Holder of two All-Ireland junior football medals with London

OBITUARY: TOMMY DOWD SNR

Tommy Dowd of Fr Flood Park in Dunderry, who died on 8th March last, was a member of a well-known GAA family, and won two All-Ireland junior football championships while living in London.

Son of the late Tommy and Una Dowd, his father was a renowned hurler and footballer with Dunderry, while one of his sons, also Tommy, is best known for captaining Meath to the 1996 All Ireland Senior Football Championship.

Tommy Dowd died at St Francis’ Hospice, Blanchardstown, at the age of 73, having been in declining health in recent years.

In 1969, he was the first Dunderry clubman to play senior county football for Meath since Barney McCabe from the Curragh Boreen in 1898, who played for Dowdstown, the county representatives.

His ball playing began in the centre of the village, opposite the GAA grounds, where he used the gable end of the family home for practice, and was later known for his ability to catch a high ball in his chest from a spring off the ground, a skill that originated from that time.

In Dunderry History Group’s ‘Dunderry – A Century of Sport’ he recalled playing with the club when he was about 10 years old, and in 1960 when the Dunderry juveniles were beaten by Donaghmore in a Curran Cup Final.

He recalled: “I was playing for the Meath minors before I was 16 years old. I missed out the following year but was back playing the year after that. In our first game we were knocked out by Dublin. The following year when I was 18, we beat Westmeath in Croke Park, but then we were beaten by Offaly who went on to win the All-Ireland.”

When he was 21, he was on a Meath junior side beaten by All-Ireland winners Laois in a Leinster final, and in 1969, joined the senior side, when his appearances include a match against Galway for the opening of the Donnelly Loughran Memorial Park in Kilmessan.

“One man who really caught the imagination of the crowd with his jack-in-the-box play was Tommy Dowd, the ‘Dunderry Demon’,” one report stated. “He gave Enda Colleran a nightmare hour. The polished Galway defender was one of the best players on view, but he could never prevent Dowd from popping up here, there and everywhere, either to pick off scores himself or create opportunities for other raiders.”

Meath’s defeat of Dublin in the Corn na Casca was described as “a brilliant debut for Tommy Dowd, the Dunderry demon.”

“For Tommy Dowd, Sunday’s game presented the perfect opportunity for the red haired dynamo to make an impression, and how this Dunderry lad rewarded the selectors. He was a dynamite and the Dublin defence could never hold him in check. This form will surely see Dowd gain a permanent place on the team, and what a valuable asset he could be with his punchy, cheeky, and courageous type of play.”

He was named man of the match in a game against Louth. Meath were beaten by Kildare in the first round of the Leinster championship that year, in the game he made his championship debut, but by the time they were playing in the All-Ireland final the following year, Tommy Dowd had emigrated to England and was listening to the game on a crackly transistor radio, moving it around on a street in London, trying to get reception.

“It was one of the saddest days of my life. Meath were playing Kerry and I knew I should have been on the team,” he said.

He had gone to England in 1969, where his aunt Rosie Dowd lived in Leicester. His wife, Ethna Campbell from Carnaross, was to follow, and son, Tommy, was born there. Martin Diggins, a Kerry man living in London who was later to become chairman of the county board there, brought him to play for London Parnells, and organised work for him in London, in construction.

Earning a place on the London side, he won an All-Ireland junior championship medal against Kildare in 1970.

In 1971, they beat Dublin to win their second All-Ireland. That Dublin team included the late Anton O’Toole, later to be a senior star, and Maxie McManamon, father of current star Kevin.

The Dowds returned to Ireland in 1972, and lived on Carrick Street in Kells for a year, when Tommy played hurling with the club there. He worked as a labourer on the building of Fr Flood Park in Dunderry, the estate the family was to move back to in 1973. Other building projects he worked on included the construction of the Eamonn Duggan Industrial Park in Trim, and he later worked with Callaghans Joinery.

Tommy was to continue his interest in the GAA, mentoring underage sides in later years. A boxing fanatic, he collected boxing magazines and had a huge knowledge of the sport, and he was also a great fan of music, especially Billy Joel. At a Status Quo concert in the Exhibition Centre in Navan, he went missing and his daughter found him rocking on stage with the band, complete in leather jacket!

Tommy is survived by his wife, Ethna; sons, Tommy, Gibbstown, and Kevin, Dunderry; daughters, Catherine Moran, Commons Road, Navan and Caroline (Dolly) Moore, Wilkinstown; brother, Jimmy; sister, Marie; daughters-in-law, sons-in-law, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, grandchildren, nieces, nephews and a wide circle of friends.

The funeral took place from the Church of the Assumption, Dunderry, to Dunderry Cemetery, celebrated by Fr Noel Horneck, PP.