With the football season at a stand still, Louth P.R.O. Dermot Woods spoke to Dundalk Democrat GAA correspondent Caoimhin Reilly about his involvement in the LGFA and GAA

If Louth LGFA was a person appearing on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, its friend at the end of the phone line would be Dermot Woods. In an era where campaigns pertaining to females in sport are humming, nobody else man or woman - has done as much for ladies’ Gaelic football in this county.

His three terms, across as many decades, as County Board chairman have coincided with an upwardly mobile level of interest that continues to peak annually. It’s a trend he and a loyal band of lieutenants, many of whom remain involved, have contributed significantly towards since LGFA in The Wee County got on its feet once and for all in 1992.

For those unfamiliar with the Shelagh man, he’s an omnipresent figure at games of all grades and a reservoir of fun, forever trying to make others laugh and smile. A larger than life character brimming with yarns and tales, he has his own story. 

“I probably was the lesser talented of seven brothers who played for Naomh Malachi, but it - my career, if you like - was cut short by illness really,” he tells The Democrat, almost hesitating to disclose any further detail. 

Spells in hospital during 1986 were returning little in the form of a resolution to his condition. There were blackouts and seizures until finally a Dublin-based consultant joined the dots and diagnosed his epilepsy. No more playing football was the advice and, oddly enough for a man more accustomed to doing his own thing, Dermot listened. 

Instead, over the years to follow, he served as his club’s first-ever PRO and as the Mals’ County Board delegate for nine years, a role which, little did he know, would give him the grounding required for a prolonged period presiding over the ladies’ game. 

Management also helped fill the void after hanging up his boots and his experience on the line almost saw the Malachis reach the holy grail of Senior football.

“In 1988 I was part of the Malachis management that reached the Intermediate Championship Final, having beaten more fancied teams like St Mochtas and Sean O’Mahonys we met a star-studded St Josephs side in the semi-final.

“After two absorbing contests, a third meeting was needed to separate the sides and in that game we were leading by four points deep into injury time when the Joes got a point. However, referee Jim McCaffrey allowed play to continue for a few more minutes with the Joes getting a goal with the last kick of the game. However, we regrouped and in extra-time we won by 4-10 to 4-9.

“Going into the final against Nh Mairtin I felt we had a great chance despite being up against a very strong Monasterboice outfit. We had the momentum of three tough games and a period of extra time behind us, but we were never able to repeat that level showed against Joes as we lost by 0-7 to 1-3. In all my time in sport this was possibly my worst feeling as I felt  it was a golden opportunity missed,” explained Dermot.

One opportunity that was not missed was Dermot’s desire to record the history of his local community and the role played by the GAA. Not surprisingly he was the driving force behind the publication of a highly regarded book that chronicles life in Shelagh over many decades.

“In 1988 I thought it was a good idea to write a history on Nh Malachi GFC.  Along with then minor players Aidan Hoey and Sean Moley, we looked at archives of Dundalk Democrat in the library. We uncovered previously unknown material regarding teams in Shelagh/Hackballscross area such as Ballybinaby Emmets (1922-25), Border Rangers (1936-39) and Shelagh Emmets (1954-56).

“However as Nh Malachi was then just 22 years in existence (founded in 1966) and with one just one success (1979 Junior Championship) there was maybe not enough to write a book. I spoke to renowned local historian Con Short who said it would be a great idea and maybe include a history of the area, such as church and schools etc.

“A much bigger committee was then formed and on Con's advice Art Agnew was to lead this committee. After a lot of hard work and research, in 1994 the Nh Malachi/Shelagh story was published which was extremely well received,” Dermot revealed.

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“That game made national headlines, an ordinary league game.”

Prior to his playing retirement, Dermot and his six brothers were part of a breakthrough success for Naomh Malachi, as the Courtbane men earned the junior championship title in 1979, just over a decade after their formation. 

“We came very close on a number of occasions around the mid-70s and in 1979 we won our first championship, which was a special, special day that’s still talked about in the club,” he adds.

“We’ve won four championships since, but the people who were around in ’79 still reflect on that day. Your first championship win for your club is special and for us, as a family, it was equally satisfying in the sense that three of us played on the starting  team and the other four were among the subs. 

“Even yet it’s great that we played such a role in the success.”

Modest in trying to distance himself from the triumph, given he was listed among the reserves, Woods has his medal and there came a time when all seven brothers would field together in the royal red. 

It’s a feat they’d have dreamt about in their childhood days playing in the garden. With two older sisters having married young, eight remained, his youngest sibling, Lilly, being the odd one out.

“We used to play four-a-side on a small green in front of the house and she would be right in the middle of it. She got as much a kickin’ about as I did!”

The rough and tumble clearly served her well, though Lilly (Dowdall) went on to become a star for the various teams in the Hackballscross area before Naomh Malachi formed a ladies’ team, with Dermot a founding member, in 1993. 

She starred for Inniskeen in the meantime, but made her presence felt upon coming back to line-out for the Mals, as one of Woods’ long-time County Board allies, Johann Fedigan, can vouch for. 

“In 1995 we beat Hunterstown, 6-10 to 2-4, to win the Division Two league in our second season competing,” Dermot recalls, giggling: “Our lassie scored 6-4 n that final. Johann played in goals for Hunterstown and she still talks about the hammering she took!”

All in good humour, mind, considering both Lilly and Johann remain serving executive members. But there have been tough moments amid Dermot’s involvement across both codes.

Having served as a referee for almost 20 years, the highlight of which was whistling the 1994 GAA intermediate championship final meeting of Lannléire and John Mitchel’s in Ardee, he learned to take abuse. Albeit, he reflects, not all that often. 

Yet there is an incident which remains etched on his mind. It had an effect and left an incisive mental cut. 

“I’d say I was one of the few referees at the time, in the early 90s, who liked to let the game flow as much as possible, but that can backfire, as it did in that instance.”

A Senior league game involving Newtown Blues and Stabannon Parnells turned nasty when Louth star Colin Kelly suffered a leg break. Match abandoned, but distress was palpable, in the referees’ room especially, until a legend offered some solace. 

“It would be fair to say that prior to the incident, in which he got his leg broken, he was fouled and I played an advantage. 

“He got away from his marker having been fouled, but the second tackle is where he received his broken leg. As a result, some of the spectators said that I should have blown for the first foul. Thus, the incident wouldn’t have taken place.

“The injury was horrific, but one of the things I’ll always remember is going back to the dressing room and feeling a bit anguished because of the extent of the injury. 

“There was a knock on the door and I just expected more abuse, but it was Jim Mulroy, a legendary Louth player and Blues’ manager at the time. He said he saw exactly what I was trying to do, that ‘I was trying to give him an advantage and while some of our people aren’t happy about it, feel no guilt over it’. He said I’d done nothing wrong.

“Coming from a man like that made me feel a bit better, although the injury was very serious for Colin Kelly.”

And then, on his third coming as chief of Louth LGFA, there was the sudden death of team manager Micheal McKeown, in 2018. Woods, the man who gave the Channonrock native the post, had to appoint a boss mid-season as The Reds sought All-Ireland junior glory 20 years after first winning the title. He chose Darren Bishop.

“It was a very hard situation to be in as you had to get a replacement strategy in place while trying to be sensitive and making sure everyone was feeling okay. 

“Darren was a close friend of Micheal’s and knew the squad having been involved in a small way before Micheal passed away. So I knew he was the man and I stuck by that decision even when the pressure came on after the All-Ireland final defeat that year by Limerick. 

“Some people wanted a change in management, but we stuck by Darren and it delivered at Croke Park last September. From something so dreadfully sad came what Micheal had taken the job to achieve. Darren, I knew, was the right man to drive that mission.”

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“Ladies football became fashionable and clubs began to pop-up all over the place. I think we went from five in 1996 to eighteen 10 years later.”

Having, with the help of a group including Kitty Begley, Patti McArdle, Seán Moley and Dympna Lenihan, got ladies’ football going in Naomh Malachi, serving as chairman and manager of the club, Dermot joined the LGFA County Board as a delegate in 1994, serving as vice-chairman under Joe Sheridan in ’95 and the following year before landing the central role unopposed in 1997. 

Football was strong at the time, with St. Joseph’s a major force and an incredible Cooley Kickhams outfit emerging. While the Mals were summoning a side which would challenge for the best part of the next 15 years. 

Joe’s, winners of the championship in the year Dermot took charge, won the subsequent Leinster junior title, yet Louth, on the inter-county circuit, weren’t what the chairman wanted. And he made his feelings known.

“We’d some very good people on the County Board at the time. Bob Doheny was secretary and St. Kevin's and Louth player Anne Marie King, was involved. Sue Callan came in as well and Johann Fedigan came on board around the time too.

“It was just a matter of making sure the games were played on schedule, we didn’t have as much bureaucracy to deal with, but one of things I said when assuming office in ’97 was that the profile of the game had to be raised and I set about doing that. Match reports, upcoming fixtures had to be in the ’papers and all the rest.

“The county team weren’t reaching their potential at all at the time either and I said that had to be improved. The performances simply weren’t matching the ability that was in the squad.  

“I did ruffle a few feathers and people weren’t happy with comments I made at meetings, but I would argue what I was saying was justified because performances picked up over the years to follow. 

“It was clear that the players were there, it was just a matter of getting them organised properly and getting the commitment that was necessary. If players see things not being done in a proper manner they will shy away, but when they see things being done right they’ll come back.”

And they did. In ’98, Louth with Tony Melia as manager won the junior All-Ireland, beating  Roscommon in the decider at Croke Park having seen off Tyrone in a famous semi-final, played to a finish in near darkness at Páirc Naomh Malachi just days after the Omagh bombing. 

The following year, with Alo McGrath,in charge and  Dermot Agnew and Joey Kirk as assistants providing the continuity  from the previous year,the Intermediate title was won, Kerry, Cork and Wexford  having fallen to Louth along the way, while the team played regularly in Division One through the early noughties. 

Meanwhile, the club scene was becoming ferocious despite Cooley’s dominance.

Kickhams tasted county and provincial glory at junior and intermediate level over the same years, while, in 2000, they defeated Ballyboden St. Enda’s in the Leinster senior final, only for a successful objection to see their crown dislodged in the enforced replay. 

“That was an outstanding Cooley team. Nuala Murphy could run from one end of the field to the other all day long; Anne Marie Murphy is considered by many to be the best forward Louth has ever produced; Lorraine Muckian a terriffic player who could play in any position, Roisin Hanlon currently  part of the Louth management, Elaine Rogan in the middle of the field… so many good players all over the field and they were all feeding into the Louth team.”

Stepping away after five years at the helm, Dermot’s focus returned solely to his club as an incredible era got underway. The men’s team won the intermediate championship thrice between 2002 and 2009, while his ladies’ outfit knocked Cooley off their perch, taking the senior crown five times in six years, with Orlaith Kirk and Caroline Lynch major players. 

“There was nearly a championship every year for five or six years; it was great. When the girls were playing in the finals there was fantastic support for them and likewise with the girls going to support the boys. It was just a great time all round.”

So good, in fact, that Dermot got a wee bit forgetful…

“My daughter used to go with me to every game; from she was 18 months old I could go nowhere without her. 

“After one of the championship finals we ended up in the Lisdoo Arms and most of the players were carrying her around. 

“It was time for me to go home at whatever time and I went home… with no Laura.

You can imagine what was said when I got home to the house, so I had to race back to the Lisdoo and retrieve my daughter.

“Not that there was a bother on her because she was being treated like royalty by some of the players.”

Looking back, he quips: “We all make mistakes!”

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“They say you shouldn’t go back, but I did... twice.”

But, by 2007, he had returned as chairman. The first of two firefighting missions.

“I’ve done three terms as chairman of Louth LGFA and the reason I’ve come in is either because there’s problems to be sorted out or that there was nobody else to do the job.

“I got the call in 2007 to go back and, like a fool, I did, and I stayed until  2010. 

“Louth were going very badly at the time and so I went for the tried and trusted duo of Alo McGrath and Dermot Agnew, to steady the ship and by 2010 we were back in the All-Ireland junior final.”

Requested to clear up another sorry state of affairs in 2017, he obliged, completing a further three years before relinquishing the post once more to take over PRO duties. A fourth tenure, he feels, isn’t on the cards.

“It’s well organised and there’s more people of high calibre involved at County Board level now. The delegates are really clued-in as good as ever and the meetings are very constructive. 

“The future is definitely very bright with so many promising young players emerging as was shown in Louth's tremendous win in the All-Ireland U16 Championship in 2019 and for me when I leave a position I like it to be in a better place than I found it.

What has he got out of it all?

“There’s nothing like the satisfaction you get when you put in so much and then see the players running out at Croke Park, because they’re fulfilling their ambitions. I was never good enough to play at Croke Park, but to play a small part in players achieving their dreams, that’s what it’s all about.”

Are there regrets? Well, the Mals folding in 2011 was a disappointment given the success they had, yet there are so many fond memories. In Malachi's 17 year existence we contested 14 Senior Championship final, while as County Chair Louth contested 3 All-Ireland finals in Croke Park

The same with Louth. 1998, winning at HQ, trumps all.

“Nothing will ever beat winning the first All-Ireland at Croke Park.”

Although watching his niece, Sinead, play her part in last year’s victory ranks highly, possibly just below his club’s JFC capture of 41 years ago.

Not bad for “the lesser talented of seven brothers”.

Thanks to Dermot Woods, Louth LGFA PRO for sending on this piece! 

Photo: 2019 U16 Louth All Ireland winning team.