Greenburrin,
One of the great Carlow soccer
teams
IT is hard to believe that there was a time in
Carlow when there were only three soccer teams but this was indeed
the case. The face of soccer has changed dramatically over the
seasons but 40 years have elapsed since Greenburrin were formed and
around that time Park Celtic and Barrow Rovers were the only other
teams in town.
In 1964 a group of young lads passed the time
kicking ball in a field on the site where The Fairgreen Shopping
Centre now stands. Some of them decided to form a new soccer team
and as a result of their proximity to the Burrin River they called
it Greenburrin. Most of the players came from the areas nearby such
as Barrack Street, The Crescent and McGamhna Road. Former player
Jimmy Bolger who now lives in Graiguecullen and still works in
Brennan Butchers on Dublin Street recalled.
“We had no pitch. The green was only an area where
we kicked around so when we entered the Wexford and Kilkenny leagues
we had to play all our games away from home. Eventually we moved to
Kelvin Grove on the Athy Road and it took off from there.”
The newly formed club needed a manager. PJ Keating
knew many of the players and offered to do the job. “PJ was a great
organiser and we soon found ourselves playing in the Dublin leagues.
It was a great time for us all but funnily enough we never played in
the same league as Barrow Rovers or Park Celtic. We met them in cups
and they were always great games as all the players knew each other
so well,” said Jimmy.
The club eventually became bigger and while there
was no underage leagues in Carlow there were enough players to form
teams within the club itself. Squads were picked at the start of the
quarter in September. They took on the names of the leading clubs in
Britain such as Celtic, Manchester United and Chelsea. By Christmas
the top four would have been decided with semi-finals and finals
played off in front of large attendances. The format was repeated in
January again and proved highly popular with players and parents
alike. Eventually Greenburrin fielded an under-age team in the
Kilkenny league and it looked set to take off...
But disaster struck. “We lost the use of Kelvin
Grove and had to move out. The club were never able to get a ground
to match that on the Athy Road. We did have use of the Tennis Club
field for a while but it didn’t work out. Eventually the club just
fizzled out but it was a great shame. “Many youngsters played in
Kelvin Grove every Saturday and used to watch the seniors play their
league or cup matches on Sunday.They were great days,” recalled
Jimmy.
For the photo Jimmy Bolger was unable to say where
most of the players are today but his mind was quite clear in
relation to the details about the players at that time.
Source:
Paul Haughney Jan 2010 &
Carlow Nationalist Wednesday January 16 2008
Greenburrin Team
c.1970's
Back: Tommy Flynn, Billy Ryan, Oily Hennessy,
Paul Haughney, Mick Sullivan, Tommy Sheridan, Niall
Broughall, P J Keating.
Front: Gerry Mutton, Gerry O'Brien, John
Byrne, Christy Lawler, Gerry Keating.
Source: Carlow
Nationalist 13th November 2009 p.25
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© 2001 County Carlow
Genealogy IGP
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