Fr Michael Cremin receives award

The legendary Fr Michael Cremin was among those honoured in the 2009 GAA President"s Awards on St Patrick"s Day. Fr Cremin led the Carmelite College, Moate, to three All-Ireland Colleges senior football titles (1976, 1980 and 1981), as well as six Leinster crowns. Indeed, during a glorious period for the Moate school, the Carmelite won four provincial championships in a row (1975 to 1978), adding two more Leinster titles in "80 and "81. This is the sixth year that the awards have been presented to members of the association who have made outstanding contributions to the GAA in their respective areas. At an event in Croke Park, which followed the AIB All-Ireland Club Championship finals, GAA President Nickey Brennan hosted the 16 award winners in the company of family and friends and lauded their work on behalf of the GAA over a prolonged period. Speaking to the "Westmeath Independent", Fr Cremin said he was honoured to be among the award recipients. 'The previous president of the GAA, Sean Kelly started the awards and they have been carried on by Nickey Brennan. It"s a good thing and it gives you a good overview of what different guys from various areas of the country are doing for the GAA. It was great to see the enthusiasm of fellas from small clubs,' he said. Among those who Fr Cremin met on the day of the awards function was Tommy Moran, who was the referee for the Carmelite"s Hogan Cup final victory over St Colman"s, Claremorris, in 1981. 'Meeting Tommy brought back great memories as we got a penalty in the last minute of that final. We had a guy called Willie Cahir who got injured and we moved Pat Murray (Moate All Whites) to midfield in place of Willie. Pat sent the ball in, a Claremorris player called Maher dived on the ball and the referee awarded a penalty. Mick Lynam (from Rosemount) took the penalty and put it into the net and we won the game,' he said. A native of Cork city, Michael spent a good part of his youth in rural parts of Co Cork and his love of Gaelic games largely stemmed from those experiences. So what was the secret of the Carmelite"s remarkable success in the 1970s and "80s? 'I would say one particular aspect was dedication and, secondly, the coach has to know what he"s doing,' said Fr Cremin. 'This was the time of Kevin Heffernan and Mick O"Dwyer and I studied football very closely. You need a system of play. I used to focus a lot on free-taking and keeping possession of the ball. The coach has to get on with his group of players. I spent a lot of time with the players and we were kind of professional in our own way.' Asked about players who starred for the Carmelite in the many successes the school enjoyed, Fr Cremin mentions players like Vinny Henry ('a great player'), Aidan O"Halloran ('he was excellent'), Val Daly, John Maughan, Willie Cahir and Mick Lynam, among many others. Michael recalls some gruelling sessions on Galvin"s Hill in Moate, which proved vital in ensuring that teams from the Carmelite had the required physical fitness for success. 'We used to have guys going up the hill with another lad on their shoulders; it was great for strengthening the Achilles tendons of players,' said Michael. Now based in Gort Mhuire in Dublin, Fr Cremin also coached the Westmeath minors to a Leinster minor title in 1963, defeating Dublin in the Leinster final, before losing to Kerry in the All-Ireland decider. 'We played Offaly in a real humdinger of a match that year (quarter-final). Fr Tom Gilhooley (incidentally, a native of Co Westmeath) was in charge of the Offaly team. We had a fella from Athlone who was a very good soccer player, Turlough O"Connor (who went on to achieve huge success in soccer as both a player and manager), and he played a big part in us winning that game,' recalled Michael. After an objection from Offaly as to O"Connor"s eligibility, Westmeath were without the Athlone player for the rest of their campaign. Fr Cremin also managed the Westmeath senior team for a couple of years and he was in charge when the team ran Offaly quite close in 1981, with Eugene McGee"s side going on to win the Leinster title, before adding the All-Ireland the following year. Speaking about the President"s Awards, Nickey Brennan said: 'This event is about underlining the extraordinary work that so many people do for the association in so many ways - work that does not always command attention or generate headlines - but is nonetheless vital to the health and well-being of the GAA.' 2009 GAA President"s Awards Michael Carroll (Tipperary); John Golden (Mayo - Rounders); Fr. Michael Cremin (Westmeath); Pat Uniacke (Galway and San Francisco); Theresa Kelly (Tyrone - Ladies Football); Jackie Brien (Galway - Camogie); PJ Quigley (Sligo); Eamonn Campion (Roscommon); LV Conway (Carlow); Mick Burke (Sligo); Peter Keogh (Wicklow); Ned Quinn (Kilkenny); Jimmy O"Mahony (Cork); Gilbert McIlhatton (Antrim); Eugene Gallagher (Donegal); Seán Finnegan (Galway - Handball).