2 weeks Ago
SOME YEARS AGO, two men who had once known each other as rivals, were enjoying a drink together as lifelong friends in a pub in Dublin. One of them, the owner of the establishment in Ballsbridge, was a former goalkeeper for the Dublin footballers. The other was a frequent visitor from Kerry and whenever he called in, the boss would stop pulling pints and pull up a chair at the bar.
But once, they were each other’s tormentor on the field, meeting in four All-Ireland finals throughout the 1970s. The pair are forever united in a famous moment in the 1978 All-Ireland final, bringing fame to one of them and humiliation to the other. The image of Paddy Cullen raising his arms in disbelief at a free being awarded for no clear reason, is well known.
Mikey Sheehy’s lobbed shot into the Dublin net, is what the incident iconic. They only ever spoke about the goal a few times, mainly whenever someone else would bring it up in their company. So, as they enjoyed a quiet pint, Paddy leaned in to get his friend’s views on what happened “Paddy, will you agree with me on one thing?” Sheehy enquired.
“What’s that, Paddy?”, came the reply. “It definitely wasn’t a free.” **** John O’Leary was 13 in 1974.
He hadn’t quite started playing competitive football at underage level yet, but already, he had a vision for the kind of player he wanted to be. He had watched Paddy Cullen produce a crucial save in the All-Ireland final that stirred something within him. And it came at just the right time as Dublin were celebrating their first Sam Maguire success in 11 years.
A movement was beginning in the capital under the guidance of the great Kevin Heffernan. Cullen would come away with three All-Ireland titles as a result. Out in the garden with his friends, O’Leary would imagine this was the 1974 All-Ireland final and that a penalty had just been awarded to Galway.
Just as Paddy Cullen did to the taker Liam Sammon, O’Leary would attempt similar acrobatics to parry the ball away with his wrist. Cullen was the player he molded himself on. But he could never have predicted that one day he would accept the baton from him as Dublin’s resident goalkeeper.
“In 74, two of our club, Georgie Wilson and Stephen Rooney were on the Dublin team so that brought us close to the team. But Paddy Cullen was my hero, not realising that by the time he finished playing, I was ready to start playing so I followed into the position after he left.” The pair were never in the same dressing-room together but not that far away either.
In 1979, O’Leary was a Dublin minor while Cullen was in his last season with the county’s senior team. Both sides reached All-Ireland finals that year, resulting in glory for O’Leary and disappointment for Cullen as Dublin were overwhelmed by Kerry. Within a year of Cullen’s retirement, O’Leary took over as Dublin’s number one.
Just over 10 years later, Cullen was back in the Dublin fold as manager of the team. “It was good fun,” O’Leary remembers. “He wasn’t your typical manager.
He was flamboyant, good humoured and outgoing. We were lucky for the time he was there and I remember the time he was there with fondness.” **** Mikey Sheehy always considered Cullen to be an innovator between the sticks.
In an era where goalkeepers instinctively cleared the ball down field, he notes how Cullen could exude patience and assess his options before deciding what to do with possession. Long before short kickouts were a staple of goalkeepers everywhere, Cullen already had that skill in his locker. “He was thinking in goals like an outfield player.
He just didn’t want to get rid of the ball when he got it. In those days, a lot of keepers kicked it as far as they could. Himself and [Cork goalkeeper] Billy Morgan were similar and they laid the foundations for what’s going on now.
“Paddy could have played in any era. He would be quite comfortable with these new rules. He was a great sportsperson.
Paddy never did any of the dark arts, he always played football and you’d always have a drink with him after, win, lose or draw. We can always say we had great friendships with those Dublin lads. “He was a flamboyant and brilliant keeper.
He had great agility and was always ahead of his time. He was a 6ft 2” specimen, a fine cut of a man and always togged out immaculately. He always had his socks pulled up and that always made him bigger looking.
He had an enormous presence in goals.” O’Leary uses similar sentiments to describe his predecessor who he has met a few times since the end of his playing days. Most people are familiar with Cullen’s pub in Ballsbridge, but it was his bar in Swords that O’Leary visited most.
One of their more recent meetings was in Croke Park where Dublin’s All-Ireland-winning goalkeepers were invited to a special gathering. Paddy O’Flaherty of the successful 1958 team was there along with Pascal Flynn (1963), Paddy Cullen, O’Leary and Stephen Cluxton. “Paddy organised that and the hardest one to get there was Stephen Cluxton.
He [Cullen] was a great character, filled a room and was full of life. That’s a really nice memento and it’s one of the best photos I have.” **** It was before Covid when Sheehy last saw his old friend.
It was at a lunching event in Tralee, organised by his club Austin Stacks. The Dublin and Kerry players who were involved in the 1975 and 1976 All-Ireland finals will be meeting up this year in April as old friends who once fought fiercely will gather in Kenmare. Sheehy will be sad to attend the event without Cullen, who has passed away at the age of 80.
Sheehy has never liked discussing that free in the 1978 All-Ireland final. It was a critical score that helped propel Kerry to victory that day. And it was beautifully struck too.
But Sheehy doesn’t recall it with the same fondness. “I hate talking about it. Full stop,” he says, reiterating Micheál O’Hehir’s famous commentary which described the score as ‘the greatest freak of all time.
’ And when Cullen asked if he agreed that the free shouldn’t have been awarded, Sheehy was happy to support his old friend’s view. And thankfully, they didn’t discuss it too often over pints in Ballsbridge. “It wasn’t a free and I could understand Paddy with the hands out arguing.
It was a lucky goal and I’ll always say that. It’s very sad news. Paddy was a very nice, sociable individual.
“He set the parameters of what came after him.”.
