Colm Sheehan

Colm Sheehan (born 9 September 1941) was an Irish hurler. He played for club side Éire Óg, divisional side Muskerry and was the full-forward on the Cork senior hurling team that won the 1966 All-Ireland Championship.

Colm Sheehan
Personal information
Irish name Colm Ó Síocháin
Sport Hurling
Position Full-forward
Born (1941-09-09) 9 September 1941
Ovens, County Cork, Ireland
Height 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Club(s)
Years Club
 Éire Óg
Muskerry
Club titles
Cork titles 0
Inter-county(ies)*
Years County Apps (scores)
1965-1968
 Cork 9 (5-05)
Inter-county titles
Munster titles 1
All-Irelands 1
NHL 0
*Inter County team apps and scores correct as of 13:57, 9 April 2015.

Sheehan's club career with Éire Óg lasted for over twenty years and spanned three decades. During that time he won Cork Junior Championship medals in 1962 and 1977, while he also played for divisional side Muskerry.

Sheehan made his first appearance for the Cork senior hurling team during the 1965 Munster Championship, having earlier played for the county in the minor, junior and intermediate grades. In 1966 he scored a hat-trick of goals in the final when Cork won their first All-Ireland Championship in 12 years, having earlier won the Munster Championship. Sheehan ended his inter-county career with the Cork intermediate team in 1968.

His grandnephew, Ciarán Sheehan, is also an All-Ireland medal-winner with Cork senior football team.[1]

Playing career

Club

Sheehan played his club hurling with his local Éire Óg side and enjoyed much success. In 1960 he was barely out of the minor ranks when he captured a Mid-Cork junior championship title following an eight-point drubbing of Ballincollig.[2] It was the first of three divisional titles in-a-row for Sheehan and Éire Óg as Cloughduv and Ballincollig were subsequently defeated in the finals of 1961 and 1962. The latter win saw Éire Óg reach the final of the county junior championship. East Cork champions Carrigtwohill were the opponents, however, Éire Óg triumphed on a score line of 3-4 to 2-4.[3]

This victory allowed Éire Óg to move into the county intermediate championship. In their very first year in the new grade Sheehan's side captured the county intermediate league title.

Two years later in 1965 Éire Óg reached the final of the intermediate championship. Cork kingpins Glen Rovers were the opponents and an exciting hour of hurling developed. At the long whistle Sheehan ended up on the losing side as 'the Glen' recorded a 3-8 to 3-5 victory.[4]

Inter-county

Sheehan first played for Cork as a member of the minor hurling team on 18 May 1958. He scored 1-1 on his debut in a 2-15 to 3-7 Munster quarter-final defeat by Clare. Sheehan's two seasons as a member of the minor team ended without success.

In 1963 Sheehan was back playing inter-county with Cork, this time as a member of the intermediate team. He won a Munster medal the following year after scoring 1-1 in Cork's 4-14 to 1-10 defeat of Galway. On 16 August 1964 Cork faced Wexford in the All-Ireland decider. A low-scoring 2-8 to 1-5 defeat was Sheehan's lot on that occasions.

Sheehan made his senior championship debut for Cork on 4 July 1965 in a 2-6 apiece Munster semi-final draw with Waterford.

The following year Sheehan was a regular member of the starting fifteen. A 4-9 to 2-9 defeat of Waterford in the provincial decider gave him a Munster medal. The subsequent All-Ireland final on 4 September 1966 pitted Kilkenny against Cork for the first time in nineteen years. Kilkenny were the favourites, however, a hat-trick of goals from Sheehan gave Cork a merited 3-9 to 1-10 victory over an Eddie Keher-inspired Kilkenny.[5] Not only was it a first championship for Cork in twelve years, but it also gave Sheehan an All-Ireland medal.

Sheehan played no part in Cork's unsuccessful championship campaign in 1967 but was restored to full-forward the following year as Cork faced a 2-13 to 1-7 Munster final trouncing by Tipperary. This defeat brought the curtain down on Sheehan's inter-county career.

He has now settled down with his wife Kitty Sheehan and their seven kids (John, Michael, Colm Óg, Niamh, Killian, Fionán and Bríd) all have kids of their own giving him twenty six amazing grandchildren (between the ages of 0-17) many of whom play GAA for Éire Óg and some who even play for underage Cork teams.

Career statistics
Team Year National League Munster All-Ireland Total
DivisionAppsScoreAppsScoreAppsScoreAppsScore
Cork 1964-65 Division 1A 00-0021-00—21-00
1965-66 Division 1B 63-0340-0313-00116-06
1966-67 31-0100-00—31-01
1967-68 41-0221-02—62-04
Total 135-0682-0513-002210-11

Honours
Éire Óg
Cork
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References
  1. O'Toole, Fintan (17 September 2010). "Code crackers". Irish Examiner. Retrieved 9 April 2015.
  2. "Muskerry Junior A Hurling Finals 1926 - 1970". Cork GAA site. Retrieved 2010-08-29.
  3. "Junior A County Hurling Finals 1925 - 1970". Cork GAA site. Retrieved 2010-08-29.
  4. "Intermediate Hurling Finals 1909 - 1969". Cork GAA site. Retrieved 2010-08-29.
  5. Crowe, Dermot (5 January 2014). "Kings for a day find it hard to repeat trick". Irish Independent. Retrieved 8 April 2015.
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