Dom Geoghegan

Dom Geoghegan was born in Banbridge, Co. Down on 16th May 1922. He was the eldest son of Brigid Wilde Geoghegan and her husband William Geoghegan. His father William owned The Banbridge Foundry and had made the turbine for the Foxford Woollen Mills. Jim Sherry at the Mills contacted Dom's father for a replacement part, and a man to fit same, and he sent his son Dom to Foxford to do the job

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He left Banbridge on 6th January 1947 after going to Mass in Tullylish Chapel, with the genuine intention to return back down home again very soon. At this time he was 24 years old and had indeed proved to be a keen, able and very active footballer, playing with Tullylish GFC and representng his beloved Co. Down in the years 1945 and 1946. He was a strong sports person with interests in swimming, badminton and soccer but gaelic football was his real sports love. He also loved music and he loved to sing.

Just four hours after arriving in Foxford, he found himself at a concert in the Music School. It was a moment he will always treasure and was indeed the start to him settling into the West. Any anxieties about where he actually was quickly diminished, and had already started to fit in. He performed on that same stage many times himself over the next few years, and became a member of the Romany Band, Moy Rythm Band and the Foxford Céilí Band. He also became immediately involved in playing football in the West.

As his love for Foxford grew, he also met his wife to be, as he would say himself 'a wee girl called Kathleen McTigue'. He married Kathleen on 10th April 1950 and they had eight children. He was a Trustee along with Tom Durkan, Fr. Feeley C.C. and Pat Conway for the purchase of the Football Field where Moy Davitts have played many a match since. On leaving the Mills and joining a Fire Protection Company in Dublin (Mather & Platt), he continued his keen dedication to local football at weekends

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In a way his life evolved around football in the way it can, and when I think of him, I immediately think of football. He played with his heart, and genuinely expected everyone to play that way. When he stopped playing he enjoyed to referee the occasional match. He religiously listened to matches on the radio, watched matches on T.V. or was on his way to a match. I was fortunate enough to be with him in Croke Park the year his native county Down won the Sam Maguire, and that is a moment that I will always treasure. When in Croke Park with my father, it was very important that we got to a T.V. by 8 p.m. so he could watch that same match all over again. No matter where he was on a Saturday Night, he had to be home for 'Match of the Day'.

In his later years nothing gave him more pleasure than to watch the young fellows play gaelic and to see, a real true love of his live on. When he died, my mother donated a perpetual cup to the Moy Davitts Club and each year since, the Moy Davitt Club members put a lot of work into the organising of the 'Dom Geoghegan Blitz' for U14 boys. For the family this is indeed a very special memory of him, one he would love himself 'a Football Blitz in his name'. Each year I shed a tear when I see a young team captain hold the Geoghegan Cup up high with pride, and note the genuine efforts they make to win it.

Pauline Geoghegan-Bourke presenting the Geoghegan Cup to Damien Hanahoe, the winning captain.

He was President of The Moy Davitts Club and when he resigned he was presented him with a Crystal Plate. He loved that plate and it still sits in my mother's sitting room today. When he died in April 1996, Moy Davitts draped his coffin in the Mayo flag (red and green) and a Co. Down scarf (red and black) thrown over that. I have often thought about that jesture since and know in my heart that he lived and died for football. R.I.P.

Pauline Geoghegan-Bourke.