FORMER ROSCOMMON GOALKEEPER Derek Thompson is looking up at the wall of his house in Dublin, and his father’s county medal is looking back at him.
It’s a relic of their club’s one and only senior county title from 60 years ago. St Faithleach’s honoured the men of 1965 earlier this year, parading the players at half-time during their side’s championship clash against the reigning champions Pádraig Pearses.
It was, Thompson says, a lovely occasion as old teammates travelled back in time for a brief moment. But as much as they enjoyed reliving past glories, they’d love some company on the Roscommon SFC honour roll.
St Faithleach’s have had four attempts since then, with Thompson featuring in two of those county finals across 2006 and 2007. They all ended in disappointment. But now they’re on the cusp of a fifth shot at scaling those heights in Roscommon. In an interesting twist of fate, Pádraig Pearses await them in the semi-final again after last year’s final-four meeting.
Thompson has a Connacht medal from his Roscommon career. St Faithleach’s brothers Diarmuid and Ciaráin Murtagh have also experienced provincial success at inter-county level. But they’d like to put something major in the cupboard back home.
“I’d give a left arm to have a county title,” says Thompson.
“It’s where you’re from. Diarmuid and Ciarán have won Connacht titles as well, but you can be sure if they were asked the question, they’d give all up for a title with Faithleach’s.”
Situated on the Shannon’s Lough Ree, St Faithleach’s takes in Ballyleague, Clontuskert and surrounding areas. There’s a bridge at the foot of the town which crosses the border into Longford, and the town of Lanesboro.
And on the other side of that bridge, another group of men is pondering similar sentiments with a first county semi-final in 23 years before them this weekend. For Rathcline, the search for senior county glory goes back to 1976, while their last appearance in the Longford SFC final was in 1979.
The two places are separated by water but are bound by the same dream.
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The current Rathcline team has some key links with that last county semi-final appearance in 2002. Their manager Gareth Johnston was a player at the time, while his selector Declan O’Flaherty was the Rathcline manager back then.
The pair are vastly experienced coaches, and have both taken charge of the Longford minor footballers at different stages.
They reunited this season. When O’Flaherty received the invite, he remembered the depth of his former player’s commitment and was immediately on board.
“In 2001, we had foot and mouth disease. Travel was so badly restricted back then. But Gareth was studying in Liverpool at the time, and that first year I was managing Rathcline, he still made it his business to try and get home for training and matches.
“Even in the early stages of the league, he was still turning up, and that was an incredible commitment. You don’t forget loyalty.
“He was incredibly loyal to Rathcline back then and still is to this day.”
The pair encountered another link with that 2002 season during the group stage of this year’s championship when they faced reigning champions Abbeylara, managed by former Roscommon forward Frankie Dolan.
Dolan won a senior club All-Ireland title in 2013 with his local club St Brigid’s. But in 2002, he was a key forward for Longford outfit Ballymahon, who defeated Rathcline in the semi-final by one point before finishing the season as county champions.
For some players on the current Rathcline time, that’s a vague childhood memory. Others weren’t even born yet. Either way, O’Flaherty insists that it’s a piece of history that should not sit uncomfortably on any player’s shoulders. It’s to be embraced for the positive impression it left on those who lived through it.
“There’s no burden there. It was a great time for us old fogies who were involved. It’s obviously a regret, but there were great days there too, and it’s only when you’ve gone through this summer and relived all those days, that they were really great times.
“It’s very important that GAA players know where they come from, know the backstory and appreciate those wins when they happen for what they are.
“Young people mightn’t have been born, or were barely born. But they had family members playing so they’re very keen on those.”
The links don’t end there. Johnston is a former manager for St Faithleach’s, leading them to a Division 1 league title in 2019. Thompson was the club chairman during Johnston’s reign.
O’Flaherty has connections with the St Faithleach’s cause too. While the Ballyleague-based team are trying to take down Pearse’s on Saturday 4 October, the second semi-final the following day features St Brigid’s and Clann na nGael. O’Flaherty’s son Oisín was part of the Roscommon U20 side who won the Connacht final last year, and is central to Clann’s plans for a first senior county title since 2018.
It will be an interesting prospect for O’Flaherty should Rathcline, St Faithleach’s and Clann na nGael all progress to their respective county showpieces.
“I’d have an interest in all camps then. Clann, St Faithleach’s and Rathcline would be regarded as massive underdogs in their semi-finals.”
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The St Faithleach’s club was just three years old when they captured that single senior championship in 1965. After forming in October 1962, they won the junior county championship in their first season of competitive football.
That momentum culminated in senior success two years later, defeating Shannon Gaels, who were the defending champions at the time.
Prior to the club’s formation, their local players were scattered across different clubs; some were over the bridge kicking football for Rathcline.
Many players knew each other through their employment at the power station in Lanesboro, the ESB and Bord na Móna. Challenge matches were often arranged between the two clubs, where the chance to needle a friend from the other side was hard to pass up.
“There was nothing ever physical about it,” Thompson explains. “But challenge games were taken very seriously. It was their kind of free rein.
“Even though you worked with somebody in the power station or Bórd na Móna, the football pitch was nearly a free opportunity to get a belt at a fellow pitch. So there was good rivalry at that. But that is all, it’s all mellowed out, which is brilliant.”
The bonds between Lanesboro and Ballyleague continue to be strengthened by sports clubs like the local triathlon club, which serves both sides, along with Lough Ree AC and the football side Ballyboro FC.
Of course, people have relatives on the far side of the bridge too. Thompson’s nephew, Daithí Mulvihill, is the Rathcline goalkeeper while the Kenny brothers, Shane, Oisín and Oran are his cousins. Shane and Oran combined for 3-7 in Rathcline’s quarter-final victory over Carrickedmond earlier this month.
During the winter months, when numbers are low, the St Faithleach’s and Rathcline players train together. The clubs also have an interesting arrangement at underage level, whereby the St Faithleach’s players head over to play with their neighbours before returning to represent their home side at the senior grade.
“We’ve had a situation where we’ve struggled in the last two years at underage level,” Thompson says, outlining the dynamic. “We hadn’t got the numbers at that level. You’ve got kids in secondary schools, so some were going to the [community] school in Lanesboro and some were going to the CBS in Roscommon.
“So you’re split there, and with Kilbride on one side of us, and Rathcline on the other side, some wanted to go to Kilbride, some wanted to go to Rathcline. So, we actually had to meet with Connacht Council and with Croke Park, and there is an agreement — extraordinary permission or something Croke Park called it, because you’re crossing a provincial and a county border to go to Rathcline.”
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Rathcline have enjoyed plenty of success at intermediate level, winning five county titles in all. They also reached the Leinster intermediate final in 2005 where they lost out to Crettyard of Laois by 0-13 to 1-8.
A breakthrough moment at the senior grade arrived in 2022 when Rathcline reached their first county quarter-final in 14 years. That 1-11 to 0-8 win against Carrickedmond paved the way for future growth.
The reach for a semi-final spot wasn’t far away, and incidentally, it was Carrickedmond who they overcame this year by two points to take that step.
“They’ve been in the quarter-finals since,” O’Flaherty continues, “But [have] not been able to break through that ceiling.
“It’s a big step forward to break that quarter-final barrier for the first time in 23 years. Success just doesn’t happen overnight. It’s a slow, gradual process a lot of the time. They’re a very committed bunch of players.
“They’ve stuck at it, both through the defeats in the last number of years and then in the early part of the season when things weren’t going well.”
Their semi-final opponents are a Killoe side whose most recent Longford SFC crown was in 2023. They have won the competition six times since 2012, achieving back-to-back feats in 2014-2015 and again in 2019-2020.
Rathcline are considered underdogs, but have earned some big results on the road to this point. They accounted for the 2018 Leinster champions Mullinalaghta in the opening round of the championship, and that meeting with Frankie Dolan’s Abbeylara ended in a 0-18 to 0-10 victory.
The buzz around the county was that Rathcline could be facing relegation this year, but they’ve won five of their six championship games so far. A 15-point defeat to Clonguish was a black mark on the copy book before resetting to jump the quarter-final hurdle.
“You never like to perform as badly as that. We didn’t play particularly well in the quarter-final either, but there’s plenty of people in Longford who say that that’s Rathcline’s level, that’s where we’re at. We’ll see about that.
“It remains to be seen if that’s our level or are we capable of producing a lot better.”
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Last year’s semi-final against Pádraig Pearses ended in a nine-point defeat for St Faithleach’s, who registered just three points in total. They struck back with a 1-14 to 0-12 win when the sides met in the opening round of this year’s championship; the ultimate tribute to the 1965 team who were being commemorated that day.
They survived a tough test against Michael Glaveys, and now march on to next week’s semi-final to do it all over again with Pádraig Pearses.
Roscommon and St Faithleach’s player Ciaráin Murtagh. James Crombie / INPHO
James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO
Thompson can see lots of similarities between St Faithleach’s and Rathcline, and the road that lies before them.
60 years.
49 years.
The long waits for that have been endured on either side of the bridge on the border. Thompson was there for the 2006 and 2007 defeats when St Brigid’s were their tormentors. The same club denied them again in 2014 when Thompson’s playing days were over.
His father was part of the successful ’65 team but passed away in 2000. The medals on the wall. The faces from that time we can only see through pictures now.
Rathcline are up first tomorrow to try to make it to the county final. St Faithleach’s will have their go next weekend.
Hands are clasped across the water, wishing each other the best.
“You can only dream what will go on if that were to happen,” says Thompson.
“I hope they go a step further, and if Faithleach’s were to do the same, it’d be a fabulous three weeks on the Shannon.”
