Thurles Town FC (Rep of Ireland)
It would be forgiven if people didn’t associate this club with ‘soccer’.
It is, after all, the hometown of the Gaelic Athletic Association, which
supports both Gaelic football and hurling, Ireland’s national sport. At the
time of writing this (2019) their county hurling team just made the All-Ireland
final, one of the biggest sporting events in the Irish sports calendar. As most
of my research is conducted through the internet, I decided it was time to
really get a feel of what it is like to be a ‘Soccer club’ down in the GAA
dominated countryside. Which is why I was making the trip down to County
Tipperary and to Thurles, once home to former League of Ireland side Thurles
Town FC. A club, that did not leave much of an impression when it played in the
league in the 70’s, it still had quite an interesting story to tell, and I was
determined to let the town tell it. When I arrived at the train station, I
could feel the buzz in the air, after their semi-final win over Wexford in the
hurling all Ireland championships. Flags of blue and yellow, the counties
colours, were flying everywhere. I started walking around, trying to find the
best place to sit and write this chapter. I found an old coffee shop and that
is where I began. The other reason I wanted to feature this club was because my
Nana was from down here, and she was a proud Tipperary woman, even though she
lived most of her life in Dublin, she still had that Tipperary accent,
something that cannot be described but only heard first hand. My Nana passed
away a few years ago, and so it just felt right that I feature a club from her
county in this book. While they aren’t the most successful club to feature, nor
the longest story to have been told, there is quite a funny story in which
locals down there still remember. I was told it by a former player of the club,
who I interviewed for this piece. His dad played for Thurles Town whilst they
played in the League of Ireland, while he followed in his footsteps and played
for the club in their regional league. The interview is done a little bit
differently than the other interviews I conducted for the other chapters in
this book, but I think it finishes off my journey throughout the world, and
throughout history just nicely. Here is the story of Thurles Town.
Thurles Town AFC was founded in 1950 and played in the North Tipperary
District League. Their home ground is the Thurles Greyhound Stadium, a stone
throws away from Semple Stadium. Nicknamed ‘The Town’ Thurles Town AFC decided
to merge with Kilkenny side Peake Villa and consequently became known as
Thurles Town FC. The merge was formed so that they could enter the League of
Ireland in 1977. But their stay in Irelands top league was short lived and they
only played five seasons, with their highest place finish being 9th in the
1979-80 season. There first season, in 1977-78 ended with only one solidary win
to their name and they finished 16th (last place), drawing 8 and losing 21
times.
The 1978-79 season saw an improvement in their form and league position
as they finished 12th winning a total of 8 games, drawing 5 and losing 17. As
previously said, the 1979-80 season was The Towns best one in the League of
Ireland, finishing 9th place above the likes of St Patricks Athletic,
Shelbourne FC and Drogheda United amongst others. This was hugely down to the
goalscoring efforts of their top goal scorer Neville Steadman who bagged a
total of 17 goals for the club, making him the third highest scorer in the
league that year behind Alan Campbell of Shamrock Rovers (22) and Tony Morris
of Limerick United (19). As it would happen, Neville Steadman would go on to
write a bit of history for another club in the League of Ireland, Shamrock
Rovers as he was the last man to score at Milltown, in a reserve cup game back
in 1987. He also won the League of Ireland with Shamrock Rovers in 1983-84, in
a side that also had current Sligo Rovers manager, Liam Buckley and prolific
goal scorer Alan Campbell. But that was the end of the progress for Thurles
Town who ended the next season 16th (last) in 1980-81, winning 7 games, drawing
4 and losing 19. The club had more season in the League of Ireland in 1981-82
but once again they finished bottom of the pill, (16th) winning only 3 games,
drawing 5 and losing 22.
It proved to be the end of their five-year spell in the topflight and
they went back to playing in the North Tipperary District League while Peak
Villa continued playing in the Kilkenny League and the Tipperary Southern and
District League. You may think that it was all doom and gloom for this club,
never winning anything and just basically making up the numbers. Even in their
own District League they failed to win a title for 56 years and you would have
forgiven them for giving up and just joining in with the rest of the town in
supporting the GAA sports.
However, the people connected to the club tell a very different story
and persistence paid off when in 2016 the club won their first ever North
Tipperary District League title with a little help from their captain, Barry
‘Birdie’ Ryan. The former Kilkenny City player managed to score 40 goals in the
2016-17 season and was named Tipperary player of the year. Barry told me about
that season and what it meant to him and his family.
‘… As a junior club they had never won the league in their 40-year
existence, at the end of my career in 2016 I signed with them and captained
them to their first league.’
I asked Barry what the reason for the success was and what it meant to
him.
‘Yea I went back with a few local lads that had been away with other
clubs and we played for two seasons and won two leagues, it was a huge
celebration for the club to finally win a Tipp Premier League, Kevin Kilbane
came down to present the medals at an award ceremony, I scored 40 goals so was
lucky enough to get the club player of the year and the Tipperary player of the
year so it was special year for me and my father was also at the awards so it
was a bit of family history too having both played with them’.
As Barry said his family had already had a connection to the club with
his dad Martin ‘Birdie’ Ryan playing for the Thurles Town FC that competed in
the League of Ireland. But that wasn’t even the highlight of his time with
Thurles Town FC.
‘My Dad was Martin ‘Birdie’ Ryan and I’m Barry Ryan and everyone calls
me Birdie, we both played league of Ireland for Kilkenny City…My dad was a
centre forward, he played with EMFA which was what Kilkenny City were known as
and he won an Oscar Traynor with them, according to the Peake Villa website he
trialled for the Irish u21 team with Frank Stapleton, he also spent 18 months
in England with Reading FC’.
I asked Barry what he knew about his dad’s playing days for Thurles Town
FC when they were a League of Ireland side and the story he produced is one of
folklore down here.
‘…I was only born 1980 so I missed out on all of that, Neville
(Steadman) stayed in our house a few years back, he was down for some re-union
and I was told all about how he was a Rovers legend…. Pat Dunne of Man United
was the manager of Thurles Town for a while. My father played with Thurles Town
in the League of Ireland, incidentally he scored against Peter Shilton when
they played Stoke in a friendly. The Stoke friendly is still talked about in
Thurles because Garth Crooks and Peter Shilton both played, it finished 8-1 but
Birdie Ryan nut-megged Shilton so it became a bit of local folklore! I’d say it
was the highlight of his whole career’.
I’m sure it was a magical moment and one that made smile, thinking of
the local Thurles man make a fool out of one of the best goal keepers to play
the game. (To make things look a little better I did a bit of research on that
game and in the record books it is down as a 7-2 win for Stoke) As I always do,
I asked Barry if he knew why the club dropped out of the League of Ireland and
would we ever see them back again. His answer was quite like that of the
Kilkenny City fans.
‘… there were hardly any local players on the Thurles team which is why
it failed…No Thurles Town wont be back in the LOI but id like to see them
become a sustainable and successful junior club, it’s difficult in a GAA town,
I do think 100% eventually we will see a Tipperary team play in the League of
Ireland’.
When asked what League of Ireland club he currently follows now his
reply was no surprise and may be have been influenced by a certain connection
to Neville Steadman.
‘I’m a big admirer of Shamrock Rovers under Bradley, I like the football
they play and so many technical players like Greg Bolger, Ronan Finn and of
course (Jack) Byrne’.
As I sit and look out the window in a café in the middle of the town, it
is quite clear the people of Thurles are proud of their sporting successes and
that of the current senior hurling team, with blue and yellow flags flying from
house and shop windows. Nearly every pub I passed had a message of support on
their windows or the side of the buildings. I was at the game in Croke Park and
the Tipperary fans in general are so passionate about their sport that it
puzzles me as to why they do not have a football club representing them in the
League of Ireland these days. Of course, junior side St Michaels have been
successful, and this year will be playing in the FAI Junior cup, (2019) but
that too me just makes it even more confusing about the situation now. The fact
Semple stadium is right beside the Greyhound stadium where Thurles Town FC
play, and basically dwarfs it may be a symbol of how the GAA dominates things
down here, but I for one believe this town, and this county has more than
enough potential to have a football club represent it at League of Ireland
level. For now, though they have the memories of that Stoke City friendly and
the recent league successes to look back on fondly.