Take into account that he was a key figure of the Kildare U21 team that won only the second U21 All-Ireland football championship in 1965.
Add in that he spent a combined 34 years as a dual player for the Lilywhites in football and hurling.
That he enjoyed a few battles at club underage level with a certain Christy Moore of Sarsfields (“a right handy boy”).
And then the spell as county chairman, now over 40 years ago — well, then he’s spent a lifetime in Kildare GAA. He wouldn’t be one for over-selling it, but his time as a hurler just stops short of the line in ‘Sit Down’ by James; ‘If I hadn’t seen such riches, I could live with being poor.’
This Saturday, 2024 All-Ireland winners Clare come to Cedral St Conleth’s Park, Newbridge to face the hurlers of Kildare.
Biggest game you can recall, Pat?
Well, now that you say it…
***
For Dunny, the hurling message arrived by way of missionary. Éire Óg became his hurling club, planted in the map snug tight to Mondello Racing Park.
“When we were at school, a guy came to work around the place and got married locally. His name was Tom Johnston and he was a Kilkenny man,” he recalls.
“He was the kind of man who started hurling in our area. Another man blew in and his name was Bill Hayes. He was from Clare. They were the men to start hurling in our area and there was no hurling up to that.
“It all took off from there.”
It was a movement that was replicated in various places around the county.
In Coill Dubh, they built an estate to house the people working for Bord na Móna in the bogs split down the middle by the Kildare and Offaly border.
“People came from everywhere. Everywhere,” Dunny emphasises.
“And they established hurling in the area around the same time Tommy Johnston came into our area.
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“They both got going around the same time. And at the same time, his brother came to work and live in Ardclough. Another guy came, Mick Houlihan, he was a Laois man. So they started hurling in Ardclough.
“Around that time, the three big clubs would have been Ardclough, Éire Óg and Coill Dubh. St Brigid’s in Kildare town and Castledermot – they were the Big Five, if you like, of our generation.”
***
In 1969, they only went and went and won the All-Ireland Intermediate final, beating Cork in mid-October. It granted them passage to the Leinster championship.
Their bow was a one-point loss to Laois, 1-9 to 1-8. In Con Kenealy’s match report in the Irish Independent, he lowered the blade in the second paragraph, writing, “It was one of the worst senior championship matches I have ever seen in more than a decade and with all due respects to the counties concerned they might be better employed concentrating on football.
“There were quite a number of ‘golfers’ on the field, playing with the right hand under the left and taking many divots out of the Nowlan Park pitch.”
He mentions our man in the following paragraph: ”There were, however, a few hurlers on view, notably Kildare’s centre half-back Pat Dunny.”
Anyway. On they went in the following years. Lost to Westmeath by six points in 1971, a gap they closed to two points a year later.
It was Offaly and nine points of a margin in 1973.
They sat out 1974 but came back in the year after and scared the living bejaysus out of Offaly with a 6-6 to 4-12 draw, losing the replay by six points.
Come 1976 and they won a game, beating Dublin in the first round, 3-10 to 1-10.
That gave them a shot at Wexford. They started off like a train, carving open the Yellowbellies while debutant goalkeeper Henry Butler made a series of sensational saves. Eventually, Wexford got out of jail, 2-19 to 2-15.
Again, our man was on form.
“Pat Dunny delighted the crowd of about 4,000 with some great one-handed catches in the second half,” wrote Tom O’Riordan in his match report.
Wexford went on to wallop Kilkenny in the Leinster final, 2-20 to 1-6, and lost the All-Ireland final to Cork.
After that, there was another win over Westmeath. And then some defeats. Nothing too heavy, nothing traumatising. Kildare didn’t so much as crash out of the top tier of hurling, more slinked out.
***
Fast-forward to last year and they are back in Leinster under Brian Dowling and up into 1B.
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A chastening defeat to Dublin was shrugged off with a trio of second-half goals and a win over a wretched Antrim. Some of it was self-inflicted for the Saffrons, but it cannot be taken away that the direct hurling caused most of the damage, particularly the impact of full-forward Muiris Curtin feasting on long deliveries.
Muiris Curtin celebrates his second goal. Grace Halton / INPHO
Grace Halton / INPHO / INPHO
“It was a marvellous achievement. One more win and we will be safe in Division 1B for this year, which would be a serious achievement for us,” says Dunny.
Is there a certain, let’s say, giddiness in the air?
“The hurling people, now, would be quite satisfied. Let’s put it that way.
“We are not running away with ourselves yet. But we would be quietly satisfied that the progress we made, we’ll be able to consolidate it this year in the league and settle ourselves in this league.”
With Clare coming to town, it’s the biggest game in living memory. Well, most living memories anyway.
What they fear is the mood that Clare and manager Brian Lohan have taken into this league. They come locked and loaded. Shane O’Donnell made his season debut in Cushendall when beating Antrim 2-30 to 1-19.
In the last round, they had no mercy on Down in Ennis, 3-35 to 0-15. John Conlon returned for another go at it.
“This will be a big ask for us,” Dunny acknowledges.
“I suppose the real big thing we are looking forward to is when the Leinster championship starts and we have Wexford in Newbridge and maybe a few others.”
He adds, “This group have worked very hard. An awful lot of clubs are working hard. Now, Naas are dominating and rightly so, they have a great set-up. But hopefully it will bring the standards up and we can stay up.
“The major hope is that we are not up today and down tomorrow. If we can stay here and consolidate, we will move on from there.”
It’s never been harder to break into the established hurling crowds. But Kildare are doing all they can right now.
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'The major hope is that we are not up today and down tomorrow' – the Kildare hurling journey
PAT DUNNY HAS seen it all.
Take into account that he was a key figure of the Kildare U21 team that won only the second U21 All-Ireland football championship in 1965.
Add in that he spent a combined 34 years as a dual player for the Lilywhites in football and hurling.
That he enjoyed a few battles at club underage level with a certain Christy Moore of Sarsfields (“a right handy boy”).
And then the spell as county chairman, now over 40 years ago — well, then he’s spent a lifetime in Kildare GAA. He wouldn’t be one for over-selling it, but his time as a hurler just stops short of the line in ‘Sit Down’ by James; ‘If I hadn’t seen such riches, I could live with being poor.’
This Saturday, 2024 All-Ireland winners Clare come to Cedral St Conleth’s Park, Newbridge to face the hurlers of Kildare.
Biggest game you can recall, Pat?
Well, now that you say it…
***
For Dunny, the hurling message arrived by way of missionary. Éire Óg became his hurling club, planted in the map snug tight to Mondello Racing Park.
“He was the kind of man who started hurling in our area. Another man blew in and his name was Bill Hayes. He was from Clare. They were the men to start hurling in our area and there was no hurling up to that.
“It all took off from there.”
It was a movement that was replicated in various places around the county.
In Coill Dubh, they built an estate to house the people working for Bord na Móna in the bogs split down the middle by the Kildare and Offaly border.
“People came from everywhere. Everywhere,” Dunny emphasises.
“And they established hurling in the area around the same time Tommy Johnston came into our area.
“They both got going around the same time. And at the same time, his brother came to work and live in Ardclough. Another guy came, Mick Houlihan, he was a Laois man. So they started hurling in Ardclough.
“Around that time, the three big clubs would have been Ardclough, Éire Óg and Coill Dubh. St Brigid’s in Kildare town and Castledermot – they were the Big Five, if you like, of our generation.”
***
In 1969, they only went and went and won the All-Ireland Intermediate final, beating Cork in mid-October. It granted them passage to the Leinster championship.
Their bow was a one-point loss to Laois, 1-9 to 1-8. In Con Kenealy’s match report in the Irish Independent, he lowered the blade in the second paragraph, writing, “It was one of the worst senior championship matches I have ever seen in more than a decade and with all due respects to the counties concerned they might be better employed concentrating on football.
“There were quite a number of ‘golfers’ on the field, playing with the right hand under the left and taking many divots out of the Nowlan Park pitch.”
He mentions our man in the following paragraph: ”There were, however, a few hurlers on view, notably Kildare’s centre half-back Pat Dunny.”
Anyway. On they went in the following years. Lost to Westmeath by six points in 1971, a gap they closed to two points a year later.
It was Offaly and nine points of a margin in 1973.
They sat out 1974 but came back in the year after and scared the living bejaysus out of Offaly with a 6-6 to 4-12 draw, losing the replay by six points.
Come 1976 and they won a game, beating Dublin in the first round, 3-10 to 1-10.
That gave them a shot at Wexford. They started off like a train, carving open the Yellowbellies while debutant goalkeeper Henry Butler made a series of sensational saves. Eventually, Wexford got out of jail, 2-19 to 2-15.
Again, our man was on form.
“Pat Dunny delighted the crowd of about 4,000 with some great one-handed catches in the second half,” wrote Tom O’Riordan in his match report.
Wexford went on to wallop Kilkenny in the Leinster final, 2-20 to 1-6, and lost the All-Ireland final to Cork.
After that, there was another win over Westmeath. And then some defeats. Nothing too heavy, nothing traumatising. Kildare didn’t so much as crash out of the top tier of hurling, more slinked out.
***
Fast-forward to last year and they are back in Leinster under Brian Dowling and up into 1B.
A chastening defeat to Dublin was shrugged off with a trio of second-half goals and a win over a wretched Antrim. Some of it was self-inflicted for the Saffrons, but it cannot be taken away that the direct hurling caused most of the damage, particularly the impact of full-forward Muiris Curtin feasting on long deliveries.
“It was a marvellous achievement. One more win and we will be safe in Division 1B for this year, which would be a serious achievement for us,” says Dunny.
Is there a certain, let’s say, giddiness in the air?
“The hurling people, now, would be quite satisfied. Let’s put it that way.
“We are not running away with ourselves yet. But we would be quietly satisfied that the progress we made, we’ll be able to consolidate it this year in the league and settle ourselves in this league.”
With Clare coming to town, it’s the biggest game in living memory. Well, most living memories anyway.
What they fear is the mood that Clare and manager Brian Lohan have taken into this league. They come locked and loaded. Shane O’Donnell made his season debut in Cushendall when beating Antrim 2-30 to 1-19.
In the last round, they had no mercy on Down in Ennis, 3-35 to 0-15. John Conlon returned for another go at it.
“This will be a big ask for us,” Dunny acknowledges.
“I suppose the real big thing we are looking forward to is when the Leinster championship starts and we have Wexford in Newbridge and maybe a few others.”
He adds, “This group have worked very hard. An awful lot of clubs are working hard. Now, Naas are dominating and rightly so, they have a great set-up. But hopefully it will bring the standards up and we can stay up.
“The major hope is that we are not up today and down tomorrow. If we can stay here and consolidate, we will move on from there.”
It’s never been harder to break into the established hurling crowds. But Kildare are doing all they can right now.
Check out the latest episode of The42′s GAA Weekly podcast here
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Big Weekend CLARE COMING GAA Hurling Kildare Lilywhites