Ballina Stephenites

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FoyiSGMOr6k
The Ballina Stephenites Club was founded on the 28th (last Saturday) of August 1886 by James Wallace Melvin. (Pen-name Larry Doolan) who also penned the Club's rallying song-"Forward to the goal of victory" The first meeting was held in "Barney's Boreen" at the top of Convent Hill. The first President of the Club was Tom Courell with "Cappy" Fitzgerald as Secretary and Michael Connolly as Treasurer. The club is named for James Stephens (1825–1901).

Ballina Stephenites were affiliated to the Mayo County Board a short time later and played their first "official" fixture in Jones' Field in Ardnaree against Commercials Junior. The Club won 13 consecutive Senior Football Championships from 1904 - 1916 and 2 Archbishop Croke Cups in 1908 and 1909.

In 1933 James Stephens Park was opened by P. J. Ruttledge, Minister for Justice - (A Ballina man). Bord Na N'óg was founded in 1972 resulting in many juvenile successes since.

The Club hosted 2 G.A.A. Congress weeks in 1984 and 1985 and "Welcome Home Week" in 1984 - the Centenary year of the G.A.A. The Club has produced 5 G.A.A. Football All-Stars in - Kevin McStay, Jimmy Browne, Liam McHale, Ger Cafferkey and David Clarke.

In 2005 a team captained by Brian Ruane defeated Portlaoise to win the Andy Merrigan cup as All-Ireland Senior Club Football Championship winners.

Rev. Fr. Gerry Courell, grandson of Tom Courell and son of Gerald, was the club patron until his passing in May 2012, maintaining a proud family association with the club.

Terry Reilly

Two of the giants of Ballina Stephenites GAA club, founder James Wallace Melvin, and Andy Corcoran, acknowledged as the best captain the club ever had, were honoured on Sunday, September 29 in Leigue Cemetery.

Melvin, born in Black 1847 when the famine was at its deadliest, founded the club in 1886 and pledged to make it the greatest in the country. “I’m going out to start a club that will shake all Ireland,” are reported to be his exact words. By the time of his death in April 1913 (aged 66), he had done just that!

And the man who played a key role in that achievement was Lacken-born Andy Corcoran who moved with his family to Ballina and settled at the top of Convent Hill, near where St Patrick’s Church is today. Those of us who attended the Convent schools knew it as Carmel Walker's sweet shop! Born in 1880, he became an outstanding footballer and led the Stephenites to two national titles in the Croke Cup, accounting for Kerry in 1908 and Waterford in 1909.

By the time of James Wallace Melvin's death in 1913 the club had won eleven Mayo senior county championships (1889-1913) with Andy Corcoran as captain from 1906-9. Noted for his great fitness and speed, moustachioed Corcoran could play anywhere on the field. He possessed a great shot, and was respected by teammates for his shrewd leadership and fair but firm discipline. His players knew him as ‘Cooney’ and the story goes that after training one night, two players snuck into a pub in town for ‘a few refreshers’.

“Keep an eye out for the RIC!” one warned.

“Never mind the bloody RIC, shout if you see ‘Cooney’ coming! You know it’s woe betide us if we're caught drinking and us in training for the 1907 Connacht final,” the other responded nervously.

Andy, standing 5ft 6 and a half inches tall, didn’t like losing, and if injured he would play on. In 1906, when teams were 17 aside and physical contact bone-crunching, he got his collar-bone displaced and had to withdraw from the fray. But he refused to leave the grounds for medical attention, marching up and down the line and shouting encouragement though in great pain.

With the team going for its third Croke Cup in 1910, Corcoran shocked his teammates by announcing he was leaving Ireland. Accompanied by teammates shedding tears, he was bid adieu at the Windy Gap near Tubbercurry. They never saw him again! Reports of his whereabouts over the years were scarce and largely inaccurate. Some held he had fought in WW1 in the US ranks, others that he had died in a swimming accident.

In fact, he ended up in Canada as a gold miner, never married and his death and final resting place remained a mystery until a few years ago. He died on 5th May 1937, aged 57, having spent his final months in the Old Men’s Provincial Home in Kamloops, in the Canadian Rockies.

We will never know if Corcoran learned that his nephew Josie Munnelly won an All-Ireland medal with Mayo in 1936.

In writing the club history in 1986, and for many years afterwards I had tried to track him down. His grandniece Marie Ó Conghaile eventually discovered his resting place in an unmarked grave in Kamloops, and boy, was I surprised! For, about 10 years ago I walked by his final resting place in Kamloops without realising how close I was to ending my long and frustrating search. The Old Men’s Provincial Home where he died is no more, but the excellent North Mayo Family Research Centre at Enniscoe, Crossmolina, was able to unearth some crucial records. The story is told in full in my Ballina & Area People.

Bernie Finan and myself, as part of our Ballina historical remembrances' journey, and Ballina Stephenites, current Mayo senior champions, have joined forces to honour these two greats, who, amongst others, laid the foundation for the club. Also remembered are those who served in the cause of the club over its storied history. Senior team manager Nial Heffernan, club chairman John Healy and senior players have already tended to the grave in preparation for the day.

Once again the words of the club’s rallying song, Forward to the Goal of Victory, written by James Wallace Melvin and sung with gusto by Andy Corcoran and legions, will rent the air in tribute:

Each Gael stands calm and steady

As he clasps his brother’s hand

Our captain’s ever ready and well worthy of command,

We’ll take the field and never yield

And let our motto be Forward to the Goal of Victory!

Ballina Stephenites

Founded 1886

Ballina Stephenites

Mayo

Club History