Sport

Love affair with athletics still runs deep for Monaghan man

SPORTING PASSIONS GAA DIRECTOR GENERAL PARAIC DUFFY: The former St Macartan’s teacher tells IAN O’RIORDAN how his keen interest…

Wed Jun 10 2009 - 01:00

SPORTING PASSIONS GAA DIRECTOR GENERAL PARAIC DUFFY:The former St Macartan's teacher tells IAN O'RIORDANhow his keen interest in athletics developed over the years after setting up a club in the 1970s

THE GAA was such a strong feature of my household growing up in Castleblayney that it was always going to be my first sporting passion, although it wasn’t the only one. My father Mick Duffy was chairman of the Monaghan County Board from 1951 to 1972, and as far back as I can remember I would be brought along to see the county team play.

Unfortunately it was nearly always a pretty grim experience, because from the late 1950s and into the ’60s and ’70s Monaghan was doing very badly. It was one sad story after another. But I’d still enjoy the experience of being there, being part of it, like in the dressingroom afterwards. And from that point of view there are still some good memories. In contrast, the local club team, Castleblayney Faughs, was hugely successful in Monaghan in the 1960s. Another of my earliest memories would be going to county finals in places like Ballybay, the excitement of running on to the pitch at the final whistle, and the celebrations in the town afterwards.

I played with Faughs for a few years. The standout memory was winning a minor championship medal in 1968, and we also won a county under-16 medal. My position was goalkeeper, and I got called up once to play in goal for the county minors, against Louth. But I let in two goals and I wasn’t invited back. As a footballer I have to admit I was extremely limited.

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Around that time in the 1960s sport on television was taking off, and because of that I became a Spurs supporter. They were one of the teams doing well, and the first team I would have developed an interest in, myself and my brother, Brian. So I’ve always been a big Spurs fan and have been over to see them play many times.

Outside of Gaelic football the only sport I took part in was athletics. It started out running cross country at school in St Macartan’s in Monaghan town, and developed from there. On the track my event was the 400 metres, sometimes the 800 metres, and also the 400-metres relay. I remember one year running the National Juniors in Santry and finishing seventh.

In 1971 when I came back to Monaghan after finishing in UCD, myself and a friend, Joe McGrath, who had come from Donegal to teach in Castleblayney, started an athletics club in the town, and called it Faughs AC. It’s defunct now, but in the early 1970s we’d a pretty decent team. We competed mostly in competitions under the Ulster Sports Council, and would have won a few Ulster relay titles.

Again through the growth of sport on television I became a huge fan of athletics in general. I call still recall watching the 1972 Olympics, in Munich. One of my heroes then was Dave Wottle, the American who won the 800 metres. He came from way behind to win, and that performance still stands out for me. After that the Steve Ovett-Seb Coe rivalry became huge and I always enjoyed watching them run.

I suppose what developed my interest further was when I went to teach in Macartan’s, and met my future wife, Vera Sherry. She was secretary there at the time, and also an international runner for Ireland. She won several national titles in the 1,500 and 3,000 metres and also the national inter-counties cross country. She ran the World Cross Country six times, her best finish being 31st in Glasgow in 1978, the same year John Treacy won the senior men’s race.

The boys in the athletics club used to slag me, that the only reason I pursued my athletics was because Vera was running. That’s not entirely true. But she did develop my interest even further. There were a good crop of Irish women around then, the likes of Mary Purcell and Deirdre Nagle.

My other big athletics memory from that time was John Treacy winning the World Cross Country in Limerick, and his Olympic silver medal in the marathon LA in 1984. We’ve become good friends through his job and my job.

I still think athletics is a fantastic sport, and I have fond memories of being a student in UCD when I’d head out to Santry to see some of the big international athletes.The problem with doping has put me off in some ways. I just think it’s had such a bad effect on the sport. In its purest form I think athletics is one of the great sports.

I’d still love to stage a world-class athletics meeting at Croke Park. Bring in some of the big stars, and make it a throw-back to the old days when you had the real top athletes, running before big crowds. I know it would be very hard to do now, because the interest mightn’t be there. But I’d love to see even a big mile race there. Because there is a connection there with the GAA. And we’re very conscious of that link.

Having rugby and soccer in Croke Park has been a good experience. I’ve enjoyed the rugby matches in particular. The atmosphere at the Leinster-Munster game was just fantastic. For some reason the soccer just hasn’t had the same feel to it. Having said that I still feel Croke Park is at its best for an All-Ireland final.

Outside of Ireland I’d have a keen interest in American sports. I’ve been to the East Coast quite a bit, and to Fenway Park to see the Red Sox, to the New England Patriots in Foxboro, and to the Celtics in the old Boston Garden.