Local Faces: Christy McGinty

GAELIC games can be so many different things to so many different people. It is a celebration of all that it means to be Irish and the culture surrounding it.

Even for people that don’t necessarily come from an Irish background, it can bring a sense of belonging and community to everyone.

Once that first whistle blows on the field, people from different walks of life, cultures and backgrounds are equal.

What you have in common is the sport, with a sense of pride and ownership for the jersey shared by each person on the field that runs so deep. It’s pure.

For Christy McGinty, it’s about “the parish and the passion”.

One of seven children of Martin and Sarah McGinty, Christy grew up on Achill Island and lived on a row of four houses that was home to 24 people.

To cut the mustard, Island life was full. Growing up, Achill was home to nine churches and it was a busy lifestyle.

During his time at Achill Sound – the Gaeltacht village – he would compete in 12-school competitions and later in Achill Secondary School, he was involved in several finals.

“On Achill we had two great schools, gaelic football schools. It was everything we did.

“We played in three finals in colleges and as it turned out, I played against one of the great Thomas Davis players, JJ Martin, in one of the finals. He was a stalwart with Davis’.

“It’s a family interest, my family was football mad really. Gaelic football was the thing in Achill.”

When asked if he was a handy enough footballer in his day, Christy laughs and says “ah not too bad”. He was most certainly being coy.

Christy was part of teams that fended off the likes of Castlebar, Westport and Claremorris to claim Mayo Juvenile A Championship and Minor A Championship titles in 1964 and ‘65.

The Mayo man spent his entire life perfecting his carpentry skills and working in construction industry – and it all started when he was a teenager.

When Christy was 17-years-old, he uprooted his busy life on Achill Island and landed in the bustling city of London in the pursuit of work in industry as a carpenter.

But he definitely was not leaving gaelic football behind. He was only getting started.

“There was no such thing as an apprenticeship in Ireland, all you could do is hope for the best, keep working and build your way up,” he says.

“You’d be working with carpenters all the time and you’d pick it up as you went along.

“On Achill Island, emigration was very much the thing that you did. The fathers would emigrate and they’d come home maybe once a year to the farm.

“It was the done thing. Everyone was going to London at the time, talking about the money they were earning and that.

“When I look back on it, I had almost made the Mayo minor football team the year before and I certainly would have made it.

“Looking back now, it was a regret because I was really in the fore the year before, I was on the borderline and definitely would have made minors the next year.

“I don’t regret going, I just regret maybe going a year too early. I did play a lot of football in London and played against some of the greats with St Vincent’s in Cricklewood.

“It was hopping at the time. It was like a community in London, gaelic football was a way to meet people or in the dance halls. You’d get to know so many people from different counties.”

It was in the Galtymore dance hall in Cricklewood that Christy met a woman named Mary, from Glenties in Donegal.

Later, they would get married and have four children, Carmel, Donna, Christina and Joseph.

“My greatest thrill was playing against Martin Newell, who was on the famous Galway three-in-a-row team,” Christy says about togging out for St Vincent’s in London.

“He was one of my idols growing up and he marked me in a championship semi-final over there in London.

“I played up in the half-forward line, that was my main position. Martin Newell was left half-back.

“I remember getting a goal, it was a great thing to do but it was really one of these great things to play against him.”

However, despite everything going swimmingly across the Irish Sea, the lure of home was undeniable and something that could not be ignored.

In 1973, himself, Mary and the kids moved back to Ireland.

“It broke my heart when I could hear the matches on the radio,” Christy recalls.

“I missed going to the matches, over to Castlebar, McHale Park, and watching Mayo playing Galway or going all over the country watching them.

“I was open minded, I just looked at houses and we said we’d go for it so we bought a McInerney house in Old Bawn.

“When I was in Dublin, I would bring the kids all over the country supporting Mayo.

“When I came home, I played for about a year back home [in Achill] but it was just too far to be travelling – it was tough going.

“I looked at Thomas Davis, I liked the look of it and I liked the fact they were a senior team as well. Sure it was on my doorstep as well. So, I joined Davis’ in 1975.”

Every child that kicks a gaelic football or pucks a sliotar is regaled with tales of the greats who graced the grandest stage of them all, Croke Park.

After joining the Tallaght club, Christy’s footballing dream came true.

“I never played in Croke Park before but I was so lucky to play four or five times after with Davis’,” he says, with sheer passion.

“I played in a Vincent de Paul Final against Synge Street in Croke Park and I was marking Kevin McManamon’s father, Ricey McManamon.

“We played before the Kerry and Dublin league match, which was fantastic.

“That was my highlight, to play in a final at Croke Park, that was the holy grail.”

With the Little Village, Christy had some amazing experiences and really found his home away from home.

“When I joined them, they only had the one pitch up at the graveyard beside The Square.

“That’s where we trained, and we trained in the muck. We trained in the corner and it was pure muck all the time.

“In ’82 when they opened the clubhouse, it was unbelievable.

“With all my kids and grandkids, I can see it now, it has grown immensely. At the moment, I do be up at the kindergarten on a Saturday morning and you see all the smiles on the parents’ faces and kids faces playing on the all-weather is unbelievable.

“They’re a great family club. The pendulum has swung around for me again because my daughters have kids playing there and my grandchildren are playing there now.

“I have grandchildren even playing with Dublin now, on the Dublin panels.”

Christy’s grandson Fionn Lynch is currently with Dublin Minor while his granddaughter Kerri Owens was part of the Dublin Senior Ladies Football panel last year and Amy Collins was recently a Dublin Under-16.

Gaelic football is in the McGinty blood. Christy’s daughter Christina had a long illustrious career with the Jackies having made her inter-county debut for the Dublin Junior’s back at the age of 13.

In 1989, a year later, Christina became one of the youngest ever players to celebrate All-Ireland Championship success with the side.

But what does gaelic games mean to Christy and the thousands of members in the almost 3,000 clubs worldwide? Simple. “It’s the parish and the passion.”

“When I grew up in Achill, it was the thing that kept us together,” says Christy.

“You played it with your friends and in school. It brought us all so, so close. You wouldn’t beat it.

“It’s the same with Davis’. If you’re ever in trouble, they’ll have your back. The sense of community is unbelievable. You have friends for life.

It’s not just gaelic football that Christy is passionate about either, it’s all sports and he has a particular fondness for rugby and soccer.

The 71-year-old recalls with great fondness the times he got to see Mike Gibson and Ireland take on England at Twickenham before he left London and getting a picture taken with Johnny Sexton a couple of hours before he togged out for the British and Irish Lions in Sydney.

In 1968, he saw his first ever Manchester United match, witnessing masters, Georgie Best, Denis Law and Bobby Charlton, at work when they faced Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

Christy considers that game at the Bridge as “the biggest highlight of my life”.

Today, Christy is kept on his toes by his 11 grandchildren and his love for sports is still as raw as it’s ever been.

“I’ll tell you what keeps me busy, I have so many grandchildren,” he says with a little laugh.

“They all train at different times and play at different times. If you don’t go to one but go to another then some will be saying ‘why didn’t you come to my match?’.

“I go to the senior lads matches, the ladies matches, the adult matches. I’ve two great friends Mick Kirby and John McGrath, and we’re always together at matches.”