St Mary's College RFC Yearbook 2020-21

Mary’s was undiminished. When the young
Gerry Cox tentatively outlined his thoughts,
he could hardly have imagined the
enthusiastic reception he would get. The
idea of gathering together the members of
the old Old St. Mary’s with the new wave so
excited Fr. Ernest that within hours of that
first meeting, Gerry Cox found himself on a
roller-coaster of activity.
He was organising meetings, making contact
with the people Fr. Farrell knew would be
capable of getting things done – and fast! It
was hectic, almost frantic as the task force
took shape. Allied to the enthusiasm of Fr.
Farrell and the organisational ability of Cox,
the dynamism of youngsters like Jimmy
Canter, Paddy Branagan, John G. Gogan,
Frank Purcell, William Fanagan, Nicky Power
and A. E. O’Brien ensured that there would
be no going back.
Within a fortnight they had organised a
ground for their home matches. It was an
amazing coup to have been able to rent a
pitch in such a short space of time and if
anyone had doubted the intentions of the
group or their ability to achieve their targets,
he would have been reassured by such
speedy action.
It was appropriate that the new grounds
were adjacent to the large Holy Ghost
seminary at Kimmage Manor. Mrs. Doherty
had a poultry farm at Kimmage Grove, with
the entrance gate on Fortfield Road facing
directly down ‘Green Lanes’, later to become
Greenlea Road, and she was happy to rent
out two fields towards the back of the farm.
For over 20 years, Kimmage Grove was to
become home for the new St. Mary’s College
RFC until the entire property was to be
developed as part ofthe College Park Estate.
In those days, there were few houses in the
area and the farms extended across Fortfield
from Terenure College with only the villages
of Templeogue and Tallaght dotted on the
map. The fields that St. Mary’s rented were
slightly elevated and would be found very
close to where Templeville Road and
Templeogue College are today. Exposed to
the elements as it was, the top field – or
senior pitch – was always in good shape but
always chilly and it quickly became known as
Kimmage ‘Grave’.
Having secured the pitch, it was decided
that as they didn’t have the resources to
build a pavilion (clubhouses hadn’t become
fashionable in the ’30s!) they had to find
some alternative. Their search led them to a
builder’s yard in Sandymount, where for the
princely sum of £50 they purchased a
spacious timber shed. Under the direction of
Nicky Power the shed was brought to
Kimrnage Grove and erected in the wide,
open spaces close to a tributary of the
Poddle River. For the first couple of seasons,
this stream ensured that the players could
wash off some of the mud that accumulated
during a game and for the really hardy ones,
there were plenty of aluminium basins
available to provide ‘showers’!
A Minor Miracle
The basic furniture of benches, trestle tables
and a few chairs for the changing rooms
were the remnants of the temporary seating
that had been used earlier during the
Eucharistic Congress of 1932 at the Mass
celebrated in the Phoenix Park. The
enterprising committee members had
spotted the opportunity and within weeks
Gerry Cox, Fr. Farrell, his brother Fr. Tom and
their small team had worked a minor miracle.
The infrastructure had been established and
it was to remain in place for the next 20
years. A boiler house was added fairly
quickly when water was laid on to the
pavilion but, during the years of World War II
(1939-45), there were times when there was
no fuel available and the after-match shower
became a freezing endurance test – again!
Even at the best of times it paid dividends to
get to the showers first. There was also a
cold eye cast on any referee who played
extended injury time in a match because that
meant that the players in the match on the
other pitch would get first use of the hot
water and probably use most of it!
There were other ‘joys’ associated with
Kimmage Grove which were not anticipated
in the euphoria of 1932. Because the grounds
were rented to the club for week-end
matches, they were used for grazing cattle
and sheep during the week. It was a handy
way of keeping the grass cut but there was a
residual disadvantage which ground
committees over the years had to solve.
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