Rahara 54©2021TonyFallon1210.
In Rahara in the 60's the girls all wanted nylonsWhile we young fellows wanted the juniors to beat up St Johns
Those were years before iphones or any kind of computer
We all envied Willie Corcoran and his little scooter
Then we had a fine home-grown team just after the big war time
Just as the Beirnes Donnellys and Beatties were coming to prime.
Big Malachy Donnelly and Micky Murry were like blocks
And most rival forwards never got inside our goalie's box
We didn't win a county championships or other glory
For Creggs or Oran games we went in Eamon Beattie's lorry
There were no pipers or drummers ready to play marching tunes
The games and practices were held on most Sunday afternoons
On hairy legs and white arms there would be wounds scrapes and scratches
And big clumps of grass missing from Ger Egans field in patches
One cold October day a game was played in bad conditions
A replay of a drawn game one of the GAA's bad decisions
They lads all looked so confident as they marched out there in green
With so many Beirnes Beattie's and Donnelly's in the fifteen
As well as those just mentioned we had favorites of the crowd
Like Jim and Des Brennan brothers Willie Fallon and Ned Dowd
Stephen Miley and Tommy Tully made their contributions
The Champion did not mention the use of substitutions
That day we were all shivering but they had skimpy attire
Made worse by slimy under footing of water, muck and mire
In the hour Athleague scored only one point from a close in free
Rahara were the victors even though they scored only three
The referee was Barry Malloy in charge of the whistle
All thirty players behaved themselves there was no dismissal
If a line ball did go against us it did no good to plea
Either linesman was rarely overruled by the referee
It was the semifinal in the papers it was noted
In late October fifty-four a column was devoted
In a week against Eoghan Ruaghs the didn't do so well
On the final score of that Sunday alas I shall not dwell
To the all-star team none of Rahara players were voted
And since they lost the final game the team was not promoted
Some of us still alive can look back on our Rahara years
With a certain sadness in our hearts from some foreign frontiers
