Ardclough legend on his 11 Kildare SHC wins and lifelong dedication to his club

There are many things that can make a person a legend at a GAA club. County Kildare is still witnessing Johnny Doyle add to his legacy in Allenwood through timeless playing success. But there is more than just one way to make yourself a beloved club member, especially in a sport that is propped up by volunteering.

Ardclough’s Tom Johnson can check all the boxes of club legend. The 72 year-old has been a part of 11 Kildare Senior Hurling Championships wins, nine as a player and two as a coach, as well as countless hours given back to his club. Tom has been chairman, a committee member and is still groundskeeper to this day.

Coming through the ranks, Tom saw the team he was trying to earn a place on lift the 1968 Kildare SHC. An incredible feat amidst years of Éire Óg dominance, Ardclough stopped the Caragh club claiming five Kildare SHC wins in a row.

However, there wasn’t going to be a seismic shift yet in Kildare hurling, Éire Óg would win the four Championships that followed too. All four final wins were against Ardclough, including two hammerings by margins of 18 and 13 points.
A 20 year-old Tom would join the Ardclough senior team and establish himself as a starter following the 1970 campaign.

Tom recalls his first meeting with Éire Óg vividly as he received a warm welcome from the opposition’s captain. “It was the first time I ever played senior, I was a bit raw at the time and I remember coming on as a substitute. (Peter) “Red” Connolly sickened me (with a hit) as soon as I got onto the field. I just said to myself that is the last time that is going to happen,” he recalled.

Éire Óg and Ardclough shared the Kildare SHC final for eight straight years prior to the 1973 final and the former had taken home the title in all but one of them.

The '73 final would be a crucial turning point in the sides' rivalry as Ardclough took home the title and brought to an end Éire Óg’s stranglehold on Kildare hurling with a 3-9 to 1-6 win.

“They were tough games back then with Éire Óg, yes there were belts taken and belts given. I feel that is the only difference now, that when the match was over, it was over. You left it on the field,” Tom explained.

“I remember at that time, both sides would go across to Higgins’ after the County final. It was always done when I was playing that both teams went across. I knew the Éire Óg lads nearly as well as I knew our own.”

Tom had high praise for many of his former teammates but made special mention of a fellow defensive minded player, Richard Cullen and the job he did on Wexford’s legendary forward Tony Doran.

“Most people talk about ‘75 when we look back (on the wins) and that’s because we reached a Leinster semi-final. We were in the Leinster Championship proper. We beat Buffer’s Alley (Wexford) and we got into the semi-final against James Stephens’ when they had the likes of Fran Larkin, Brian Cody and Nicky Brennan, six or seven of them on the Kilkenny team. But they beat us in Rathdowney, it snowed the whole way through that match,” Tom recalled.

The 70s were no doubt incredible for Tom and Ardclough, but late into the decade and into the early 80s is where they would write themselves into Kildare hurling history.

Ardclough would take home two more Championships before completing the famous five-in-a-row that they had denied their rivals Éire Óg of 11 years prior. Ardclough won the Kildare SHC in 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982 and 1983.

Other than a hammering of St Brigid's in ‘80 and a commanding win over Castledermot in ‘83, Ardclough would have to more than earn those titles on the big day in thrilling finals.

“It comes in phases (success), there were lean years there during the 90s because we didn’t have the population, and still don’t, but didn’t then anyways,” Tom said.

Tom would win his last Kildare SHC in 1985 before retiring the following year, at 36, with a significant knee injury. His exit, related or not, coincided with a barren spell in terms of Championship wins for his club.

After a brief return for the club in 1991 to make a run at Junior football title, Tom got stuck into coaching the next generation of hurlers. After Feile success just two years later, the groundwork had been laid for the Ardclough resurgence in the 2000s.

Tom would take charge of the Ardclough hurlers in 2004 and lead them to the club’s first Senior Championship title in 19 years, when he was on the field himself. He would also remain on the coaching side as part of Noel O’Sullivan’s staff for the club’s 2006 provincial run.

Ardclough beat Raharney of Westmeath 2-6 to 2-4 in the Leinster Intermediate final that year, becoming the first ever Kildare team to win the competition. They remain one of only two teams ever to do so after the achievement was finally matched by Naas in 2021.

There are many parallels between the Naas of today and some of the great Ardclough teams down the years and Tom has nothing but praise for the team who have now replicated his side’s five county titles in a row.

“It’s true that it is getting harder to compete with the population of the big towns. But that should not discredit them (Naas), because those lads still have to do the work. Everyone says Naas this and Naas that, but it doesn’t just happen,” Tom said.

The glory of enjoying 11 Kildare Senior Hurling Championship wins both on and off the field has now been replaced by a busy but far more subdued role in recent years for Tom with Ardclough.

The club groundskeeper remains staunch in his defence that his dedication into his 72nd year is nothing noteworthy.

“You just get roped into it,” he laughed. “I thought after retiring and finishing as chairman that it’d be it, but I even ended up as bar manager there for a time. But there are an awful lot of people that do great work for the club and through coaching too.”

Tom concluded with a few words on his time as player, coach and club stalwart. Amidst a sea of successes and titles, the Ardclough man spoke chiefly about the people he spent those years with.

“It’s like any club, we won the Senior B in 1980 with Kildare, but winning the Championship with your own club is different, even anyone that wins an All-Ireland will tell you that. Friendships that you have still to this day,” he said.

“We always went into a pub here or there on the way home. Only four lads on the team drank, but that wasn’t what it was about, it was lads sticking around together.”

The Leinster Leader will be doing a feature article from every club in Kildare as part of the Love of the Game series.
If you have a suggestion for someone from your club, a legendary player, selfless volunteer or an idea of your own, send them to daragh.nolan@leinsterleader.ie.