Ardrahan Hurling Club honoured the senior hurling championship sides of 1974 and 1975 along with the minor hurling championship winning side of 1975 in a gala ceremony on November 9.

The newly restored Loughnane & Quinn memorial Hall, festooned in blue and white created a prestigious setting for the select guests on an evening of nostalgia and memories.

Joe Connolly from Castlegar and Padraic Fahy from Carnmore were guests of honour as well as members of the County Board and Hurling Board.

Pat Hartigan (Limerick) and Damien Martin (Offaly), Finbarr Burke (Ardrahan and London) were special guests.

Club Chairman, Patrick Whelan opened the proceedings, paying tribute to the Hall Committee and Organising Committee for all their hard preparation work.

MC for the evening was Niall Canavan who conducted select pre-dinner interviews from among the guests. There were expressions of regret from some of the unavoidable absent guests, with thoughtful good-luck video cameos from both Tommy Kerins and Michael Bond on the big screens.

Over dinner, a slide show ran with images of teams and personalities from down the years provided much distraction, while a souvenir table booklet with reproduced match programmes and team photos from 1974 and 1975 were admired.

After dinner, Niall Canavan paid an individual sporting tribute to every member from the victorious senior and minor teams before they were presented with a special memento and certificate by Joe Connolly.

The minor team presentations were made by Pat Hartigan.  Team selectors, mentors, and club officers also received special mementos.

Recognising the influence of National Schools in developing hurling skills, local teachers Tom O’Doherty (Ballyglass), Mickey Burke (Labane) and the late John Moylan (Kiltiernan) were honoured for their services to the game of hurling.

Responding, P.J. Brennan – Club Chairman during this golden period in Ardrahan – reflected on progress in the club, thanked the present-day officers and singled out Mary Forde and Patrick Whelan as outstanding officers.

After the presentations, Pat Hartigan spoke eloquently on his social and business acquaintances in Ardrahan and how the friendship and loyalty has endured down the years.

Damian Martin recalled the many challenge games between St. Rynaghs and Ardrahan and to the amusement of the house, of the ‘hard’ reputation that Ardrahan carried during the 1970’s.

Damian referred also to a long friendship between the teams based on sportsmanship and friendships and of the benefit derived from playing Ardrahan in preparation for the Offaly SHC.

He also referred to the same Ardrahan brand of hurling Michael Bond brought to Offaly when he took over as manager of the 1999 All-Ireland Winning team.

Joe Connolly spoke about his first meeting with Martin Kerins and the tough greeting he received from him. He referred to the significance of the Loughnane & Quinn Hall in the establishment of Coiste Iomana in Galway.

Finbarr Burke spoke about his time in London and the permanent link he has maintained with home over the years.

Finbarr hosted the Ardrahan team during the London tour in 1977. He presented the Club with a large, framed photograph of members of the Ardrahan and Gabriels teams taken at the Irish Centre in 1977.

The evening concluded with a presentation of €10,000 cheques to John Donnelly for Galway Hospice.

John expressed grateful appreciation and spoke how thankful he was to receive such a donation on behalf of a body that had done so much for him when he was struck down with his own cancer diagnosis.

Lighting, sound and vision was managed impeccably by Clubman Pat Heffernan.

Pictured: Athenry honouring the heroes of 1974 and 1975 (front – from left) Ollie Curtin, P.J. Brennan, Shane Quinn, Mickey Whelan, Martin Kerins, Bernard Forde, Padraic Niland, Keith Cunningham, Michael Brennan, Gerry Linnane, John Kennedy; (middle) Gerry O’Leary, Tom Forde, Tom Gardiner, Johnny Whiriskey, Kieran Kerins, Mickey Burke, Gerry Glynn, Vinny Mullins, John Gardiner, Pat Whelan, and (back) Tom Greene, Padraic Gardiner, Gerry Curtin, Syl Dolan, Michael McInerney, Tom Curtin, Mick Howley, Anthony Thompson, Ciaran Kelly, Ollie Higgins, Damian Martin, Gerry Bond. Photos: Tom Greene.