Dual heroes

KILLINAN END

Liam Currams, former Offaly dual player, won All-Ireland medals in the 1981 All-Ireland hurling and 1982 football final. He relates a story of the day when himself and Jack lynch were invited to a function to celebrate their achievement of winning All Ireland Senior medals in the different codes in successive years. On arriving at the Gresham hotel in Dublin, Jack Lynch mentioned that they were not alone in achieving this feat. There was another man who should have been at the function. Jack recalled the name of Frank Burke whose career preceded those of the other two dual stars. They jumped in a taxi and made their way to the house of Frank Burke in Dublin, spending an afternoon discussing their days of glory.

Currams was an unlikely winner of dual All-Ireland medals in the sense that Offaly were underdogs going into each final coming off the ropes to win both. Jack Lynch hurled for Cork when they ruled the roost and enjoyed unprecedented dominance. When they won in 1941, a decade had elapsed since Eudie Coughlan captained them to their previous title. Cork went from strength to strength winning four of the next five finals. The year they missed out, 1945, was the very year Jack Lynch won his football medal. It was Cork’s only title between 1911 and 1973, so Lynch was a genuinely unlikely dual All-Ireland medalist.

As a dual player, Frank Burke’s achievements are on a different level considering their extent - he won three football medals and two hurling medals. In pure playing terms it is an outstanding achievement. But, of course, his achievements on the pitch are only the tip of the iceberg in the Frank Burke story.

This remarkable man was born in Carbury, Co. Kildare in 1895. He attended St Enda’s - the school ran by Pádraig Pearse - as a boarder and was immersed in all aspects of Irish culture which left a mark on him. Burke subsequently attended University College Dublin, then based in Earlsfort Terrace, just off St Stephen’s Green in Dublin. His sporting prowess quickly made him a man in demand. He won several Fitzgibbon Cup medals when Tulla’s famous goalkeeper, Tommy Daly, was among his team-mates, and a few Sigerson Cups as well.

He taught alongside Pádraig Pearse, Thomas MacDonagh, Con Colbert, Eamon Ceannt, and Willie Pearse, eventually succeeding Pádraig Pearse as Principal of St Enda’s. Given the names involved here there are no prizes for guessing where the story is going. On Easter Monday 1916, Burke, along with others, caught a tram from Rathfarnham into Dublin city centre. He was based in the GPO during the Easter Rising and spent a couple of days on the roof. He recalled feeling the intense heat from Clery’s shop across the road which was on fire as Sackville Street was bombarded from all angles.

When the Rising ended, Burke was arrested in Moore Street, around the corner from the GPO. Like a couple of thousand others Frank Burke’s next stop was Wales when he was interned at Frongoch prison. This was part of one of the classic British miscalculations in dealing with the so-called Irish question. They rounded up people indiscriminately and by the time these internees were released they were welcomed home as heroes. Frongoch has been described as the ‘University of Revolution’ as many people went from uncommitted and uninvolved to becoming radicalised when surrounded and influenced by those of a stronger commitment. For a short time in 1916 it is likely that Frongoch could have fielded an inter-county standard football team.

Frank Burke has something in common with another dual star, Teddy MacCarthy. Both made their Senior inter-county hurling debuts in an All-Ireland Final. Burke did so against Tipp in 1917 when Dublin dethroned the defending champions. Among his colleagues were Tommy Daly again, the great Bob Mockler of Moycarkey, and Tommy Moore after whom the All-Ireland club trophy is named. Frank also played for Dublin footballers against Tipperary on Bloody Sunday when his immediate opponent, Michael Hogan, was fatally shot. Burke’s son, Éanna, recalled his father’s account of when he and Michael Hogan were on their stomachs crawling along the ground in Croke Park amid the chaos, when Burke heard the words “Frank, I’ve been shot” as the GAA’s darkest moment emerged.

Another All-Ireland hurling medal came his way in 1920 when Cork were beaten, and one of Frank Burke’s colleagues was Joby Callanan who captained Tipp to win the final ten years later. After Frank Burke’s hurling achievements came his footballing immortality. He already had a couple of Junior All-Ireland football medals with Dublin, but winning a three-in-a-row for Dublin beating Mayo, Galway, and Kerry, is about as good as it gets for a boy in blue. While Liam Currams and Jack Lynch are worthy of celebration, it is fair to say that as a dual player, Frank Burke hit even greater heights.