Fedamore honour hurling heroes with night of celebration and new book

ONE OF Limerick’s most historic GAA clubs, Fedamore, is hosting a very special event celebrating the Golden Jubilee of its 1976 Intermediate County Hurling final win over Glenroe on November 7.

The event, at Kirby’s Hunting Lodge in Grange, begins at 8:00pm and will be preceded by Mass for deceased members of the club at Fedamore Church at 7:00pm.

It promises to be a wonderful gathering for GAA supporters, not just within the club, but also for enthusiasts and friends from all over the county and beyond.

The night will also see the launch of a specially commissioned commemorative book focusing not just on Fedamore’s 1976 County Intermediate success, but also encompassing aspects of the famed east Limerick club’s impressive 140-year history, including its 1912 and 1927 County Senior Hurling final wins.

It will also feature as well as featuring many of its great players through the decades, such as Willie Gleeson, Paddy Clohessy, Eddie Prendeville, John Condon, Tom Shinny, Tom McCarthy and Dave Clohessy, scorer of a remarkable four goals against Dublin at Croke Park in the 1934 All Ireland Hurling Final.

One of the most noteworthy statistics of all in the book is that, as of today, Fedamore has a total of 12 All Ireland Senior Hurling medals won on the field of play by players from the club.

Before 2018, the club was in second place on that particular roll of honour, second only to Ahane. It is only in the past six remarkable years for Limerick that the likes of Patrickswell, Na Piarsaigh and Doon have passed Fedamore on this particular roll of honour. Limerick GAA owes a lot to the Fedamore club.

However, the single most important resource of information for us was an archive passed down through generations of the club by the likes of former TD Peadar Clohessy, Johnny Hogan, David Conway, John Condon and Séamus Fitzgerald. It provided us with a wealth of historic detail as well as some wonderful old photos.

Also, no self-respecting Fedamore publication should be without some input from the considerable body of work left by the late, great Christy Fitzgerald — a man of so many talents, but whose first passion was his home club.

Christy was a native of Fedamore, but spent most of his adult life in Galway. He played with Fedamore in the 1940s and, despite leaving home to work with CIE, he was unrelenting in his promotion of the club through many different initiatives, as well as through his countless articles, poems and publications.

All involved in the book would also like to thank another stalwart, Dinny Keogh, himself a former player, who was so generous with his time and with the important information and detail he provided, as well as the many wonderful photographs he shared with us of Fedamore teams from the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s.

Many of the aforementioned people have passed to their eternal reward, which makes this publication all the more profound and poignant. On the night of the celebration on November 7, a special presentation will be made of a copy of our book to each surviving member of Fedamore’s 1976 team or to a family representative. Copies of the book will also be on sale on the night at a special introductory price.

Fitting too, that Matt O’Callaghan is Master of Ceremonies on the night of the celebration. Matt was the Glenroe chairman back in 1976 and has also contributed an article giving his perspective on those heady and event-filled years of the 1970s.

The 1976 Fedamore Intermediate team won their Intermediate County Final at Bruff on November 7, 1976. A sublime moment for a great club, and the people responsible will be deservedly honoured on the very day of its 50th anniversary.