Brothers in Sport

by Donal Keenan

  There was a novelty factor about two brothers captaining different counties in different codes, but events during 1991 added a new dimension to the story. Tommy collected his first major trophy as captain in May of that year when Dublin won the National League title, beating Kildare in the final. What followed in six dramatic weeks between 2 June and 7 July would capture the attention of the entire nation and move sport to the front pages and the opening credits on prime time news. As Tommy led Dublin in an epic four-match opening round of the Leinster Championship against Meath that would attract in total almost 250,000 supporters to Croke Park, Declan was leading Tipperary to another Munster hurling title.

  Declan attended the first game between Dublin and Meath on 2 June with members of the family. The following week he was in action himself against Limerick while the first replay went ahead in Croke Park and ended in another draw after extra time. Another period of extra time still could not separate Dublin and Meath on 23 June so a third replay was fixed for Saturday 6 July, the day before Tipperary would play Cork in the Munster final. That Munster final also ended in a draw! It was an extraordinary period that took over the lives of the Carr family as they moved from venue to venue, endured the whole gamut of emotions and watched the two men take centre stage on a national scale.

  ‘We spoke constantly to each other during that period,’ Tommy says, ‘but I don’t think either of us had the sense of occasion that it was. When you are so immersed in the thing, going from match to match, you are unaware of the external issues. To us it was about winning a football match or a hurling match. The drama of it belonged to those looking in. Looking back of course you realise what it meant to people and to our family. And every time those games are shown on TG4 it is amazing the number of texts and calls I get about it. Some of the football was very poor, but the people who were watching were capturing the excitement, the mystery and intrigue which were lost on us as players.

  ‘There were a lot of factors into what made it such an event. A huge, respectful animosity had built up between the two teams at the time. For Dublin or Meath to put one over the other was a massive thing. It was nearly more important for Meath to beat Dublin in the Leinster Championship than it was to win the All-Ireland. It is a massive regret that we lost in the end because there were situations where we could have won it, maybe should have won it. I suppose the fact that people still talk about it shows how much it meant. For me what stands out from my career is that I played in three All-Ireland finals and didn’t win any of them.’ There was some reward for his efforts at the end of 1991, however, when Tommy won his only All Star award to complement that won by Declan in 1989.

  He attended the drawn and replayed Munster finals and took some solace from Declan’s successes. Tipperary won what Declan describes as ‘the ultimate All-Ireland’ by beating Limerick, Cork, Galway and Kilkenny. ‘We made a dog’s dinner of the Championship in 1990 and it was important that we came back and won another one. It was proof that we were a decent team. The big game for us was the replay against Cork. We were nine points down halfway through the second half and managed to win by four points. We knew then the All-Ireland was in our own hands.’

  A year later Tommy’s dreams of All-Ireland glory were shattered when Dublin unexpectedly lost the final to Donegal. Dublin were odds-on favourites to win the game and failed to perform. Some players had been caught up in the hype that preceded the game and were not mentally tuned into the task at hand. Veteran Dublin goalkeeper John O’Leary heaped praise on his captain in the aftermath for his efforts to get the players focused, but that was little consolation. Tommy thought he was suffering with the disappointment of that defeat, but he could not have known what was coming down the line.

  Dublin and Donegal met again in the League final in 1993. The first game was drawn and the replay took place in Croke Park on 9 May. Tommy had been named at centre half forward and in the early stages he clashed with Donegal’s Brian Murray. Murray was moving away when Carr stuck out a foot to trip him. The linesman alerted the referee and Carr was sent to the line. The action was interpreted as a kick and a three-month suspension was expected. Unfortunately for Carr the GAA had embarked on a disciplinary crackdown that season and had decided to double suspensions for off-the-ball incidents. Carr was banned for six months. His season was effectively over.

  A major controversy erupted. The Dublin management team led by Dr Pat O’Neill and the Dublin County Com-mittee felt that a major injustice had been done. Once again Tommy Carr was on the front pages of the national newspapers as appeal after appeal was lodged to have the suspension reduced. He continued training with the Dublin squad in the hope that he would be able to play some part in the Championship. Eventually the suspension was reduced by two months. It meant he would only be eligible to play if Dublin reached the All-Ireland final. They lost the semi-final to Derry by a point.

  It was a dark period. ‘It was a horrible place to be. What I did was wrong and inexcusable. When I appeared before the committees in Croke Park I was asked how did I think my action looked to children. And I knew in my heart and soul that it didn’t look good. I actually don’t think it was as bad as it looked. It wasn’t vicious or brutal. I’d had my share of skirmishes, that’s the kind of player I was. I deserved a punishment, but I didn’t deserve six months.

  ‘It was a terrible time. I tried to escape from it all by going to the cinema or a restaurant. I didn’t want to talk about it or read about it but I couldn’t escape. It was everywhere all the time. The incident itself was shown repeatedly on television and it didn’t get to look any better. My close friends and family provided great support, but the more support I got the more I felt I had let people down. Pat O’Neill promised that as soon as the suspension was over I would get my place on the team so I trained every night. Some of the lads thought I was mad. But I was just waiting for the day when I would be released from what I considered a prison. And then they reduced the suspension by just two months which meant I missed the game against Derry. That was wrong and it hurt.’

  Effectively it ended his Dublin career. He did play in the following League campaign and was a substitute during the 1994 Championship. But by the time Dublin won the All-Ireland title in 1995, Tommy Carr was watching from afar. Those were the times, he admits, when he hated the GAA. He remembers a newspaper headline at the time that described him as ‘the enemy of the GAA’. And he was. But he isn’t one who holds grudges. The effects of the year wore off in time. The GAA family embraced him in other ways and it wasn’t long before he was back in the centre of the action.

  On 8 December 1997 Tommy was appointed manager of the Dublin football team. It was an audacious move for the individual and the county committee. The All-Ireland success of 1995 was almost forgotten in the maelstrom that was the reign of Mickey Whelan in 1996 and 1997. Dublin had struggled to maintain the momentum of the early part of the decade under Whelan. There was dissent in the dressing-room and Whelan had been subjected to some harsh treatment by the supporters. There wasn’t a long queue to take the job.

  Tommy explains: ‘I always knew I would manage Dublin some day. I wanted to. When the time came I was very young and very naïve. I would also question my sense of timing. I was coming into a team that had crawled over the line in 1995 [to win the All-Ireland Championship] and was actually on the way down. We started disassembling the team. Over a three-year period players like Mick Deegan, Keith Barr, Paul Clarke and Paul Bealin went. That was hard. I had played with them and they had been the heart of the team. But we had to make changes and it took time.’

  In four Championship seasons his Dublin teams reached three Leinster finals but lost to Meath twice and Kildare after a replay in 2000. His best memories of the time come from his final year, 2001. Under the new Championship structures, Dublin qualified for an All-Ireland quarter-final meeting with champions Kerry that was staged in Semple Stadium, and were only denied a famous victory by a touch of magic from Maurice Fitzgerald. Dublin were a
point ahead when Fitzgerald took a sideline kick 45 metres from the Dublin goal. Kicking the ball from his hands he elegantly sent the ball curling over the bar to earn Kerry a replay which they duly won. Carr reflects: ‘I felt that day we were a tight, close team. Although the team did not deliver an All-Ireland I think the Dublin public identified with it. They knew the players were really dedicated. I felt very genuinely about that team and I was heartbroken when they did not achieve what they deserved.

  ‘It is a tough role being Dublin manager. Some managers have received terrible abuse. I was lucky I didn’t get any of that. Why? Maybe the public recognised the commitment I gave and the commitment the players gave. It is hard to know how the Irish public feel. Are we sympathetic? Are we giving? Are we cynical? Are we cruel? I think the Gaelic games public, especially when they see something genuine, they respond to it and they knew we were very genuine about what we were doing.’

  He sounds frustrated when discussing Dublin. ‘Dublin are in this place where everything is set up for them to win something. When I was a player we went through the same thing right up to 1995. There had been near misses – it’s about learning the trick of winning, to have a bit more character, a bit more maturity and a sense of what the thing means. Looking back now I can see that we lacked that bit of character and maturity. We didn’t lack talent or skill. You could pull out videos of those games over the years and pick out the incidents that cost us those games. It’s about maturity. I hate saying that about Dublin teams but it has to be said. I don’t believe Dublin are that far off the mark but they need to show a bit more maturity.’

  His term as manager ended controversially in October 2001. His name was placed before the county committee for ratification after a period of rumour and counter-rumour about who would stand for the job. There were stories doing the rounds that Mick O’Dwyer had been approached to take over while Tommy was still in the job. Though those stories were denied, they added to the intrigue surrounding the question of his reappointment. Delegates to the Dublin County Board were divided 46–46 when called to vote. The County Chairman, John Bailey, used his casting vote to remove Carr.

  He wasn’t idle for long. Roscommon came calling at the end of 2002: ‘John Tobin approached me and asked me to do it. Initially I said “no” but he was persistent. My wife Mary encouraged me to go for it and I had two tremendous years. We had a great run in the qualifiers when we beat Cork, Leitrim, Offaly and Kildare to qualify for the All-Ireland quarter-finals where we played Kerry. I had great hopes for that game but I’m not so sure the players had the same level of ambition. That is a problem for counties that have not enjoyed success. They are unsure of how to achieve it. It is a question of attitude and belief and I tried to change that.

  ‘In our second year we had some great days. That team had some great characters. Take our goalkeeper Shane Curran. He scored 1–1 against Sligo that year as a free-taker. Again we had a decent run and played Dublin in Croke Park. That was a decent performance and our supporters applauded us off the field. I told the chairman that evening that I was going. But he convinced me to stay. It was a mistake on my part. My heart wasn’t in it.’

  Early in 2005 there were rumblings of discontent from a small group of players. ‘The chairman rang me about it. A few players had issues with me and wanted to meet the board. I said that’s it. Maybe I used it as an opportunity to get out. I did have great support from players like David Casey but I knew it was time to go.’

  The love affair continues. He became Cavan manager for the 2009 season and despite having to survive a close vote remained in charge for 2010. ‘Why am I still involved in the thick of it?’ he muses. ‘I don’t know. People talk about culture and character and all that being in the genes. Maybe that is so; maybe there are psychological things deep down that we can’t explain. Am I still chasing the dream? Absolutely. I love the challenge. I still love and enjoy the moment in the changing room when you’re walking out, the build-up before the game, the rush of adrenalin when things are going well, working with fellows, seeing them grow up and improve. It is an altruistic thing but there is satisfaction from watching players improve, seeing if you can bring something to the table that wasn’t there before. There is also a sense of duty to give something back to the game that gave so much to me. Compared to others I have won nothing, but I have had a great time out of it. I have written newspaper articles, I have worked on radio. It is a privilege to be asked to do those things.’ He resigned as Cavan manager in June 2010.

  Despite the skirmishes, the controversies and the disappointments, he appreciates today what the GAA is. ‘I love it and I hate parts of it, the politics of it. I have never had an ambition to be chairman of a County Board. I don’t want to be president of the GAA. Would I like to be involved in management in ten years’ time – when things are going well in management I’d say I’d like to stay for another thirty years; when you have a bad day it’s like “get me out of here”. The GAA is probably one of the greatest networks, brotherhoods, whatever you want to call it, in the world. It’s an incredible organisation and I have a greater respect and understanding of it now than I did when I was coming up through it. You go anywhere in the country and you meet people on the one wavelength. It is the same whether you are in the US or Australia or anywhere in the world, you will always find someone who shares your interest. It’s an incredible network that is unmatched.’

  At the highest level Tommy and Declan played with and against some of the great exponents of the games of football and hurling. Playing for both Tipperary and Dublin, Tommy lined out against Jack O’Shea. ‘He was a huge man in every way, a huge athlete, he really had everything.’ There were others he regarded as special. ‘Peter Canavan had incredible skill levels, so much talent. Larry Tompkins was another. Bernard Flynn was a great forward. All of those guys had super talent but they also had huge application levels which made them what they were.’ There is a little regret among the Carrs that they never played alongside one another at the highest level. ‘We always supported each other,’ says Tommy. ‘I was always pumped up watching Tipperary, even last year [2009] in the All-Ireland final. And Declan has been a huge Dublin supporter. If he hadn’t played hurling for Tipperary he would love to have played football for Dublin.’ Declan has taken on coaching duties as well and has spent two seasons with the Tipperary under-21 hurlers, guiding them to a Munster title in 2008.

  Appropriately they did finish their playing careers side by side back where it all began, with Lucan Sarsfields. Tommy was first to return to the old stomping ground when his one-time adversary and good friend from Meath, Liam Hayes, took up a coaching role with the club. The Carr effect would be profound. Lucan regained senior football status in 1995. Declan had moved to the United States for four years but returned late in 1998 and rejoined Lucan. He inspired the hurlers to win the Dublin Intermediate League and Championship. And for a few football games that season Tommy and Declan Carr were team-mates.

  The Bonnar Brothers

  Cormac Bonnar was coaxed out of retirement to play a vital role in Tipperary’s re-emergence as a major hurling power in the late 1980s. © Brendan Moran/SPORTSFILE

  Cormac Bonnar was twenty-nine years old when he decided it was time for him to end his hurling career with Cashel King Cormacs. It was 1988 and he was living in Limerick and newly married. He had enjoyed a good innings – twelve seasons in all with the club, All-Ireland under-age medals with Tipperary, great hurling and football experiences in University College Dublin (UCD). He even had a Championship outing with the Tipperary seniors a few years before. That hadn’t gone too well. But, all in all, he could reflect happily on his sporting achievements. It was time to move on.

  He knew he wouldn’t be idle. As a teacher he would be involved with coaching children. That was fairly obvious. And there was a chance he would get involved with a club wherever his career took him. Limerick at that time; who knows where in the future. He was ready to transfer his enthusiasm for playing t
o supporting his younger brothers as they developed their careers with Cashel and Tipperary.

  Colm was five years younger. Cormac had been in the crowd in Fitzgerald Stadium, Killarney the previous summer when Colm had been one of the star turns as Tipperary bridged a sixteen-year gap between Munster Senior Hurling Championship successes after a series of dramatic games against Cork. Colm had lined out alongside another Cashel man, Pa Fitzell, in Tipperary’s midfield. The second youngest of the Bonnars, Conal, had been on the Tipperary minor team that won the provincial title in 1987 and had only lost to Offaly in the All-Ireland final by two points.

  These were exciting times in Tipperary hurling. Cormac had no regrets that his time had passed. Just one more season with Cashel and that would be it. ‘I had had enough, simple as that,’ he reflects. ‘I had a dozen years at it and enjoyed most of it. There was a lot of travelling back and forth for training and matches and I was getting tired of it.’

  Cashel were drawn to play Clonoulty-Rossmore in the first round of the 1988 West Tipperary Championship. With a young Declan Ryan generating much excitement around the county, Clonoulty started as favourites. Cormac had the task of marshalling the new guy. Cashel won against the odds. Among the interested spectators that evening was Theo English, the former star hurler who had become a Tipperary selector with his old team-mates Babs Keating and Donie Nealon two years before and had begun the major reconstruction job necessary in Tipperary.