Joe Carroll left his enduring mark on road bowling
- 5 days ago
- 4 min read
Article from The Southern Star
CHRISTY SANTRY reflects on the lasting influence Joe Carroll had on road bowling in West Cork and beyond
A FEW short weeks will have done little to erase the memories and subdue the tangible sense of loss that has followed the passing of Joe Carroll.
The sight of the huge crowds that thronged St Patrick’s Cathedral Skibbereen for Joe’s requiem mass and later lined North Street to pay their last respects bore testimony to Joe’s standing across many strands of community.
As the funeral cortege moved slowly towards the Maid of Erin statue it was flanked by many of Joe’s political and sporting contemporaries, all of whom had seen him as a true friend, as a man whose general demeanour endeared him to young and old alike, many indeed of an entirely different political persuasion sharply contrasting with Joe’s powerful republican views.
For Joe Carroll in his role as a political servant to the people of West Cork for nigh on 30 years, there were no black and white lines of demarcation when representation was called for by the electorate he had been chosen to represent.
Joe was simply a man of the people, a man widely recognised as being able to take his part in the political, sporting and social round with equal success.
As we walked with him in his fateful final journey through the streets of his adopted town of Skibbereen we were consoled to see that many of those clubs to whom Joe pledged his allegiance as a football and hurler were there too to bid a final farewell, among them the men from Ballinacarriga bearing the Randal Óg colours, rank and file members from the Dohenys, not forgetting of course the Gaels of O’Donovan Rossa who accompanied the cortege on the final leg of its journey to Coronea cemetery.
But for those of us who have toiled in the bowling game for the last half a century and beyond we felt a deep sense of moral rightness to ensure the bowlplayers of West Cork and elsewhere came out to honour Joe Carroll.
There are times when one wonders if Joe ever got the recognition he so richly deserved, not so much as Joe Carroll the bowler, but as Joe Carroll the unsung background negotiator who had been a central figure in using his diplomatic skills to cement relationships in an era of much conflict and administrative differences in the promotion of the sport of bowlplaying.
Joe stayed clear of the more formal discussions that brought about the merger of the West Cork Bowling Association and Ból Chumann na hÉireann in the mid 1980s but the days that immediately followed were always going to be fragile calling for the type of sensitive handling in which role Joe was to prove a shining light.
Bringing on board such prominent individuals of the day as Tom Walsh, William O’Brien, Richie Fitzgerald, James Caverly, Pat O’Sullivan and Christy Santry, lengthy negotiations and compromises led to the visit of a large contingent of Armagh visitors to Skibbereen in 1988.
The Carbery region was here to stay. Joe and his team had endorsed its perpetuity.
Included among the Ulster branch party were Aidan McVeigh (Hon Sec), along with such established bowlers of the day as Michael Toal, Pat Mallon, Paul Grimley and Gerald McKee, all of whom wore the mantle of national title holders at one time or another over the years.
It was an occasion too that marked the beginning of an enduring friendship and an on the road rivalry between Joe and the Armagh player Paul Grimley, who later was to run Pat Butler to a blinding last-shot finish in the 1992 All-Ireland senior decider, a score that went down as one of the more captivating senior finals played over Armagh’s famous cathedral road.
While down in Skibbereen at Joe’s funeral, Paul Grimley regaled us with a story of a chance 2018 meeting with Joe on a Dublin to San Francisco flight. It was the beginning of a journey that saw them take the highway down the coast to San Diego, a visit to Torrey Pines Golf Course before finally arriving at Del Mar race course founded by that legendary singer and actor the late Bing Crosby.
‘These trips were rarely carefully planned but in Joe’s company they always seemed to fall into place,’ said Paul.
Meanwhile, the plight of the Irish emigrant in London was always something close to Joe’s heart. At the invitation of Ból Chumann chairman Barney Jennings of Reenascreena, a 100-strong party of bowlers journeyed to Launder’s lane in Rainham, Essex for the inaugural William Jennings Cup, a score that featured Christy Mullins and Michael Toal. Joe was our tour guide that year and again in a number of years that followed and this overseas venture is guaranteed entry into the bowling archives.
Ból Chumann na hÉireann extends its sympathy to Sheila, Linda, Kieran and Anna.