Death of Cavan Legend Mick Higgins

[cavanmaniac]

Had the pleasure of interviewing Mick for a magazine when I was young fella. I couldn't believe I was sitting in the living room of a bona-fide GAA legend, and there he was slicing fruit cake and asking how many sugars did I take on my tea?
That's why GAA has been the enduring success it has...the unassuming modesty of the stars that played the game in the founding era, which is sadly something not as prevalent today. There's lads in Cavan jerseys now that will never have any of the achievements to their name the like of which Mick racked up routinely, and probably forgot about, such was his reluctance for talking about that sort of thing.

Chatted to me for hours that day did Mick, nothing was too much trouble and I actually think I still have the tape of it somewhere.

A treasured memory. Tea with the Queen is all well and good if that's your thing, but I had tea with the King and he gave me cake as well. Now for ye.

Sleep well Mick, ní bheidh a leithéad ann arís.

[anglocelt39]

One of the most enjoyable pieces of media coverage I ever came across was the day before the kerry Cavan Semi in Croker in 97. Today FM (Radio Ireland as it was then) ran a feature on 50 years previously, we had the soft modest voices of Mick Higgins and from Kerry I think it may have been Paddy Brosnan chatting away over a background of Shane MacGowan singing Rainy Night in Soho. Now you had to be there but it was magical in a strange way.............."I've been lovin you a long time, down all the years down all the days............". i would love to hear it again and one or two acquaintances that heard it found it equally memorable.

That was some score Maniac but sure that was the type of man he was by all accounts.

Delighted to say that his travels as a Garda saw him tog out in St Annes Park for the Shamrocks for a short while.

[mylestheslasher]

The GAA Oral history project has put their entire interview with Mick Higgins on their website. You can download it or just listen. Follow this link

http://www.bc.edu/centers/irish/gaahistory/Mick_Higgins.html

[mylestheslasher]

...and a nice piece from the longford leader

http://www.longfordleader.ie/news/Mick-Higgins--The-Star.6027875.jp

Mick Higgins - The Star of the Show


Published Date: 29 January 2010
Longford Leader Editor Sheila Reilly interviewed Mick Higgins at his home in Virgina in 2002 to mark the 50th anniversary of Cavan's last All-Ireland win. Mick discussed the halcyon days of Cavan football, the team's lack of All-Ireland success since then and how payment for players was an issue back as far back as the 1940s.
When he led the Cavan Senior team to All-Ireland glory on a wet Sunday afternoon in October 1952, Mick Higgins never could have imagined that this was to be Cavan's last All-Ireland win of the 20th century. Why would he? Cavan was on the crest of a wave, frequent visitors to the hallowed turf of Croke Park and regular recipients of All-Ireland medals. But times changed and Croke Park and Cavan became virtual strangers.
In the period between 1933 and 1952, Cavan was home to the Sam Maguire on five occasions. Between 1933 and 1955, the Breffni Blues won 16 Ulster titles and reached 11 All-Ireland finals. Make no mistake, this was the zenith of Cavan football. They were, to paraphrase the adverts, giants in GAA circles.
No-one more so than Mick Higgins. Kerry's Jackie Lyne is quoted as describing Higgins as one of the greatest opponents he ever met. Cavan's football historians will tell you that he was one of the greatest footballers to ever play the game since the GAA began.
Mick Higgins says he was just playing a game of football but history sees it a little different.
Cavan were playing Meath in the All-Ireland replay in 1952. The final score was Cavan 0-9, Meath 0-5. Mick Higgins scored seven of those nine points, cementing his God-like status in the annals of Cavan history.
An affable and unassuming man, Mick Higgins is in his 80th year and seems genuinely surprised that an All-Ireland final of 50 years ago would be the source of such celebration. But this week he, along with the surviving members of the 1952 team, will be honoured by the Cavan County Board at a function in Cavan town which we recall the days when Ireland won its fifth All-Ireland.
Born in New York, Mick Higgins family moved to Kilnaleck when he was young. After attending secondary school in Dundalk, he joined the Gardai. He was stationed in George's Cross in Co Meath from 1945 to 1947 before being moved to Drogheda from 1947 to 1951 so he missed the run- up to the '47 and '48 that Cavan won.
"I wouldn't have seen much of the hype," he agrees. He played with Cavan at a time when they were familiar figures in Croke Park - often playing Ulster Championships as well as National League games there.
"We nearly appeared all the time in Croke Park," he says.
In capturing the 1952 title, Cavan prolonged their winning streak. However it wasn't straightforward. Cavan had lost the 1949 All-Ireland Final (to Meath 1-10 to 1-06) and did not make it as far as Croke Park in 1950 or '51. Therefore the team was not tipped to do well in the 1952 season. This view was re-affirmed when they were beaten by Kerry in a challenge match held on June 8 of that year to celebrate the re-opening of Breffni Park.
"At the beginning of the year, very few thought Cavan had a chance. Few predicted that they would be All-Ireland champions," recalls Mick Higgins.
"It was seen as a mixed team of young and old. There were some very young players and then five or six old fellas like myself!"
He ponders for a moment, like many a Cavan person before, and wonders what the county didn't win any more titles in the '50s as so many members of the team were young were in their late teens and early twenties.
"You would imagined they would have been around for a while," he remarked.

- Cavan's best game in 1952
Cavan beat Monaghan to win the Ulster Final in 1952. They faced Cork in the All-Ireland Semi-Final.
"That was probably the best game Cavan played in the Championships," Mick Higgins says.
"They scored five points in the last seven minutes."
That game is recorded as one of the greatest comebacks in the history of the game. Cavan were four points down in the dying minutes of the match but Arva man JJ Cassidy scored a point from a free, given when Mick Higgins was fouled. Paddy Carolan scored another point as did Cassidy, from another free. He also scored the equalising point. Newspapers reports from the time described the crowd at this point as "hysterical with excitement" so when Cassidy scored the winning point in extra time, the Cavan supporters must have thought they'd died and gone to Heaven.
Mick Higgins is generous is his assessment of this famous game.
"They (Cork] were unlucky, they were short Eoin Young and Con McGrath," he recalls. Cork were favourites on the day but Cavan obviously wanted the win more.

-Poor weather conditions
Both the All-Ireland Final and the subsequent replay are remarkable for one thing other than football - the weather.
"They were two very wet days. The pitch was very heavy," he recalls.
The All-Ireland Minor Final of that year was postponed on the first day due to the atrocious conditions. Incidentally Cavan were playing Galway in that minor final which was eventually played on the same day as the All-Ireland replay. Cavan lost the match and the county was denied the glory of the double.
"The conditions were poor," Mick Higgins states, looking at old newspaper reports of the match.
"Best football of the hour was unquestionably supplied by Cavan," he reads.
One report states that Cavan played the better football on the day but predicted that "the two teams will be around for a long time to come."
"Sadly, it was to be Meath that were around for the long time," Mick remarked.
He remembers the replay well. It was played on a miserable day in October 12. He led the team out in front of the 62,515 strong attendance in Croke Park despite suffering a heavy cold in the run-up to the game.
"In the second game the football was of a higher standard," he recalled. Other than that he is very modest about his contribution on the day and won't really dwell on it. However the accolade for Higgins in the Irish Independent on the day after the match says it all:
"It is not often that an All-Ireland final win turns out to be such a triumph for one individual, but without him (Higgins] and the apparent indifference with which he ambled up to every free the result could, even if it should not have been different."
In fact the Irish Independent named him "Sports Star of the Week" the following Friday. By the end of the year he had also collected a "Sportsman of the Year Award."

-Post All-Ireland celebration
After the match the two teams were brought together for a celebration at Mills' restaurant beside the Shelbourne Hotel - "which wasn't a good idea," he states simply. This was the first time that there was a celebration after an All-Ireland in Dublin so it is an irony that arch-rivals Cavan and Meath were to be the first two teams to 'celebrate' the conclusion of the Championship in this way.
Higgins didn't drink himself but he recalls:
"The drink was free after the drawn game but it wasn't free the second time around!"
This system was changed after a couple of years to the current winning team celebration in a Dublin hotel after the match.
He has great praise for a number of greats at the time including the aforementioned Jackie Lyne Of his rivals on that day in 1952, he has great praise for Peter McDermott, Paddy O'Brien and Paddy Meegan.
In a strange coincidence, Paddy Meegan and Mick Higgins had played on the same team at school - they both attended St Mary's College in Dundalk and played on the same team that won the McRory Cup in 1938.
Higgins played with Cavan the following year but Cavan failed to make it out of Ulster - they were beaten by Armagh in the Ulster Final 1-6 to 0-5.
After that Higgins stopped playing. He was just 31 years old.
"I didn't retire really, I suppose I could have played on," he muses.
"But I just said to them to leave me out. That was it - goodbye."
And so ended an illustrious playing career but it wasn't to be the end of his football career as such. He went on to train the Cavan team that won four Ulster titles in the '60s. He then brought a touch of magic to Longford in the 1960s and he has fond memories of his time here. He came to train Longford at the behest of Fr Phil McGee and Jimmy Flynn. Under his training regime, Longford won the National League title in 1966 and the Leinster Championship title in 1968, the only time we ever won either of those titles.

Paying players
Incidentally, the question of paying GAA players for playing Gaelic sports may seem like a relatively new topic but in fact the subject had been discussed at length in the 1940s when it emerged that Cavan County Board were paying a £2 stipend to students for training.
"Training was very different then," Mick explains. In fact the Cavan team never trained together for an Ulster Championship until 1947. At that point the County Board commenced a type of 'training school' where the team went for two weeks intensive training up to the day of the big match.
"We went to a big house or hotel for a fortnight before the match and trained constantly," Mick continued. In the years following their 1947 All-Ireland victory, the Cavan teams trained in a variety of estate houses and hotels throughout the county.
"We trained all over - in Bingfield, Ballyhaise, Ballyjamesduff...," he recalled.
"We were well fed for a couple of months every year!" he laughed.
For the players who were working, this two weeks was usually taken as part of their annual leave but many of the players were students and the County Board was paying them £2 for taking part in the training.
"Then there was a kick up," Mick Higgins states. Apparently word came from 'on high' that the practice was to cease.
"There was an objection. They were afraid that football was turning professional," he recalls.
"As if it was going to turn professional for £2 a fortnight."
But as well as the plentiful supply of food and the constant training, the 'training camps' were enjoyable.
"It was good craic, you'd never find the time passing," he says. The day started at 8am when they went out for a walk which was followed by breakfast and a heavy training session. In the afternoon, the team practiced their football skills and after tea, they went for a three mile walk to finish the day off. The trainer of the 1952 team was Hughie Reilly from Cootehill - a well-known footballer himself at the time. Incidentally numerous newspaper reports from 1952 refer to Cavan's superior fitness. With or without the £2, the Cavan boys kept training - surely that dispels the myth about Cavan people once and for all.....

Cavan Fans
While the years that followed the 1952 win might not have brought All-Ireland glory to Cavan - in Cavan's Football Story by noted football historian the late Fr Dan Gallogly these years are referred to as "Years in the Wilderness" - one thing has always remained consistent for Cavan and that is the support of the fans.
"Cavan always had a wonderful following, they were very staunch," he stated. He agrees that this following has continued to this day even if the winning streak has not. He remembers well the fires that greeted the winning team as they returned home with the Sam Maguire in 1952.
"There was a bonfire at Maghera. We went on to Baileboro and then to a reception in Cavan," he recalls. Huge crowds turned out to welcome the victorious Cavan team home with their fifth A-Ireland title.
Other than football, the great love of Mick Higgins' life is greyhounds.
"I got my first dog in 1945," he says.
Has he had much success ?
"I am a lifetime at them and I still didn't win the derby!" he added. He is a regular at Shelborne Park as well as Longford and Mullingar and despite his modestly, his living room is littered with greyhound trophies. Over the mantelpiece hangs a picture of a Cavan team from the 1940s - testimony to his role in Cavan's finest hour.

[southsidejohnny]

Sad to hear of the passing of a true legend. Mick Higgins was one of the real giants of gaelic football. Certainly we will travel a long road before we see his likes again. Perhaps some of the young men who now wear the famed Cavan jersey might see what its like to be a real legend and possibly inspire themselves and the county to a little more than what has gone on for too long. Cavan the county and Mick Higgins deserves better.

[tierworker blue]

RIP Mick, a true legend of the game. 'Tis the end of an era folks. There are some serious points being kicked right now on the big pitch in the sky!

[Hardy]

Great evocative stuff there from our Cavan correspondents.

[anglocelt39]

Great evocative stuff there from our Cavan correspondents.

Hardy, as one that that most unique of specimens, i.e. a west Cork residing muesli munching meathman (unique indeed) can I take the opportunity to thank you and your fellow county men for the dignity and class you have shown over the past day or so. The Hogan Stand site has gone up hugely in my opinion over the past 24 hours with the number of genuine, knowledgable expressions of sympathy and admiration from non Cavan people, a large minority of whom hail from the Royal County. Many thanks.

[mylestheslasher]

Great evocative stuff there from our Cavan correspondents.

Hardy, as one that that most unique of specimens, i.e. a west Cork residing muesli munching meathman (unique indeed) can I take the opportunity to thank you and your fellow county men for the dignity and class you have shown over the past day or so. The Hogan Stand site has gone up hugely in my opinion over the past 24 hours with the number of genuine, knowledgable expressions of sympathy and admiration from non Cavan people, a large minority of whom hail from the Royal County. Many thanks.

Ditto.

Meath are the team us Cavan men love to hate but maybe it is because the people in our two counties are actually very similar in mindset that this rivarly exists. Both counties have incredible pride in the footballing history of our county. I too was touched by the kind words of many Meath supporters on here and Hoganstand.

[anglocelt39]

We felt kinda sorry for them up to the late 50's as we strode majestically up to Croker again (or so I'm told Myles) the Rial boys have been feeling sorry for us ever since. Sad and not totally, but slightly true

[oakleafgael]

I would have come across Mick a fair bit at the dog tracks around the midlands and like many Im the better for it. A very humble man who always made time for a yarn. Whenever he had the money down they where very rarely beaten. Lovers of the leash and the longtail keep him in memory evergreen.

[ONeill]

A giant.

[mylestheslasher]

Rumour has it that the Cavan Senior team did not attend the funeral (although a few of the players went themselves). Indeed, they played a challenge match today against Longford a few hours after the man went into the ground! Is there any other county in Ireland that has such a gutless, heartless, brainless, disrespectful bunch of wankers running the county and the team. I mean a junior club team wouldn't do the like of that.

I lamented last year at a league match in Louth, during a minutes silence and the national anthem that Seanie "superstar" Johnstone couldn't even stand to attention, instead walked around stretching his quads and sucking and spitting water from a bottle. Compare the humility of Mick Higgins to the pathetic shower we have now (and I'm not talking about footballing ability).

Without respect to the past and the jersey then there is no hope for the future. I don't think I have ever felt so disgusted to be a Cavan fan.

[magickingdom]

A decent obituary on RTE 6 o clock news, fair play to them - it could have easily been ignored. Even some vintage footage from the polo grounds was shown.

yeah i saw that, sad news but he had a good life by all accounts. RIP
anyone know if there are many players still alive from the 1947 final? i often drive by the site of the polo grounds (sadly gone now) and always think of my dad talking about that final.

[Dougal]

A decent obituary on RTE 6 o clock news, fair play to them - it could have easily been ignored. Even some vintage footage from the polo grounds was shown.

yeah i saw that, sad news but he had a good life by all accounts. RIP
anyone know if there are many players still alive from the 1947 final? i often drive by the site of the polo grounds (sadly gone now) and always think of my dad talking about that final.

he was the last from cavan,so unless you kerry boys have a few left,then no,sadly not.

Rumour has it that the Cavan Senior team did not attend the funeral (although a few of the players went themselves). Indeed, they played a challenge match today against Longford a few hours after the man went into the ground! Is there any other county in Ireland that has such a gutless, heartless, brainless, disrespectful bunch of w**kers running the county and the team. I mean a junior club team wouldn't do the like of that.

I lamented last year at a league match in Louth, during a minutes silence and the national anthem that Seanie "superstar" Johnstone couldn't even stand to attention, instead walked around stretching his quads and sucking and spitting water from a bottle. Compare the humility of Mick Higgins to the pathetic shower we have now (and I'm not talking about footballing ability).

Without respect to the past and the jersey then there is no hope for the future. I don't think I have ever felt so disgusted to be a Cavan fan.

Just read this (an hour later). That is mental.

myles that was me that posted that on HS.hardstation,funeral was at 12,half time of the challenge was at quarter past 3 and it takes close to 2 hours on a bus to get to longford.it's the most disrespectful thing i have heard of in the GAA.