Paul Kerr: A lasting legacy

Clogher and Emyvale will compete in Saturday’s Ulster Junior final with the winners taking home the Paul Kerr Cup. Cremartin started the competition in Paul’s memory. Michael McMullan writes…

ALMOST 25 years have passed, but Declan Flanagan remembers Eamonn Kerr’s every word as he handed over the cup to Cremartin, donated by the family in memory of his late son Paul.

“Whatever you can do, try and keep this alive for as many years as possible,” Eamonn told him.

Paul was an upcoming star footballer in the club in the late 1990s before he was tragically taken at the age of 20 in a traffic accident on April 17, 2000.

It rocked his parents Eamonn and Marion’s world and that of siblings Caroline, Deborah, Laura and Declan.

Paul’s friends and a tight-knit community were also left stunned at losing him far too soon.

The Cremartin committee put their heads together. The best way to remember Paul? The idea of a tournament was proposed to the family. The answer was yes.

All over Ireland, senior club players had their established All-Ireland competition fully in view. An arena outside their own in which to further measure themselves.

Clontibret were three years into their intermediate version, the Patrick McCully Cup, that grew into another provincial and national road to Croker.

In Cremartin, the seeds were sown for something similar, a tournament involving the junior champions from all nine counties. Players competing outside their county boundaries.

The preliminary round, quarter-final and semi-final games were penned in before Christmas with the final set for the following St Patrick’s Day. All games were held in Cremartin’s Shamrock Park. All in memory of Paul Kerr.

Monaghan GAA chairman Declan Flanagan was involved in the organising committee at the time. He remembers it all like it was yesterday. Welcome to the GAA where community is an extension of family.

“We invited all the counties’ junior champions to our clubrooms in Cremartin and we conducted a live draw in October,” he recalls.

Cavan’s Drumgoon were the first to etch their name on the Paul Kerr Cup, beating Doohamlet of Monaghan in the final.

The cup was back in the Oriel County the following year when Corduff beat Derry champions Ballerin in the decider. Monaghan Harps needed a replay to see off Limavady, another Oakleaf side, to land the 2003 title.

Cremartin didn’t stop there. Their added foresight explored the idea of branching further, onto the All-Ireland stage with Drumgoon going to make history as the first champions.

For the first three years, Cremartin was the competition’s hub until GAA President Sean Kelly looked over the hedge. He liked what he saw and Croke Park stamped it as an official All-Ireland. The same as they did with what Clontibret had moulded.

Every year, the junior All-Ireland finalists play for the Cremartin Shamrocks Cup. Like the intermediate version, there is a rule written for Croke Park to always host the final.

“Not alone is the Paul Kerr tournament so special to us as a club,” Flanagan added of what is now set as a fixture within the Ulster GAA season.

“It’s very, very special to the family that the tournament has longevity and that has stood the test of time.

“Eamonn didn’t want a tournament that would be run for two or three years, with the cup then left under a bed or somewhere. In fairness, I think it’s there forever and that will never be changed.

“For the three years we ran it, the All-Ireland finals were held in Cremartin in front of big crowds.”

Club referee Brendan McNally officiated at the finals, with everyone in the club putting their shoulder to the wheel. There was always a bed to sleep in. Nobody went home hungry. Every base was covered.

With Croke Park continuing to host the final, they can now look on as their cup is presented from that iconic perch in the Hogan Stand.

Like Drumgoon, Greencastle (2007) and Arva (2024) have done so after having first raised the Paul Kerr Cup as Ulster champions.

The Kerr family miss Paul every day but his name will never be forgotten.

Declan presented the cup to Naomh Pádraig Uisce Chaoin captain Dermot Keaveney last autumn in Celtic Park. They’ll be in Roslea this weekend as Clogher and Emyvale lock horns with Paul’s cup again up for grabs. His legacy now set in the GAA calendar forever. Eamonn’s wish came true.

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Cremartin became the fourth successive Monaghan team to contest the Ulster Junior final and poetically the first since it was passed over to Ulster GAA.

They lost the 2004 decider by a point to Stewartstown in Casement Park. It was the same margin when they lost to Derrytresk seven years later. Both Tyrone clubs went on to contest the All-Ireland final.

Of the 23 Ulster Junior finals, a Monaghan club has won it eight times. Tyrone lie one behind. It will be level if Clogher can emerge victorious on Sunday.

With increased media coverage, including live streaming, the competition Cremartin started is thriving.

When it was launched in Peter Canavan’s premises before this year’s Ulster Championships, the Kerr, McCully and Seamus McFerran Cups were perched side by side.

“Once we got into the middle of it and got started, we very, very, quickly recognised there was something different about it,” Flanagan said of pulling together the first competition.

Now it’s getting the recognition it deserves thanks to the heavy lifting of the Cremartin community. All in memory of one of their own.

“We took Belmullet from the very corner out west, right out beside the Atlantic Ocean to Cremartin to play in an All-Ireland final against Drumgoon,” he said of the first final.

Willie Joe Padden’s son Willie Joe kicked 1-5 with another son David between the posts.

Colm Hannon put in a man of the match performance as the Breffni champions saw their ribbons placed on the Cremartin Shamrocks Cup.

Belmullet beat Salthill’s second team in Connacht to qualify, a game played as the curtain raiser to the FDB League final that season.

Roundwood of Wicklow flew the flag for Leinster in Cremartin but there was a stumbling block.

“Munster had discontinued their junior finals, so I spoke to Sean Kelly about it,” Flanagan recalls.

With Kerry holding the Munster title at the time, it was decided their champions St Michael’s, Foilmore would complete the All-Ireland semi-final lineup in Cremartin.

“The following year the Junior Championship came back in Munster. Not alone did we get our competition up and going, we resurrected the Munster one as well,” Flanagan joked.

Foilmore’s concern was the price of staying overnight, the combined cost of both travel and accommodation. Possibly twice.

Cremartin cut them a deal. If they made it to Monaghan, they’d put the travelling party up in the houses around the parish in a manner the All-Ireland Féile competition operated for years.

“We took Carbery Rangers the whole way from Rosscarbery in West Cork the whole way to Monaghan,” Flanagan added about the 2004 competition.

“Sometimes you find Cork are not great travellers to support the county football team.

“It was unbelievable the amount of people that came from Rosscarbery that day to come to Cremartin, Castleblayney, to Monaghan town or Ballybay, all the places where people were staying over.”

The semi-final that year was the only game not played in Cremartin. Flanagan met the Carbery Rangers chairman outside their dressing room in Fitzgerald Stadium after their Munster final win over Annascaul.

They came to an agreement. Carbery would travel to Shamrock Park if they got to the final but they’d didn’t want to make two long journeys north.

So, the tournament went on tour to Claughaun, on the south side of Limerick city with Cremartin bringing their own teams of officials to oversee the Munster champions’ comfortable win over Breaffy of Mayo.

It set up the last game in Cremartin before the competition was taken over by Croke Park with Wolfe Tones of Meath coming through as champions against Carbery.

“It was a hell of a game,” Flanagan said of a fitting finale on a three-year story that ensured every football club in Ireland, regardless of size, can dream big.

“The senior boys were having their day in glory in Croke Park. The intermediate lads weren’t and the junior lads weren’t. That all came to pass because of what Clontibret did and what we did.”

Sean Kelly rubber-stamped it. It was served up for him and Flanagan made sure the new GAA President realised the gem that was on offer.

His club Kilcummin, with Kingdom goalkeeper Brendan Kealey between the posts, were All-Ireland Intermediate champions in 2019.

Long before that, Kelly was in Cremartin to taste what they were offering.

The club invited him to the 2003 final between Nobber of Meath and Mayo champions Kilmeena. It was the day after Kelly was voted in as GAA President.

Arrangements were made for Kelly and Ulster President John O’Reilly to attend mass that morning before being flown by helicopter to Cremartin.

After the final, like every year, the teams were fed in Cremartin and Kelly was there to see everything that was positive about a GAA community.

Losing Paul Kerr hit Cremartin hard, but they made a commitment that his cup would stand the test of time.

It wasn’t just about games and memories on the field. Everything needed done properly and the club membership put their hands up.

“On the day of a match, we had turnouts of people to help, to make sure it was a pleasant experience for everyone,” Flanagan said.

“Our facilities have come on 100-fold from what they were then but we always got the matches played.

“We had men in the field early in the morning. If there was water on the pitch, between grapes and paint tins, we’d get the water off it.”

While supporters mingled over a few pints in the bar downstairs, the Cremartin catering committee were dishing out dinners to the teams upstairs.

Whoever wins Saturday’s Ulster final will be two games away from Croke Park. Clogher and Emyvale can dream. They can thank Cremartin.

The club and community will again think of Paul. New Ulster President Michael Geoghegan will be in Roslea on Saturday. So will the Kerr family. Paul’s spirit will be there too.

“Whatever you can do, try and keep this alive for as many years as possible.”

Those were the words of Eamonn Kerr nearly a quarter of a century ago.

The cup the family donated in his son’s memory is still going strong. A legacy continues.