Football

Down football legend Paddy Doherty's life and times brought to book at last

Paddy Doherty leading out the Down team for the 1961 All-Ireland SFC Final.
Paddy Doherty leading out the Down team for the 1961 All-Ireland SFC Final.

THE life and times of Down footballing legend Paddy Doherty will be recounted in a new book to be published by the appropriately named Hero Books.

The Ballykinlar man, who captained the Mournemen when they retained the All-Ireland SFC title in 1961, has told his tales to Tony Bagnall, former sports editor of the Newry Democrat.

As well as speaking to Paddy 'Mo' himself – the nickname apparently derived from tennis's 'Little Mo' Connolly because of his speed - Bagnall interviewed "Sean O'Neill, Colm McAlarney, Peter Rooney, Tony Hadden, Larry Powell, Kevin O'Neill, a lot of former Down footballers.

"I don't believe I ever saw Paddy Doherty play, but I did an introduction about my father, Pat, who was a big Down fan. He went to the '60 and '61 All-Ireland Finals, he was a big fan of Paddy Doherty."

The book is part of a 'Legends' series thought up by Hero Books publisher, former Meath football captain Liam Hayes.

Down denied him the trophy in 1991 but he has huge admiration for the county, and for Doherty himself:

"I thought I knew a lot about Paddy when I sat down with him and his wife Angela – but I had no idea he was as good, as I've found out…Paddy and Angela are two wonderful people, it was a pleasure working with them.

"He was one of the greatest forwards in the history of the game. Some of his exploits, his confidence on the field, his abilities, were unbelievable; I'm delighted we're presenting his full story to a whole new generation of people, who'll be able to understand who Paddy was and what the Down team of the Sixties represented.

"They changed football, they changed the whole course of the game. People talk about the Donegal team of recent times, and this Dublin team – but that Down team changed the course of football.

"As well as bringing 'Sam' across the border they allowed people across the country to think again about the game and how it should be played.

"Even younger people in Down probably don't know the full extent of Paddy's achievements and of his life."

The main narrative is about games, Hayes explaining, "we wanted to bring them back to life". To that end, Bagnall put in plenty of research, as he recalls:

"Just before Christmas, I went to talk to Paddy in Castlewellan and his wife Angela, got on very well with them.

"He gave me a whole lot of stuff, a big box of cuttings and pictures and pieces he'd written. Even though he didn't know me from Adam he trusted me with all that. I couldn't believe it. I was down to his house four or five times until coronavirus kicked in.

"I got a lot of information from that, but also from Newry Library, old copies of the newspaper 'The Frontier Sentinel'.

"Its GAA correspondent was Barney Carr – who managed Down in the 1960 and 1961 All-Ireland Finals. An excellent writer. He also wrote a book called 'Summerhill, Warrenpoint', about his life and childhood – he's an exceptional writer. He had Down match reports and an article every week.

Bagnall also consulted 'O Shiol go Blath/ An Dun, The GAA Story' by Sighle Nic an Ultaigh, which he found to be "an amazing resource, it was invaluable. There was about four months' hard work in all, it kept my head away from everything else."

Hayes is proud of the end product, saying: "Tony Bagnall did an exceptional job for us in very difficult circumstances over the last six months.

"We set about drawing up our legends list around 18 months ago and felt then that this would be a really important body of work. This isn't just the story of a footballer, it's a social and cultural history. We're proud to save these stories."

Doherty is one of 10 exceptional GAA people from all over the country who will feature; the story of Limerick hurling's Richie Bennis appeared in March and over the next few months there will also be Len Gaynor of Tipperary, Denis Coughlan in Cork, Donie O'Sullivan in Kerry, Mick Jacob of Wexford, Waterford's Martin Og Morrissey – centre-back on their last team to win an All-Ireland in '59 – Carlow's Brendan Hayden, John Callinan of Clare, and Michael Ryan of Waterford, who guided 32 ladies football teams to All-Ireland glory.

"We noted that there are a lot of great lives, inspirations in their own areas, but their stories weren't documented in book form," said Hayes. "The Legend Series is aimed at doing that, presenting communities with the life stories of real heroes, to have that forever as a legacy.

"This is to bring to life remarkable stories of some brilliant footballers and hurlers that have not been told before.

"Talking to men like Paddy and Martin Og, who's in his late 80s, they talk like they're in their 20s, vivid memories, and they have the confidence of men in their 20s. Suddenly you realise you're opening a treasure trove of memories and to capture those has been a great honour.

"Some of the names we've been told about, we know little or nothing beyond the name – and then that person passes and you get a few hundred words, or one last page, about them and documenting what they achieved. But that doesn't even touch upon who they were and how they affected lives. That's the great thing about a memoir, it's there for future generations of the Doherty family and also for Down people."

The former Royals star believes that these books can also have a positive effect on the future: "It can really rejuvenate a county when you dip into the past and get a sense of what your own people are about, about the place. I do believe all teams can feed off the achievements of previous generations.

"Down have done that – the Nineties team, I got close to getting my hands on 'Sam' in '91 but Paddy O'Rourke got there in front of me. There are so many similarities between those Down teams of the Sixties and the Nineties when you read about them, the characteristics of both, it's amazing."

* 'Paddy Doherty, The Making of Paddy Mo', will be available both in print (E20) and e-book (E9.99) versions, initially online from herobooks.digital , then in bookstores.