DIFFERENT times in terms of GAA team training and facilities were recalled at the Golden Jubilee celebrations of the Monivea junior football team who brought the club into the senior ranks for the time ever, back in the mid-winter of 1975.

Those were the days of training and playing ‘in the wood’ – a field hidden away by the Monivea Woods – where teams togged in and out, by the side of the ditch: not so bad if it was a fine Sunday, but on a wet day, not so nice.

One of the guiding lights of the 1975 success – Jarlath Coleman from the famous Crumlin sporting family – along with current club secretary, Tommy Coleman, organised a nostalgic reunion of the team and club officers, on the Sunday, of November 2t.

Exactly to the day, 50 years on, Monivea [now Monivea-Abbey] had defeated Caltra in the North Board Final, before going on to beat Ballinderreen in the county semi-final, and then Clonbur in ‘a cracker’ of a county final at Pearse Stadium on December 14 1975, by 3-4 to 0-8.

The Jubilee Day began with a meeting and tour of the current Monivea-Abbeyknockmoy club grounds, now with two full-size pitches one of them floodlit, two sets of dressingrooms, a car-park, stand, meeting room and gym – a far cry from the Spartan days of 1975.

It was a day too tinged with sadness and poignancy with visits to the local cemeteries, where wreaths were laid at the graves of many of those who had helped to turn the dream of having a viable football club in the parish, into a reality.

People like John Joe Cooke, Jim Cooke, Bobby Mullins, Martin Cunniffe, John King, Aidan Nicholson and Jack Cunniffe were remembered, while the achievements of one of the legends of Abbeyknockmoy and Galway hurling, Michael Coleman – also a junior football winner with Monivea-Abbey in 2003 – were recalled at a wreath laying ceremony in Brooklodge Cemetery.

Jarlath Coleman captained the 1975 team [as well as being a selector], a side managed by the late Martin Cunniffe from Brierfield, who won county titles with Tuam Stars back in the 1950s and early 1960s, while Newtown’s Willie Potter was the third member of the management team.

In the weeks preceding the county final in December 1975, to facilitate training, makeshift floodlights on timber poles were erected at the Priest’s Field close to St. Bernard’s Church, Abbeyknockmoy, with young lads from Newtown, like the Dalys, helping out with the task.

The Club Chairman back in the 1975 was another local GAA stalwart, Tommy Williams – who made the journey back from the United States for the re-union – while his brother Paddy [affectionately known as ‘Wack’], was another seminal figure in the early days of the club, being  secretary in ‘75.

The man who put real ‘slacht’ into the Monivea football operation of ’75 though was Jarlath Coleman who sent out messages for training and matches on postcards – the equivalent of the modern-day text – and who always emphasised the need to be ‘organised’.

No stone was left unturned in the preparation for the 1975 county final with team members being given a ‘muscle loosening’ massage by manager, the late Martin Cunniffe, in a room in ‘Treacy’s Pub’ on the Saturday night before the match – it worked!

One year previously, a very promising Monivea team came unstuck in the North Board championship against Headford in Tuam Stadium – the match coincided with the World Cup soccer final of July 7th, 1974 [West Germany 2, Holland 1], with a few players opting to ‘watch the soccer’ instead of ‘playing the Gaelic’!

The day and night of November 2nd last though was essentially one of happy memories and renewing old friendships – one of the great legacies of GAA involvement – with a reception and meal, hosted and generously sponsored by Seán and Patrick O’Donohoe at their premises, while a member of the ’75 panel, John P. Keane, along with his brother Mike, ended the night with music and a rousing sing-song.

■ The late John Cunningham, then Sports Editor of the Connacht Tribune and later to be Editor, reported on the 1975 final against Clonbur in the edition of December 19th, 1975, in a match report headed: ‘Young Monivea Set Junior Standards’. The teams which lined out for that county final were:

Monivea-Abbey: Francis Farragher; Gabriel Divilly, Arthur Donoghue, Tom Devaney; Tomás Divilly, Jarlath Coleman [captain], John Flaherty; Michael Mullins, Bernie Coleman; Tommy Treacy, Liam Mullins 0-1, Stephen Ruane 1-2; Pat Mullery 1-0, Martin Crowe 1-1, Gerry Flaherty. [Subs/players also used during the year for Monivea were: Paddy Joe Rourke, Tomás Flaherty, Joe Conaty, John King [RIP], Michael Divilly, Larry Byrne, Gerry Connelly, John P. Keane, Eamon Treacy.

Clonbur: Stephen Coyne; Martin Joyce, Stephen Kinneavy, Billy Holleran [RIP]; Pakie Holleran [RIP], Barry Sullivan, Gerry Kinneavy; Michael Conroy 0-2, Martin Kinneavy; Thomas Holleran, Steven Joyce 0-4, John Joe Holleran; Paddy Coyne, Marcus Conroy, Francis Walsh. Subs.: Patrick Sommerville 0-1 for T. Holleran; Tommy Coyne 0-1 for P. Coyne; John Joe Fox for M. Conroy.

Pictured: Bernie Coleman, Frank Farragher and Arthur Donoghue.