together.

McCallin, who won an Allstar in '71, recalls: “We used to walk from Casement to the Florida Café every Tuesday and Thursday night – ‘Din Joe’, Liam Boyle, Gerry McCann, Martin McGranaghan and myself – we used to stand outside facing St Agnes’s chapel had a bit of craic for an hour.

“The ‘Troubles’ probably affected people like Donal Burns who had to go the whole way across town to get to Casement.”

'Never before has an Antrim team played with such spirit, dash and determination’ – The Irish News, Monday August 11 1969

PLAYED on a Sunday evening in Davitt Park, Lurgan, Antrim and Down produced an absolute classic with the Saffrons edging out the Mournemen 2-8 to 1-9.

Ray McIlroy, who helped Antrim’s intermediate hurlers overcome Mayo in an All-Ireland quarter-final at Casement Park earlier that day, made some stunning saves to deny Colm McAlarney, John Purdy and John Murphy.

But Antrim were full value for their provincial triumph. And cometh the hour - cometh the man.

Played in front of a huge crowd, Andy McCallin got Tommy Hall’s men off to a flyer in Lurgan, hitting the Down net after just 10 seconds.

Throughout his playing career, McCallin was a class act. Friends since they were 10-years-old, Gerry McCann described his St John’s club-mate as “special” and someone who “always tried to be the best they could be”.

“I’d always terrible nerves before every match,” confesses McCallin. “Didn’t matter what level it was, I’d always nerves. But once I got onto the field the bigger the occasion, the happier I was. I played to the crowd. Nothing bothered me out there.”

“I just heard wee Andy shouting: ‘Yes’ and I knew to flick the ball on.”

ANTRIM were drawn away to Cork in the All-Ireland semi-finals. Parts of the north had been turned into a war zone.

Rather than embark on a road trip, it was arranged for the Antrim team to be flown down to the Rebel County.

“I’d never been on a plane before,” says Culbert. “It’s quite dream-like looking back on it. But I remember it had to be that way because, bear in mind, it was August ’69, a tense time and there was talk the Free State were on the border.”

Against the odds again, Antrim produced another stunning performance against Cork, led by the great Ray Cummins, to reach the All-Ireland final.

The ubiquitous ‘Din Joe’ McGrogan netted twice for the Saffrons in a 3-7 to 1-12 victory.

To beat defending champions Derry and a fancied Down in the Ulster final and now Cork in the All-Ireland semi-finals, Tommy Hall’s men approached the September 14 showdown with Roscommon with quiet confidence.

Even back in ’69, the sheer vastness of Croke Park swallowed up better footballers than this Antrim crew.

“I remember the warm-up and it was great,” recalls Culbert, “but you were nearly afraid to look around to see the size of the stadium. It was serious.”

Neither Antrim nor Roscommon brought their best game to the ’69 final. The occasion simply didn’t allow it. Antrim scraped home 1-8 to 0-10 to win their first and only All-Ireland crown, thanks largely to Andy McCallin’s 1-5 haul.

Roscommon had chances to equalise but Mickey Freyne screwed his late free wide of Antrim’s posts.

Antrim were All-Ireland champions.

For many of the class of ’69, the final remains a blur.

The telepathy established between Gerry McCann and Andy McCallin from they were kids paid off on the greatest stage of them all.

McCann says: “The ball came in high on the ’50-yard line and I just remember wee Andy shouting: ‘Yes’.

“When I heard the voice, I flicked the ball on and I turned around and the ball was in the back of the net. That’s the only thing I can remember about that match.”

McCann does remember being carried shoulder-high off the famous turf by Antrim senior team-mate Frank Fitzsimons while the start of the All-Ireland SFC semi-final replay between Offaly and Cavan was delayed by 15 minutes because of the saffron invasion.

The victorious squad stayed in a Skerries hotel that night before being whisked off to the Guinness Brewery the next day.

As night fell, crowds gathered along Kennedy Way to welcome their heroes home.

“I remember we went back to St Theresa’s hall on the Glen Road,” says Billy Millar.

“We got off the bus and there was a mob of people, including my Da.

“We all got into the hall and somebody wanted to hear the ‘Green Glens of Antrim’ and I remember ‘Dowdsy’ [Joe Dowds] wanted to sing it. Joe was a good singer. We were all sitting around the edges of the hall. People were happy and singing..."

The Antrim U21 All-Ireland winning team at Croke Park in 1969. Danny 'Din Joe' McGrogan, collars up, is front row, second from the left
The Antrim U21 All-Ireland winning team at Croke Park in 1969. Danny 'Din Joe' McGrogan, collars up, is front row, second from the left The Antrim U21 All-Ireland winning team at Croke Park in 1969. Danny 'Din Joe' McGrogan, collars up, is front row, second from the left

“July is always a difficult month, even after all these years.”

THURSDAY July 29, 1976. You couldn't have annoyed 'Din Joe' McGrogan on this day. He was taking his wife Anne and his two young children, Lisa and Geraldine, to Newcastle for a week's holiday.

He was always an attentive son, especially when his father passed away in 1962.

That morning he decided to call to his mother's house to cut her grass.

"A neighbour had a goat in their back garden," his sister Doreen remembers.

"What it was doing there nobody knew! However, Danny thought this was great and the children in the neighbourhood were all excited as he put some of them on the goat’s back. That caused quite a furore and fun. Little did he or the family know how that day would tragically end."

With their bags packed and a bit of time on his hands, 'Din Joe' headed to the local bookmakers, placed a bet and breezed into the White Fort Inn for a pint to watch the horseracing on TV.

“I worked in the bus depot just down from the White Fort and I’d just come in from work,” McCann recalls.

“Our Insurance man came to our door and said: ‘There’s been a big explosion up in the White Fort.’

‘Was anybody killed?’

‘The name I’m getting is McGrogan.’

“Well, I went to where ‘Din Joe’ lived and his wife was there. It was just terrible.”

‘Din Joe’ and an elderly man Joseph Watson were killed in the explosion.

The Irish News reported the following day that the barman, who survived the bomb attack, noticed a stranger had come into the bar with what was described as a “chocolate box”, ordered a pint of Guinness and a Black Bush.

When the barman turned to give the man his change, he’d disappeared.

Moments later, a bomb went off in the bar making ‘Din Joe’ McGrogan and Joseph Watson the 199th and 200th victims of the ‘Troubles’ of that year.

Doreen, Din Joe’s younger sister, adds: “The circumstances of Danny’s death when he was cut down in the prime of his life, never leave you.”

“July is always a difficult month, even after all these years. You remember back to the pain of his passing.

“Danny enjoyed life. He loved people, had a great sense of humour and could lift a person’s mood. He was well liked. He’d no interest in politics.

“He loved his wife Anne and took great pride and joy in his two young daughters. He was also an attentive and loving son.”

Billy Millar emigrated to Canada in 1973 and lives there today.

Speaking from his home in Toronto, he says: “In the mind’s eye, ‘Din Joe’ always played with the collar up. I remember we stayed in Skerries the night of the All-Ireland final and I looked up at the end of the hotel hallway and there were two kids looking up at him and he was doing Elvis. He was a fantastic guy.

“He was probably one of the coolest guys I’ve ever known.”

Antrim never built on the spirit of ’69. They ran Derry close in the Ulster senior final the following year but the bloody conflict in the early 70s ruined any prospect of a saffron revival.

Tonight, the class of ’69 will celebrate the 50th anniversary of their All-Ireland triumph at the Balmoral Hotel before decamping to the Casement Park social club.

Most of the team have reached three score and 10 and are still motoring on.

“Old men still feel that they’re young men,” smiles Culbert. “We look in the mirror and we see the young fella.”

The wings of youth fly away and never come back.

“I suppose reading through all the articles it has brought me back," McCallin reflects.

“As a result, I feel younger and I feel like we’re ready to go out on the pitch together again.”

It promises to be an emotional reunion for the Antrim U21 team and their families.

For one night only, they will relive their youth together and they will remember absent friends.

1969 was a bleak time. But some good things happened that summer.

An Antrim team in Croke Park, and winning. Seeing the crowds on Kennedy Way and that heady night in St Theresa's hall on the Glen Road.

And there was no show without 'Din Joe'. Andy. Mickey. Donal. Gerry Mac. Jimmy Mullan.

When they were Kings...