Philip Heneghan's wonderful memories of Castlebar Mitchels Bord na nÓg
by Aiden Henry
Long before 2005, when the Mayo GAA County Board took over the renowned Hastings Insurance MacHale Park from the Castlebar Mitchels GAA Club, one of the great Mitchels volunteers who looked after the upkeep of the grounds was Philip Heneghan.
When the county board assumed control for the running of the grounds in 2005, they advertised for a person to manage the stadium. It came as no surprise when Philip Heneghan was offered the job, and as they say the rest is history.
To this day, Phil – as he is known to everyone – is the face everyone meets once they step inside the gates of Mayo’s premier venue. Be you from Belmullet, Shrule, Ballyhaunis or Lacken, you are merrily welcomed by the always smiling Phil.
Indeed, Philip, a native of Partry, is highly regarded by inter-county managers and teams throughout the country for the welcome and help they receive from him when visiting Mayo to play the home county, be it in league, championship or challenge games.
All of this should come as no great surprise as Philip Heneghan is a GAA man to the backbone and it is little wonder that his long involvement and volunteerism with Castlebar Mitchels GAA Club and especially Castlebar Mitchels Bord na nÓg goes back nearly 40 years. Indeed, during this time he had two stints as chairman of Mitchels Bord na nÓg, in 1995/96 and 2001.
“Being involved with Castlebar Mitchels Bord na nÓg during all of those years, I have seen many young players from the club and from around the county go on and become top class inter-county players and household names in GAA,” said Philip.
He recounts the story of how his involvement with Castlebar Mitchels GAA Club started in the early 1980s.
“I was a motor mechanic when I was asked by the late Paddy Kerrigan (a staunch Mitchels GAA man) if I would have a look at a mower they had for cutting MacHale Park. Ever since that day I have been working with a mower! I joined the Mitchels MacHale Park grounds committee and my involvement with the club took off.
“Since then, I have worked with many, many great Mitchels stalwarts who, as volunteers, gave most of their free time in helping to make Mitchels the renowned club it is today.
“While have I have very fond memories of helping and working with developing the club, being involved with Mitchels Bord na nÓg was special. You get massive satisfaction working and developing young players as they start out on their GAA careers. Developing young players is where the future of the club lies.
“Now Castlebar Mitchels Bord na nÓg is celebrating 50 years. It is a magnificent milestone for any club. To have been part of this is personally very special.
“But, let me add, the success of Castlebar Mitchels Bord na nÓg would not have been possible only for the wonderful volunteers the club has had all through these years. It gives me great pleasure to see this volunteerism continue to this day.”
Phillip went on to say that there were many great highlights down through the years and in fact too many fantastic achievements to mention. However, there were a number of things which were to the forefront in his mind.
He explained: “I was delighted to have been chairman of Mitchels Bord na nÓg on two different occasions. In those early years we had only two pitches, MacHale Park and what is (Josie) Munnelly Park today.
"But we started an Under 10 blitz which proved to be very successful – too successful, in fact, as we started it out within the county but then we had teams from Connaught taking part in it before teams from all over the country entered it! It just got far too big.
“It was Crossmolina who won our first ever blitz. Most of that Crossmolina team went on to play senior for their club and won the All-Ireland senior club title.
"I remember at that time watching Ciaran McDonald play for Crossmolina and saying at that time he was a player with untold talent. We all know how he went on to progress from that Under 10 blitz.
“Speaking of great players I came across at underage level, another one I earmarked for greatness was Westport’s Lee Keegan. We would play Westport at underage level on numerous occasions, and I can remember him at Under 15 playing against us and he looked then a star in the making.
“But over the past 40 years, since my first involvement with Mitchels, I have seen many young players from this club progress right up through the ranks.
"With the great Bord na nÓg structure Mitchels have and had in the past, many, many of these young players who started out with the club went on to represent the county at minor, Under 21 (Under 20 as it today) and senior level.
“The list is endless. You had the likes of the Feeneys (Richie and Alan), Tom Cunniffe, Declan Reilly, Russell Gibbons, Kevin Lydon, Barry Moran and Tom King. In recent times you have the Durcans (Paddy and James) at county senior level on top of a host of young players now making their mark at county underage level.
“Other great highlights that spring to mind included winning the All-Ireland 1996 Community Games final and the great successes we had at Feile.
“As I said at the outset, if you are going to be a successful club on the field of play, it all starts at underage and the coaching the budding young players get once they start out from Under 8 up.
"To have been part of Castlebar Mitchels Bord na nÓg all of those years has been magnificent and given me a lot of great memories, and continues to do so today. But this would not have happened without the wonderful members and Bord na nÓg volunteers Mitchels have had down through the years.
“I have had the pleasure of working with many great people in Mitchels Bord na nÓg, far too many to mention. Over the past 50 years, Mitchels Bord na nÓg has given me many wonderful lasting memories,” concluded Philip.