John Joe O'Reilly with the Sam Maguire Cup after captaining Cavan to the two-in-a-row in 1948
By Jamie Ó Tuama
He led Cavan to victory on that memorable day,
In the final against Kerry in New York far away.
The next year in Croke Park when our boys beat Mayo,
Once again they were led by the gallant John Joe.
Synonymous with Cavan’s famous 1947 All-Ireland football final victory against Kerry in the Polo Grounds, and a vital cog in Cavan’s breakthrough success in the ‘30s and ‘40s, John Joe O’Reilly’s legend will live for ever.
Not only was he one of the players of his generation but he is considered to be one the greatest players of all time. His achievements on the field of play were duly recognised when he was chosen at number 6 on both the GAA’s Team of the Millennium and Team of the Century. John Joe O’Reilly was one of the true greats of Gaelic football and will always be spoken about in the same breath as other legends of the game such as Seán Purcell, Mick O’Connell and Paddy Doherty to name just a few.
The Cornafean man captained Cavan to two All-Irelands in a row in 1947 and 1948 as well as helping his club to two senior Cavan titles in 1936 and 1937. He later moved to the Curragh Camp GAA club during his time in the army. Among his other achievements were 11 Ulster Senior Football Championships, 4 Railway Cups and a National Football League in the 1847-48 season.
To learn more about John Joe O’Reilly, GAA.ie caught up with George Cartwright, author of ‘The Gallant John Joe – Cavan’s Millennium Man’, and fellow Cornafean man.
"John Joe was the only man to captain a team to All-Ireland success and raise the Sam Maguire Cup outside of Ireland but there were a lot more highlights to John Joe O’Reilly's short life in which he managed to achieve so much," says Cartwright.
"The Polo Grounds memory would be the standout moment of his life and for all Cavan people because it was the only All-Ireland ever played outside of Ireland, but John Joe came into the Cavan team at a young age. He won three MacRory Cups medal with St Patrick’s College, Cavan, which was hugely significant in the 1930s.
"It was the first time that St. Pats won it and they won three in a row. He captained the team in its last year which was his Leaving Cert year. He also captained the Ulster provincial colleges team which played the other provinces in a very prestigious competition.
"He played in his first All-Ireland final in 1937. He made an appearance in the Ulster final and next thing he was playing in an All-Ireland Final and he was very young at the time. He was just 19. He played in the drawn replayed game against Kerry. Cavan lost that day.
"He won a lot of Ulster Championship medal, 11 in total which was a lot. Cavan of course were the kingpins of Ulster football in the 30s and 40s. He also played in 8 All-Ireland finals which included two replays. He was lucky to get two All-Ireland victories out of it."
John Joe also had a very successful club playing career in which he won significant honours with both his native club, Cornafean, and his adopted club, Curragh Camp GAA club, who he later represented while on duty with the army in the Curragh.
"He won two county senior championships with Cornafean," says Cartwright. "He also captained the only ‘army team’, as they were known at the time, to a Kildare Senior Football Championship. That was in 1948.
"He captained Ulster to three Railway Cup successes, and he won 4 Ulster Railway Cup medals in total. He captained them to the most important one, maybe, in 1943 which was Ulster’s first Railway Cup. Most teams he played on, he captained.
"He won a hurling championship medal in Kildare as well around 1940. He was also a well-known athlete. He had potential as an athlete and great potential as a basketball player."
John Joe was not only successful on the field of play, however. He also achieved so much during his time with the army. There is no doubt in George’s mind that he would have continued to progress through the ranks in the army but for the fate that lay in store for him.
"Of course, the other huge part of his life was his career in the army. He entered the cadet school in the curragh in 1937 and he went through the different stages of promotion very quickly. He was commissioned having successfully completed a cadetship in 1939 and that was around the time of the war. World War 2 was breaking out. He had a hugely significant role in the military college and later in the training depot in the army.
John Joe O'Reilly, captain, at number 6 for Cavan on the famous 'Polo Grounds' team of 1947
"He became a captain in 1942 and he became a commandant in 1945. A commandant was a hugely prestigious position for a man relatively young at the time. He was still only in his twenties, so he gained rapid promotion. As I said it was a hugely significant period for our country and he played a key leadership role, especially in the 1940s. Post-war he trained men who were later to go on overseas service for our country in places like the Congo. They all would have been trained under John Joe and others as well."
John Joe’s leaderships skills were among his greatest traits and there is no doubt that they stood to him throughout his professional and sporting career.
"He had good judgement of man who was a leader, going to be a leader in the army abroad. I would like to think that John Joe’s leadership and respect and his capabilities would have rubbed off on a lot of the young men who trained under him. That was his role in the army.
"He was a great captain and a great leader. He captained most teams that he played on and most teams that he played on won at some stage and he lifted the different cups. People often talk about his football ability. People often talk about his athletic ability but most people I talk to about his achievements highlight his leadership role.
"He seemed to be a born leader and of courses his training in the army complemented that leadership but certainly on a football field be it with club, army, county or province his leadership ability on the field of play stood out."
John Joe’s life was cut short cruelly at the young age of 34 due to a blood clot that arose from surgery on an injury picked up in a game for Curragh GAA in a match against Ardclough in 1952. George explains the effect the injury had on the tail end of his career.
"It was an innocuous enough game in 1952. The Curragh were playing Ardclough. Everybody loved to get at the Curragh army team, and everybody loved to beat them, but the game itself was a rather innocuous game. However, he got an injury and it put paid to any comeback he was going to make with Cavan.
"He did retire officially in the end of 1951, but he was persuaded to come back again. He was back with the team, working in a coaching capacity, training with them but he never actually made it back on to the field again with one exception – the reopening of Breffni Park on the 8th of June, 1952. He came back for that game. It was accepted that the injury he picked up against Ardclough was the beginning of his trouble.
"John Joe continued in his coaching role with Cavan in 1952 and although he was available to line out, he did not play again. Cavan defeated Meath that year in the All-Ireland final and as soon as the game ended John Joe went about his surgery to fix his injury.
"He went into the Curragh military hospital and he had the surgery there. He was having a kidney removed and seemed to be ok after the operation. He was in good spirits. Some of his teammates called to see him.
"However, it appears he got a clot and his health deteriorated rapidly and inside a few days, it was downhill he went. He went into a coma I think and then they decided to take him quickly to the Mater. The man died at 34 years of age."
John Joe’s death was a tragedy for friends, teammates, and both Cornafean and Cavan supporters, but no more so than his wife and young family.
"It was a tragedy for everybody but no more so than for his wife and four young children. He got married in 1943 to Olive Rooney and they had four young children. They were all under seven to eight years of age when he died so it was particularly tragic for them, their father being plucked from them at such a young age, such a hero.
"Obviously, for Cavan and Cornafean people, it was a huge tragedy for his family at home here in Cavan. He was from a big family. He was the middle child of 13. It was tragic also for his elderly parents and of course for his many friends in the army in the Curragh, in Kildare and indeed nationwide because he was very well known.’
Having achieved so much in his short life, how much more could John Joe have achieved had he lived longer?
"The tragedy was that he died so young’, said Cartwright. "He was only 34 when he died. He achieved so much up until that date. One can only speculate what else he might have achieved in life, certainly as a manager or coach of Cavan or Kildare teams and in the army. Many people have mentioned the fact that he probably would have become Chief of Staff in later years in the army."
The Gallant John Joe - Cavan's Millennium Man
In November last year, George published his book ‘The Gallant John Joe – Cavan’s Millennium Man’. He explains what motivated him to put pen to paper and why he felt it was important to tell John Joe’s story.
"He is revered in Cavan in song and in story," says Cartwright. "He is revered all over the country and one of the main reasons I wrote the book is because no matter where you go, if you are on holidays down south or wherever else, if you are asked where you are from and you say Cavan or Cornafean, people will mention ‘The Gallant John Joe’. Some of them will break into a line of the song! They might only know one or two lines of the song, but it does resonate with them.
"He is very well known and that was one of the reasons why I put the book together. I felt his story was well worth telling. I felt his story would be lost if another generation passed. Certainly, his story would be gone. There were so many people that I was lucky to talk to, elderly people who played with him, played against him or remembered him playing and they were vital sources in putting the book together."
George describes the book as ‘a labour of love’ and when I put it to him how enjoyable it must have been to research and publish such a book on one of the best players to ever play the game of Gaelic football, the personal connection was apparent.
"John Joe was born and reared a very short distance from where I live in Cornafean. He would have grown up about two and half miles down the road from where I lived. He went to a very small two teacher school called Corliss and that was the same school I went to.
"When at Corliss I would not have been too conscious of him, but I got to know a lot about him and of course my club is Cornafean. His father and uncles on both sides of his family played with the great Cornafean teams of the past. John Joe and three other brothers of his played with Cavan but all his family would have played with Cornafean. He and his family were part of our local history and our GAA history.
"I couldn’t imagine doing likewise (writing such a book) if he wasn’t from Cornafean. It was a passion. I thought it was important that his story was written down."
My chat with George concluded with his acknowledgment of John Joe, the person, as a humble gentleman.
"I think it is important despite all his achievements on the field of play and taking into consideration the leadership qualities, he was a gentleman. He was perceived to be a gentleman either in victory or defeat. He was humble in victory and certainly gracious in defeat and that was well acknowledged and of course sportsmanship was his forte. I never heard of him being booked in a game and he certainly was never put off.
"So, he was a unique talent. He was endowed with many talents and he certainly made good use of them all."
To find out more about John Joe O’Reilly, George’s book ‘The Gallant John Joe - Cavan's Millennium Man' is the place to go.
In each corner of Breifne, there’s sorrow and pain,
Such a true-hearted sportsman, we’ll ne’er see again.
New players may come, and old players may go,
But we’ll ne’er have another like the gallant John Joe.
(The Gallant John Joe by Peter Albert McGovern)
Go maire John Joe O’Reilly i gcuimhne na ndaoine go deo na ndeor…