Mick Fogarty, Mick Minogue, A Tribute.
By Noel Dundon, Tipperary Media
It used to be that the annual Tipperary GAA Board Convention was an event not to be missed. You’d hear stories of the Glenmorgan Hotel in Thurles being packed to the rafters; or Park Avenue; or the Sarsfields GAA clubhouse. There’d be fire and brimstone like sermons from the visiting missionary priests, as delegates aired their grievances and got a lot of anger off their chests. They’d be fuming and going mad.
It was porter and potatoes stuff with thick cigarette smoke rising to the clouds in keeping with the climbing temperatures. You’d nearly have to go on the black market to get an entry ticket and even if you managed to get in, well, you dare not so much as go to the toilet for fear of being stopped returning.
But, all that has changed. Convention is now as sedate as a yoga class. There was scarcely a contribution from the floor at this year’s gathering despite the fact that some serious topics were discussed. The vast majority sat schtum save for a few contributors who woke up.
Clubs have to twist arms to get delegates to go now and those who do attend can’t wait to get away. The annual Mass for deceased members has been scrapped and the entertainment level is something akin to a low funeral. Gone is the craic; the fury; the impassioned speeches; the cut at officials; the lambasting of higher authorities and referees. Instead, we have a highly templated and orchestrated gathering with report after report being trotted out to bamboozle the slumbering masses. Yeah, it’s a hard time being a referee in the modern day GAA, but it’s damn hard being a delegate to the County Convention too. Surely attendance goes some way towards the pre-Christmas penance after confession. Bless me father for I have sinned – were you at Convention? I was father. Go in peace my child.
Mick was a Galway selector but Thurles Sars’ stalwart.
Mick Fogarty was a man trusted in Galway with having an astute hurling brain. That’s why he was chosen so often by his friend Cyril Farrell to act as a selector on most of the teams that Farrell managed.
Mick, originally from Leugh, Thurles was working and living in Woodford, Galway but he never lost touch with his roots and was always following his club Thurles Sarsfields and the fortunes of Tipperary – he knew more about what was going on in Tipp than most people living in the county.
Mick Fogarty, who had been ill for some time, was laid to rest at the weekend having lost his daughter only a few short months ago, also to cancer. A kind and gentle soul, he knew his hurling like few others and could spot a move faster than anyone else.
The late Mick Minogue was a trailblazer.
The winner of five County Senior Hurling titles in 1968, 69, 70, 72 and 73 with his native Roscrea, the late Mick Minogue who passed away last week was a trailblazing coach who understood the mechanics of hurling better than most.
He was also a key member of Rosscrea’s Munster and All-Ireland club-winning team in 1971 and brought all his vast experience to the table as he managed club and county teams in Tipperary, including winning a memorable senior hurling title with Moneygall in 1975.
On the inter county scene, he led Tipperary minors to Munster and All-Ireland glory in 1976. He served as a senior selector in the late 70s and early 80s, winning a National League in 1979. But without doubt, his greatest contribution was at Under 21 level, working with All-Ireland-winning teams in 1979, 1980, 1981, 1985 and 1989 – – many of the players on those teams went on to win All-Star awards and to become household names in the game of hurling.
Mick Minogue carried his hurling fame lightly and was perhaps an under-rated coach. But, those who worked with him or under him, would attest to his razor sharp hurling intellect, not just in the manner in which he prepared teams, but also in his match-day behaviour. He could summon fury from his charges in the dressing room but remain ice-cool and calculated on the sideline. He was one of a kind and a great servant of the game, of Roscrea and of Tipperary.
Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam uasal.