Death of iconic Offaly hurling figure

THE death has taken place of one of Offaly hurling's favourite sons, a truly iconic figure, Mick Spain, Killyon, Birr.

93 years of age, Mick Spain was one of the greatest ever hurling personalties in his parish and county. He gave a lifetime of service to the game as a player, club chairman, manager and selector – he was a selector for three of Offaly's four All-Ireland senior hurling wins.

He was a terrific force of personality, charismatic, good company and he possessed an infectious passion for Offaly and Drumcullen hurling – he also made a major contribution to Birr GAA Club, playing with them for over a decade of a long career and serving as club chairman in the late 1960s, when he lived in the town.

The Spain's were one of Drumcullen's great GAA families and a young Mick Spain grew up with a hurl in his hands. One of a family of 13, six sons, the Spain's were pivotal to a great era for Drumcullen GAA Club.

They won the last of their seventeen Offaly Senior Hurling Championship titles in 1960 and they had a golden era in the decade before that, winning titles in 1950, 1951, 1952, 1954, 1957 and 1958. Their 1960 final against Shinrone was a great game with Drumcullen winning by 4-11 to 4-10. It was long remembered in Shinrone, who had to wait until 2022 for their next appearance in the final and their first ever championship win – they were furious at the amount of injury time played, resulting in a memorable, caustic local poem being written about the display of the referee, one John Dowling, the future GAA president and then at the zenith of his refereeing powers as he took charge of both All-Ireland senior hurling and football finals that year.

In 1960, no one could have anticipated that Drumcullen would be winning their last title ever. They remained fiercely competitive in the 1960s, losing finals in 1962, 1963, 1966 and their last final appearance was a 1973 defeat by a then unbeatable St Rynagh's – Mick Spain was a Birr member during all of these losing finals. They conceded a messy walkover to Coolderry in the 1961 final, the last time that happened in an Offaly senior hurling or football final. Drumcullen sought a postponement because of injured players, Coolderry insisted on it being played and were duly awarded the cup – the bad blood between Coolderry and Drumcullen was a central part of the Offaly hurling story for several decades.

Mick Spain featured on a few of successful teams in the 1950s and 1960, having won a Minor Hurling Championship medal in 1949. He came on as a sub on the Drumcullen team eliminated by White Rovers (a predecessor of Crinkill) in the 1951 Intermediate Hurling Championship and won his first Senior Hurling Championship medal in 1952.

He played in an era when some players travelled widely and had no compunction about playing illegally in other counties. He played with Mountrath in the Laois Senior Hurling Championship, he played junior hurling with Monaghan and he played with Nenagh in the North Tipperary Junior Hurling Championship final in 1952.

He was on the Offaly team that won the Leinster Junior Hurling Championship in 1953, losing to Tipperary by 1-7 to 1-2 in the “home” All-Ireland final in front of an estimated 11,000 crowd at a throbbing St Brendan's Park in Birr. Junior played a significant part in the Offaly hurling tale as the All-Ireland wins in this grade in 1923 and 1929 were their only days in the limelight until the 1980 breakthrough. The 1953 win was with a much celebrated squad, with some terrific characters and they were long remembered in Offaly – Mick Spain was midfield in the All-Ireland final alongside Rahan man Johnny Minnock and was a tough, physically strong, highly regarded hurler, who was ideal for a central position in that era when hurling was no place for the faint of heart or the shy.

He went on to play nearly 30 championship and league games for Offaly senior hurlers from 1954 to 1964, mainly at midfield but also at centre half back, centre half forward and full forward. He also played minor hurling for Offaly – the U21 grade was not in existence at that time.

Mick Spain is synonymous with the club but his contribution to nearby Birr has to be highlighted as well.

He married Nenagh woman Kathleen Gardiner in 1960, they set up their family home in Newbridge Street Birr and he switched to them at that stage – he was on the Drumcullen team in 1960. At the time the parish rule in Offaly was interpreted differently than it later came to be and players had to play where they lived – it was loosely defined and they could also play with their home club if they lived in their home house at weekends, as they were working elsewhere. In Mick Spain's case, however, he was clearly living in Birr and as a result, he had to leave Drumcullen: locals recall that when one of Drumcullen's two greatest ever hurlers, Paddy Molloy – Pat Fleury is the other – followed him into Birr, Drumcullen kicked up a stink and he finished his playing career with them. It has been standard practice for decades that you can stay with your home club even if you move to another parish.

Irrespective of all that, Mick Spain devoted himself to his new club, he really put his shoulder to the playing wheel in the 1960s into the '70s and he was a key part of one of Birr's most important championship wins. He was full back on their 1971 2-10 to 2-9 win over St Rynagh's in the Senior Hurling Championship final. That was Birr's first championship win since 1948 and this team was much celebrated as they embarked on another long twenty year famine before their 1991 success sparked their golden era. An important side-note with that final is that it stopped St Rynagh's from winning an extraordinary nine championships in a row – they won in 1968, 1969 and 1970 and five in a row from 1972 to 1976.

He won six senior hurling medals in all, five with Drumcullen (1952, 1954, 1957, 1958 and 1960) and one with Birr – he was the Drumcullen captain for the big 1957 final win over Shannon Rovers, one of the many former clubs in Banagher parish before the 1960s formation of St Rynagh's.

His role in Birr cut far deeper and he was a club chairman for a period. He was chairman while still playing in the 1960s and chaired the 1967 AGM when there was a long debate about a proposal to remove the ban on rugby, soccer, etc from the GAA rule book. Younger members, led by then club and county hurler Declan Hanniffy – father of future county hurlers Gary, Darren and Rory Hanniffy – sought its abolition. Members tied 17 each when it was put to a vote and Mick Spain used his casting vote to defeat the motion supporting its abolition: Several members abstained.

The debate was very much one of that time with Hanniffy arguing that the rules served no useful purpose. The rule also banned clubs holding “foreign dances” - jazz was a particular target for ban adherents for decades – and Hanniffy described this as “pitiful”, stating that every club was finding a way around it.

When Mick Spain said that “a man who plays Gaelic is a better Irishman because he plays Irish games”, Hanniffy pointed out that republican hero Kevin Barry played rugby, and the debate progressed on those lines.

He will be remembered very fondly in Birr GAA Club and he was a very hard working player, officer and team mentor but his heart lay in Drumcullen and he duly moved back into the parish, building a house on his home land at Killaun, Birr, transferring back to them in 1979. He fulfilled an ambition by wearing Drumcullen's famed sashed jersey for one more season after returning, playing at intermediate level – it meant he could say he finished his playing with his home club and he duly ended a career that spanned four decades after that.

He later moved back to Birr, living there for a number of years, before returning to his home parish once again a couple of years ago, living at Killyon,

As you would expect, he devoted himself to Drumcullen, serving them in a variety of capacities. He was club chairman and treasurer for different spells, was a stable on committee for years, he was a team mentor and he put in the hard yards in several ways.

He served Offaly GAA very well at county level. He was a long time member of the Fixtures and Disciplinary Committee, serving for around over 15 years in the 1980s and 1990s. He was fair and impartial in his work on this committee and also served on the County Board Finance Committee. He served on other committess, including ones to pick team managements and hurling review groups. He was a Drumcullen delegate at County Board meeting, an Offaly delegate at Leinster Council Convention and national Congress at different times.

His services were frequently sought as a county selector and he was on the management team for some of Offaly's biggest successes. He was a selector when Offaly won the Leinster U21 Hurling Championship in 1978 – that win was very important, several of those players winning the first Leinster Senior Hurling Championship in 1980, first All-Ireland in 1981 as Offaly embarked on a fantastic two decades of success.

Mick Spain was a selector for those bigs wins in 1980 and 1981, he was there in 1985 when the Liam McCarthy Cup was won for a second time and he was there again for the 1994 win – he stepped down after that for health reasons.

As managers came and went in the 1980s and 1990s, Mick Spain remained as a selector – he was a selector when the late Andy Gallagher, who only passed a couple of months ago, was appointed as manager in 1980 and he also served under Diarmuid Healy, Georgie Leahy, Pat Joe Whelahan, Paudge Mulhare and Eamon Cregan.

He served from 1980 to 1994 apart from 1991, when Offaly won the National Hurling League, and 1993.

There was a messy back story behind his absence for 1993 and it led to serious friction with his own club, Drumcullen. Limerick hero Eamon Cregan was appointed as manager in October 1992 in place of Padraig Horan and Spain, Andy Gallagher, Pat Delaney (Kinnitty) and Pat McLoughney (Coolderry) were initially put forward as selectors with a fifth to be appointed.

At an extraordinarily fractious County Board meeting, carnage erupted as St Rynagh's delegate Patsy McNally proposed that Cregan be appointed but they postpone the ratififaction of selectors. His proposal was comprehensively defeated on a show of hands – there was no tally given but an inexact count by this reporter at that meeting put the margin down at approximately 32-12.

Patsy McNally left no one under any illusions where his disastfaction with the proposed management package lay, stating that two of them had “been in and out for the past seventeen years” and saying, “isn't it time for a change”.

This very clearly applied to Andy Gallagher and Mick Spain but the difficulty for Drumcullen emerged when their club delegate Joe O'Brien supported the proposal for the appointment of selectors to be deferred. O'Brien obviously had no issue with Mick Spain and his point was a genuine one as he questioned the fairness of appointing four selectors that night and then one on an individual basis. “We don't have the team management to ratify, only four fifths of it,” he remarked.

The fallout was immediate and considerable. A stunned chairman Brendan Ward was clearly caught unawares and he made a passionate appeal for unity, saying they were doing “untold damage” to Offaly hurling. His pleas for an unanimious decision fell on deaf ears as St Rynagh's pushed it to a vote.

Andy Gallagher and Mick Spain quickly resigned and resisted all efforts to get them back for 1993. The whole affair also caused turmoil in Drumcullen GAA Club as Mick Spain was their chairman at the time and he resigned over it.

In the middle of it all, Drumcullen GAA issued a statement, insisting that they had not opposed any nominee when seeking a deferral of the appointment of selectors.

Drumcullen GAA Club's statement said: “The proposal at that meeting suggested that four selectors would be ratified en-bloc while the fifth selector would be ratified on an individual basis. Our delegates quite rightly objected to this unequal treatment which was unfair and contrary to natural justice. Our objections were not accepted.

“We realise that inaccurate, unhelpful and divisive information has precipitated the resignation of our Chairman from his position in this club. His resignation has not been accepted. We have always had total confidence in his ability to represent this club and its policies in any capacity. That confidence is not ended by recent events.”

Thankfully, fences were mended across the board. Andy Gallagher and Mick Spain returned as selectors in 1994 when Offaly defeated Limerick with a sensational late comeback in the All-Ireland final – they worked under Cregan with Pat McLoughney and Paudge Mulhare of St Rynagh's while Pat Delaney opted out.

And things were also sorted out with Drumcullen as he returned to work diligently for the club. As he went through old age, he remained a regular at their games and was a very proud spectator when Drumcullen won the 2025 Intermediate Hurling Championship.

He had also resigned briefly as an Offaly senior hurling selector in 1982, though in very different circumstances. There was considerable controversy, including rows at County Board meetings, over a management decision to drop goalkeeper Damien Martin from the panel in the wake of the 1982 Leinster hurling final defeat by Kilkenny. St Rynagh's were up in arms over that decision, feeling that he was being scapegoated for the concession of a late Matt Ruth goal for Kilkenny in the 1982 Leinster hurling final defeat – he had tried to guide the ball out over the end line when Kilkenny played it back across for Ruth to score with a furious Offaly claiming it was wide. Manager Andy Gallagher, coach Diarmuid Healy and the selectors, including Spain, resigned amid the fall out but they soon returned and Martin was later recalled to the panel, playing on until 1984

He had a great appetite for involvement with teams and his longevity as a county selector shows how knowledgeable he was and how valued his opinion was. He got on with players, possessed a gentle fatherly air with them and worked well with team managers, getting on withthem. He had also served as an Offaly senior hurling selector in the 1950s and 1960s – he was a selector at one stage when he was still playing for Offaly!

In those days, managements were much different. There was no big high profile manager and instead that role generally went to a County Board officer, who acted mainly in an overseeing capacity. Big unwiedly groups of selectors were appointed – every senior club regularly had a selector with junior clubs occasionally having one representative and it was not a very refined method for selecting county teams. It was, however, the way things were for decades and Mick Spain grew up, played in and served as a selector in that environment – it began to change in the 1960s, evolved more in the 1970s and grew into a different orbit from the 1980s on.

Mick Spain evolved with the times, though he revelled in sharing his memories of the past – he could tell great stories about the Drumcullen hurling team of the 1940s and '50s, the more agricultural side of their game and character, the scraps they got into.

For example, he often recalled stories about a notorious 1947 Senior Hurling Championship semi-final between Drumcullen and Coolderry. Spain was just a young teenager at that but it was representative of the Drumcullen-Coolderry rivalry at its best, or worse, depending on what way you look at these things. There were savage scenes, hurls used as weapons when a row broke out after ten minutes and went on for ten minutes before the game was abandoned. Drumcullen were given the lion's share of the blame as they were thrown out of the championship and Coolderry went on to defeat Birr in the final. Two Drumcullen players were suspended for 2 years and 12 months and there was another twist when a Drumcullen hurler was fined £2 with expenses of £11 for assaulting Garda Clancy at the game – it was played in Tullamore as it was felt that venue might take some of the bite out of the tension between Coolderry and Drumcullen in Birr.!

We won't name the player in court here but garda evidence told of a series of fights also erupting with spectators who invaded the pitch while Garda Clancy explained what happened him: He spoke to one of the Drumcullen backs and asked him to “play the game and conduct himself” when he was struck from behind and “faded out” for a while. By the time, he recovered, the game had been called off and players were leaving the field. The guilty party explained that he had been in a “very excited condition at the time”, having been struck a few times with a hurl and had “no reason” for striking the garda.

As he moved through his 70s and 80s, he remained a passionate advocate of Offaly hurling. He was dismayed at the post 2000 decline and regularly shared his opinions about what he felt needed to be done to change things. He was thrilled when Offaly won the All-Ireland U20 Hurling Championship in 2024 and returned the top table at senior level.

The GAA and hurling is the public face of Mick Spain but there is of course a much deeper side to the man that his family, friends and those closest to him knew. He was a husband, father, son and brother and he was much loved by all who knew him. He had a lovely gentle way about him and exuded a real decency.

The GAA was one of his driving forces but he immersed himself in a wide range of community activity. He was centrally involved in a major renovation of the Church in Rath in the 1990s and work on the one in Eglish. He was involved in other community projects including the parish hall and he was one of the main people behind the establishment of a group water scheme in the parish some years ago – while he wanted this for the people of the parish, he could also see GAA benefits as it would help facilitate the building of houses in an area suffering from population decline.

He worked as a clerk of works with Offaly County Council before retiring. He also worked in construction. He employed people, recovered from setbacks and was an astute judge. He was a real reference point in the area and his advice was regularly sought by locals undertaking building projects themselves. His influence in all aspects of his parish was profound, both in a sporting and civil sense.

He went the full distance and lived life fully and well. Born in 1933, he was 93 years of age and would have been 94 in January. He went to school in Killyon National School and Birr Secondary School and he leaves a great legacy of achievement and commitment.

Predeceased by his beloved wife Kathleen, granddaughter Orlagh, great-grandson Ted and his brothers and sisters he is sadly missed and lovingly remembered by his family; Ray, Eamon, Michael and Bernadette, daughter-in-law Betty, Eamon’s partner Bridgie, his grandchildren; Aisling, Eimear, Amy, Darren and Mark and their partners, and great-granddaughter Siabhra.Also fondly remembered by his sister Carmel, nephews,nieces,cousins, extended family and wide circle of friends.

He will repose at his home in Killyon (R42TH28) on Saturday, November 14th, from 4pm. - 7pm and on Sunday, November 15th, from 4pm. - 7pm. Removal on Monday, November 16th, to St. John’s Church, Rath, arriving for Funeral Mass at 11am, followed by burial in Rath Cemetery.