DON ROE KISSANE FIVE TIMES MEDALLIST: John O'Sullivantalks to a genial former Blackrock College student who reaped an amazing haul of cup medals during his years at the school
IT’S ONLY a slightly mischievous overstatement to suggest some boys might have coveted a schools cup rugby winner’s medal more than an education, viewing it as a reasonable trade-off when weighed in the immediacy of adolescence. Goodness knows how they would have coped with the sensory overload of winning five.
JC (Jackie) Ferris and Don Roe Kissane share that specific honour, a phenomenal achievement separated by a couple of decades. It’s not just the haul of silverware that binds them in the history books but also the fact that they achieved the distinction while pupils at Blackrock College.
Ferris won a brace of Leinster Schools’ Junior Cup winners’ medals (1932, 1933) lining out at centre before going on to win three Senior Cups (1934, 1935, 1936), twice playing scrumhalf, while separated by a return in the middle year to his former position of centre.
Kissane replicated the medal breakdown exactly, selected at centre and wing forward in successive Junior Cup winning teams (1953, 1954) before settling at flanker for all three Senior Cup victories (1955, 1956, 1957). Seventy years young and possessing a keen wit, manifest in a self-deprecating sense of humour, Kissane is relentlessly modest when discussing his school days.
“I was hugely fortunate to be on a succession of excellent teams at a time when Blackrock dominated both competitions. None of those teams relied on an individual or two but rather a collective drive to win.
“One of my strongest memories from that time is we would fight to the last whistle. We were never beaten and the evidence of that came in winning some tight matches.”
Born and raised in Tipperary Town, his arrival in Dublin was borne on a friendship between Fr Vincent Jeremiah (VJ) Dinan and Kissane’s father that ensured Don Roe would be sent to boarding school not at the nearby Rockwell College but Blackrock. “I think my father thought that Rockwell was too close,” Kissane laughed.
“He was very friendly with Fr Dinan (the priest was a highly regarded figure, teaching in both colleges) who was in Rockwell at the time but knew all the right people in terms of getting me into Blackrock. My father was a great supporter of rugby and very involved with Clanwilliam RFC,” a passion to which his son was introduced on one memorable journey.
“One of my earliest memories is setting off in my father’s Ford V8 Super de Luxe for Dublin where we intended to catch the train for Belfast to attend Ireland’s Grand Slam-winning game against Wales at Ravenhill in 1948. To a 10-year-old travelling from Tipperary to the North of Ireland was like preparing for a global expedition.”
When the Kissanes arrived in Dublin, along with a few other Tipperary natives, there were no places left on the train so instead they journeyed to Belfast by taxi. Don Roe chuckles when he recalls his father drove the taxi back to Dublin because their erstwhile driver had become intoxicated by more tangible fumes than those of a heady Irish victory.
Another memory with an Ulster and indeed Ireland connection provides an inkling into the pedigree of a young Kissane; the rugby player.
“I once played for Clanwilliam against a visiting NIFC team that included Jack Kyle and Noel Henderson.
“I was 14 years old and it was like playing against god almighty. I lined out at wing forward that day and remember marvelling at the play and I suppose the understanding between the two Irish internationals.
“I couldn’t get near them. Kyle would take a couple of steps and release the ball, his rapport with Henderson, wordlessly intuitive.”
Kissane was therefore unlikely to be fazed by the regimen of life at Blackrock. He loved all sports and quickly embraced his new environment. “We spent our time outside lessons in the yard or on the pitches playing ball. That included in the morning before school, at break-time, lunch-time, before and after afternoon tea, before study and then possibly going for a run after study.
“We didn’t regard this as exceptional. It was normal at the time but on reflection it was probably close to the routine of a professional sportsman. Fr Da Roche, as he was known, looked after the juniors (JCT). He had a fantastic attitude and was very supportive. At senior level our fortunes were guided by Fr Anthony Hampson who was a great coach, way ahead of his time in terms of tactics. He championed doing the basics well as a starting point.”
Having enjoyed successive cup triumphs at junior level, Kissane’s first senior medal in 1955 was the direct result of another’s misfortune. He explained: “I had played for the senior side that season but couldn’t hold onto my place for the cup. On the morning of the final I decided to do some rigorous training for the upcoming athletics’ season.
“At 11am I was called out of class and told that I would be playing in the Schools’ Cup final that afternoon because the Blackrock captain Noel Turley had to withdraw with an injury.”
His early morning exertions were hardly the ideal preparation but Blackrock won, a feeling that Kissane would come to know well over the next couple of years.
Having pocketed a second senior medal he elected to repeat his Leaving Certificate, thereby qualifying for a third year on the senior team, this time as captain. “I was very fortunate in my first year to get back into the team at the 11th hour, literally. It just shows you how much luck plays a part in these things.
“I suppose one memory that remains from those finals comes from the first one, a match we were losing until Donie Grehan dropped a brilliant goal from about 45 yards in extra-time at the end of the match. I was standing beside him at the time and could only marvel at how one moment can completely change the course of a match. It seemed an eternity before it cleared the crossbar.
“Most of the finals were close-run affairs and none more so than my year as captain when we beat Terenure College 5-3. The dying minutes were probably the first time my mother realised that buying the new hat hadn’t been in vain. Up until that point in the match, she didn’t look like getting her moment. I remember getting the train back to Blackrock station and being carried on the shoulders of fellow pupils, down the main road back to the school.
“It was a tradition that the team and the captain were chaired back and while there was a lot less traffic in those days the procession probably drew one or two blasts of car horns, not just in celebration but rather the frustration of being held up. In terms of the festivities, theoretically no one drank in those days: it’s probably fairer to say that it is nothing like today in those terms.
“I was fortunate to play with so many fine players none more so than my backrow colleagues Charlie Kenny and John Brinkers. Years later John was tragically shot dead on active duty for the New York police.”
Although Kissane went on to represent Leinster at senior level and also tog out for several years with the Blackrock club, his devotion to playing rugby was superseded by his passion for racing cars. “I suppose by the time I left Blackrock I had enough of rugby at that point in my life and really didn’t have the same enthusiasm (for the sport) when I left the school. That summer I grabbed a rucksack and headed for Europe to follow the equivalent of Formula One motor racing and get a close look at my heroes like Mike Hawthorne, Stirling Moss and Juan Fangio.”
Motor racing proved an enduring love for Kissane as he raced Jaguars and MGs – as did his wife, Gloria – at circuits like Dunboyne and the Phoenix Park.
For many years he presided over Dicksons newsagents in Dún Laoghaire while also enthusiastically embracing the world of sailing. He retains an avid interest in rugby. Despite his schooling, representing Leinster and the fact that he has lived in Dublin, he is a passionate Munster supporter, rooted in his Tipperary heritage.
These days he’s content to watch the games on television for the most part although he attended the Ireland rugby team’s historic first match at Croke Park in 2007. “I couldn’t believe the atmosphere for the French game. It was absolutely magnificent and it’s a super stadium.”
This season’s Leinster Schools’ Senior Cup offers one first round tie that he’ll keep tabs on, the meeting of CBC Monkstown – his son, Richard, was educated there – and his old alma mater, Blackrock.
Divided loyalties? Kissane laughs: “No, not really, although I’m delighted to see how well CBC have been doing in recent years.”
He might just sneak into Donnybrook to take a peek and enjoy an afternoon of nostalgia, a trove of sepia-tinted images 54 years on from claiming his fifth schools’ cup winners’ medal. It’s a remarkable story, an achievement that may well boast a precedent but which is most unlikely to be repeated.
SETANTA KICK OFF COVERAGE WITH BLACKROCK COLLEGE v MONKSTOWN CBC
SETANTA IRELAND will show edited deferred coverage of a selection of Leinster Schools' Senior Cup matches along with a Friday night highlights package. The matches won't be screened on the same day they take place but, for the most part, in a 6.30pm slot the following evening, writes John O'Sullivan.
The broadcaster has chosen the first round tie between last season's beaten semi-finalists CBC Monkstown and pre-tournament favourites Blackrock College to kick off their coverage and four days later will screen the game between Terenure College – many of the cognoscenti's choice for ultimate honours – and Castleknock College.
The specifics of the television schedule, in terms of the schools, for the second round and subsequent matches will be released following the completion of each round.
The broadcast of the first semi-final will take place two days after the game is due to be played. Setanta will screen the Leinster Schools' Senior Cup final live on St Patrick's Day.
Television Schedule
First round
Thursday, January 29th: CBC Monkstown v Blackrock College, Donnybrook (6.30).
Monday, February 2nd: Terenure College v Castleknock College, Donnybrook (6.30).
Friday, February 6th: 30 minutes highlights show of first round matches (6.0).
Second Round.
Monday, February 9th: TBC v TBC (6.30).
Wednesday, February 11th: TBC v TBC (6.30).
Friday, February 13th: 30 minutes highlights show of round two matches (6.0).
Semi Finals
Monday, March 3rd: TBC v TBC (6.30).
Wednesday, March 4th, TBC v TBC (6.30).
Friday, March 6th: 30 minutes semi-final highlights show.
Final
Tuesday, March 17th: TBC v TBC, (3.30).
