Local Faces: Denis Commins
By Hayden Moore
“It’s not me, it’s the people who are with me,” is a line that Peamount United founder Denis Commins quips offhand about how the club has grown over the years and it stands to the character of the man.
Born into a farming family in Thurles, Tipperary on January 1, 1944, Denis could have never imagined the journey that soccer would bring him on.
Founder member of Peamount United, Denis Commins, credits the people who are with him for the success of the club
Being from a GAA stronghold, he played for Thurles Kickhams in his youth - something a lot of families were embedded in around the county at the time.
“My father was a Two-Mile Borris man and had won a medal when he played,” Commins tells The Echo.
“He had this medal on his pocket-watch that he’d carry around with him, we all thought it was an All-Ireland medal.
“But sure it was probably something like a Junior medal,” he says chuckling.
By “we all”, Denis is speaking about himself and his nine siblings.
In February of 1964, the Garda Síochána training centre in Templemore opened and within a year, Denis signed up.
Denis Commins believes: ‘You would truly have nothing without the help of hundreds of volunteers and decent people who have contributed to Peamount over the years’
He served 35 years of service with the guards, in Store Street and Donnybrook stations, and operated as a plain clothes Garda on the petty crime beat alongside his partner Pat Twomey.
In the 1970s, Denis moved out to Newcastle with his wife Julia and they have seven children together.
“It’s only for her I was able to do what I did, Julia is just a very good supportive wife.”
Through his laugh, Denis jokes that he “couldn’t trust any of these Dublin women so I had to bring my own up from the country with me”.
Denis Commins
A founder member, Denis started off as the Peamount’s first treasurer and over the last 38 years, the retired Garda has filled every position in the club at some stage.
“We formed the 73rd Dublin Scouting Group in 1977, so I was involved in the formation of that.
“We were playing Cubs soccer with a bunch of the lads and the late Tom Sullivan went up to Peamount Hospital one day and asked if we could use their grounds for pitches.
“And that was that.
Denis Commins
“There is a recognition for the hospital in the club crest.
“If you look at it, it has two symbols. One is the cross of Peamount Hospital and the other one is the scouting symbol.
“The colours of the club are the same as the 73rd Dublin as well, the green.”
And so Peamount United was born, in 1983.
The father of seven puts a lot of the clubs success down to a few key moments in the its history, the first of which was the purchase of land on Aylward Avenue in 1986.
Denis Commins
Club stalwarts Kevin Dowling, Sean Walsh and Eamon Hughes put their houses down as collateral in the agreement for the 3.5 acres.
Another key moment was the establishment of the now famous ladies section of Peamount in 1988, in which Denis and Bill McMahon were instrumental in.
The ladies section was founded not too long after the boys claimed the first major honours for the club in the shape of the Harmon Cup, an Under 14s competition, in 1986.
“The women were truly the turning point for the club, nobody would have heard for Peamount if it wasn’t for their success,” Denis says.
“Peamount is known internationally now.
“Could you ever have even imagined that Stephanie Roche would be standing there with Messi and Ronaldo after she scored that goal?
“Eileen Gleeson really brought us on as well, we were the first team in the country, male or female, to make the Last 32 of the Champions League when she was in there.”
The goal in which Commins is referencing was when Peamount United player Roche was nominated for the FIFA Puskás Award – with the footage of the goal going viral after Gleeson allegedly uploaded it online.
After retiring as a Garda, Denis drove a taxi for eight years and today he serves as Peamount’s Facilities Manager at their Greenogue premises – where they moved to just over a decade ago.
“I’m delighted that I get to do the pitches, I feel like the club is being handed down to a great executive committee with a bright future,” he says.
“It just shows the family ethos in the club and the family traditions when you see Katie Thompson as the chairperson of the club today, after her father Bill McMahon was.
“Even when you look at Con McCarthy, the support he gave to the club over the years has been invaluable.
“It’s the same with Dora and the late Seán Kelly from the Texaco in Newcastle, they supported the club so much over the years as well.
“You would truly have nothing without the help of hundreds of volunteers and decent people who have contributed to Peamount over the years.
“I’m really only a small cog in a very big wheel, it’s only for them that the club is where it is today.
“I have three grandchildren who play here in Peamount and I love getting to watch them play.
“What does Peamount mean to me? Well, it was my life.”
