Football
St. Jarlath’s College, Tuam holds the distinction of having won the most all-Ireland College (Hogan) Cups, with a remarkable 12 victories since the competition started in 1946.
In the first year of the competition, 1946, Jarlath’s made it to the final against St. Patrick’s of Armagh, unfortunately losing the closely fought match by the narrow margin of 4-7 to 3-11. However, the following year, they were more successful; powered by players such as Sean Purcell, Mick Flanagan and Captain Vincent McHale to beat St Patrick’s 4-10 to 3-8 on 11th of May 1947. After 1948 (in which a “somewhat exhausted,” Jarlath’s team bowed out early in the competition, not taking Connaught for the first time in three years), the Hogan Cup competition was cancelled at the behest of the Catholic hierarchy of the time, who felt that the intensity of the competition distracted students from their studies in the final term of the year.
The Hogan Cup competition was resurrected in the 1956-1957 school year, in which a Jarlath’s team overseen by the new games master Fr. Brendan Kavanagh lost by a single point to eventual tournament winners St. Nathy’s, Roscommon. However, the following year a 1-7 to 2-3 victory over Gormanston College, Meath meant that the Hogan was once again brought back to Jarlath’s College. Indeed, over the next 8 years, the Hogan would be brought to Tuam four more times, making an incredible playing record of 5 Hogan Cups in 10 years during what many would call the “Golden Age” of Jarlath’s football.
Kavanagh’s successor, Fr. Dermot Moloney, would bring success to Jarlath’s on the national scale when the “exceptional” 1974 team, including Henry Gavin, Brian Talty and Cyril Moran, beat the All-Ireland holders Gormanston (who they had faced and lost to in the final the previous year). Fr Maloney was then succeeded by former Hogan Cup finalist Fr. Ollie Hughes. In only his second year in the post, he managed to take the team all the way to the All-Ireland Final, only narrowly losing to Moate. He was more successful in 1978 when he led a team through a run of comfortable victories ending in the defeat of St Colman’s of Newry in Croke Park. Only four years later, Jarlath’s had an incredible run of three years in a row in the All-Ireland final, winning in 1982 and 1984.
Another development saw Mr Joe Long, a lay teacher, assisting Fr Hughes in the 1983-1984 season, eventually taking over completely two years later. Working tirelessly through the ‘80s to keep up the tradition in the school, in the early 1990s he led Jarlath’s into All-Ireland finals four out of five years. 1990, 1992 and 1993 saw unlucky defeats, but in 1994 a 3-11 to 0-9 victory over St. Patrick’s Maghera assured an 11th Hogan came to the College.
The 12th and final Hogan Cup came to Jarlath’s in 2002, after All-Ireland Final defeats in 1999 and 2001. Another team trained by Fr Ollie Hughes (this time the President of the College), they stampeded over a weak St. Michael’s of Enniskillen to reach a thoroughly impressive 3-11 to 0-6 victory. Captained by a 1-6 scoring Michael Meehan, this team ensured a Jarlath’s victory in the new century, meaning Jarlath’s has won cups each decade going back to the 1940’s.
St. Jarlath’s College Tuam (1800-2000), John Cunningham Galway Advertiser, May 2nd2002, pg 84
1947, 1958, 1960, 1961, 1964, 1966, 1974, 1978, 1982, 1984, 1994, 2002
1947 St. Jarlath’s College, Tuam 4-10 St. Patrick’s, Armagh 3-8, V. McHale capt.
1958 St. Jarlath’s College, Tuam 1-7 Franciscan College, Gormanstown 2-3, S. Nolan capt.
1960 St. Jarlath’s College, Tuam 3-10 St. Finian’s College, Mullingar 3-7, P. Sheridan capt.
1961 St. Jarlath’s College, Tuam 2-6 St. Mel’s, Longford 1-8, L. O’Brien capt.
1964 St. Jarlath’s College, Tuam 1-10 St. Mel’s, Longford 0-4, S. Downes capt.
1966 St. Jarlath’s College, Tuam 1-10 St. Brendan’s, Killarney 1-9, J. Duggan capt.
1974 St. Jarlath’s College, Tuam 4-11 Franciscan College, Gormanstown 2-11, H. Gavin capt.
1978 St. Jarlath’s College, Tuam 2-11 St. Colman’s, Newry 2-4, M. Joyce capt.
1982 St. Jarlath’s College, Tuam 1-8 St. Fachtna’s, Skibbereen 0-7, R. O’Dwyer capt.
1984 St. Jarlath’s College, Tuam 0-10 St. Patrick’s College, Maghera 2-3, M. Butler capt.
1994 St. Jarlath’s College, Tuam 3-11 St. Patrick’s College, Maghera 0-9, P. Joyce capt.
2002 St. Jarlath’s College, Tuam 3-13 St. Michael’s College, Enniskillen 0-06, M. Meehan capt.
All Ireland Finalists: 1946, 1949, 1962, 1967, 1973, 1976, 1979, 1983, 1990, 1992, 1993, 1999, 2001, 2003
1947 panel
T. Lyons, C. Canavan, M. O’Malley, M. Flanagan, T. Joyce, T. Langan, T.J. McHale, C. McHale, A. O’Toole, J.J. Croughwell, S. Masterson, S. Purcell
S. Kavanagh, S. Jordan, A. Morrison, P. Solan, V. McHale (Capt.), S. Shiel, B. Flynn, M. Finnegan.
M. Flanagan, P. Hoare, S. Henegan
L. Costello, V. Kelly and J. Caulfield.
1958 panel
P. Donnellan, T. Molloy, M. Sharkey, L. McKorrow, J. Walsh, T. Joyce, M. Lyons, P. O’Connell, A. Fergus
J. Boland, T.J. O’Connor, J. King, J. Cosgrove, S. Nolan (Capt.), P. Holian, J. Nestor, P. Sheridan, T. Mannion, B. Needham
1960 panel
E. Colleran, S. Forde, J. Morley, V. Greaney, V. McGagh, E. Geraghty, T. Ryan, M. Staunton
S. Brennan, A. Jordan, J. Jennings, S. Leydon, G. Nicholson, L. Campbell, P. McGee, J. Walsh, P. Donnelan
J. Geraghty, P. Crisham, G. Prendergast, P. Sheridan (Capt.), S. Kilraine, J. Saundrson, L. O’Brien
1961 panel
C. Walsh, O. Hughes, J. Morley, P. Gibbons, J. Niland, P. Crisham, J. Wardem , M. O’Malley
G. Prendergast, R. O’Connell, S. Kilraine, L. O’Brien (Capt.), G. Nicholson, J. Saunderson, F. McDonald
D. Heaney, T. Keenan, J. Jennings, J. Divilly, J. Earley, M. O’Malley, C. O’Donoghue
1964 panel
S. Feeney, P. Madden, M. Flatley, J. McLoughlin, P. Rattigan, P. Smyth, C. Cunnane, J. Duggan, M. Shannon, B. Hanly, C. Colleran
R. Charles, J. Kelly, J. Early, C. McDonagh, S. Downes (Capt.), N. McCormack, F. Mulchrone, M. McPhilips, F. McLoughlin
J. Coughlin, M. Lally, G. Howley, G. Sheridan
1966 panel
E. Cosgrove, T. Roache, S. Healy, S. O’Beirne, T. Davin, B. Meenaghan, S. Hughes, J. Leydon, B. Colleran, P. Freyne, P. Scahill
F. Meenaghan, L. Ryder, M. McDonnell, A. Kelly, J. Duggan (Capt.), E. Rooney, M. O’Malley, P. Glennon, C. Kelly
J. Vaughan, T. Cribbin, T. Geraghty, J. DeCourcey
1974 panel
M. Byrne, C. Moran, B. O’Sullivan, P. Scanlon, B. Talty, J. Brennan, M. Scott, G. King, M. Gibbons, M. Gielty, G. O’Sullivan, Fr. D. Moloney
P. Jordan, G. Hanly, D. Keane, F. Niland, L. Whyte, H. Gavin (Capt.), S. Sweeney, S. Connolly, G. Fitzmaurice, G. Hennigan
1978 panel
A. Murphy, L. Heavy, J. Lyons, S. McGing, L. Lyons, S. McCormack, R. Bermingham, K. O’Malley, Fr. O. Hughes
F. Stockwell, J. Brennan, G. Murphy, M. Joyce (Capt.), P. Moran, T. Tierney, S. Cronin
J. Morrin, P. Rhatigan, C. Clancy, M. Brennan, T. Webb, M. Murphy, T. McHugh, E. Mulrooney
1982 panel
M. Gallagher, E. Burke, J. Fallon, P. McNamara, M. Conacur, P. Brogan, C. McNally, H. Acton, A. Rowe, Fr. O. Hughes
M. Fallon, R. Kiely, M. Molloy, R. O’Dwyer (Capt.), L. McGettigan, J. O’Neill, P. Geraghty
P. O’Dea, M. Dunleavey, L. Brennan, M. Butler, G. Burke
1984 panel
J. Long (Asst. Trainer), L. O’Loughlin, C. Lambert, M. O’Malley, T. Lyons, P. Staunton, P. Holmes, P. Walsh, S. Tully
E. O’Loughlin, M. Martin, T. Devane, M. Butler (Capt.), L. McGettigan, M. Brennan, G. Burke, Fr O. Hughes (Trainer)
1994 panel
E. King, J. Cafferkey, O. Higgins, M. Turner, J. Haran, M. Higgins, E. Brown, J. Divilly, G. Curran
M. Cloherty, T. Joyce, S. Tighe, M. Donnellan, D. Devaney, D. Meehan, F. Kelly, K. Winston, J. Concannon
J. Regan, M. Waldron, T. Meehan, J. Long (Trainer), P. Joyce (Capt.), D. Reilly, P. Coyne
2002
S. Hehir, P.J. Kelly, M. Creaven, M. Flannery, R. Everett, J. Kavanagh, C. Blake, A. Flaherty, D. Dunleavy, O. Kelly, S. Moran
F. Stockwell (Asst. Trainer), N. Burns (Asst. Trainer), J. Devane, D. Mullahy, N. Coleman, P. Doherty, D. Dowd, M. Kielty, C. De Paor, P. Gleeson, D. Hardiman, Fr O. Hughes (Trainer)
G. Sice, G. Aherne, J. Donoghue, P. Costello, M. Meehan (Capt.), D. Warde, J. Murphy, A. O’Hara, A. Burke
