Mullingar Shamrocks made remarkable progress in their first decade although the club suffered a number of setbacks in junior level before the championship was finally captured on 9 September 1962 with a 4-4 to 2-6 victory against Boher. The club has retained its senior status since that date – the longest unbroken sequence for any current senior club.  The junior title was the first adult football title won by a Mullingar club since 1932.

The club produced several players who represented the county at senior level – something new for Westmeath football. Two players, Paddy Cole and Kevin Higgins, from that era went one better and represented Leinster. We had a look at the  career of Kevin Higgins during the Covid lockdown, now it’s time to focus on the career of Paddy Cole, one of our Honorary Presidents. 

Multi-talented Young Star 

Paddy Cole was a multi-talented teenage sports star playing Gaelic football with Mullingar Shamrocks, soccer with Brosna Rovers, hurling with Pearses and boxing. Boxing was part of Paddy Cole’s heritage as his father Chris was a successful heavyweight boxer and held the Irish professional title in the 1940s. Chris exploded on to the professional boxing scene as a seventeen-year-old in 1937 when he entered a Daily Mail competition designed to discover a heavyweight boxer capable of challenging for the world title with £2,000 on offer to the winner. Jack Smith narrowly beat Chris Cole in the semi-final. This began a boxing career as he continued to work on the family farm in Tyrrellspass that brought Chris Cole to the UK, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Belfast, Dublin (Tolka Park, Dalymount Park, and the Theatre Royal), Cork and to the Greyhound Track in Mullingar for professional bouts.  Two of Chris Cole’s most spectacular victories were in Dalymount Park when on  12 June 1942 he defeated Jim Cully, the Tipperary Giant (7’2”) In Round 2 to win the Irish Heavyweight title and on 11 June 1943 he knocked out Jack Doyle (the Gorgeous Gael) in 2 minutes 30 seconds of the first round.  In a career that lasted from 1937 to 1948, Chris Cole fought at least 33 professional bouts winning over half of them. 

Paddy Cole’s boxing career overlapped his GAA career in its early stages. In February 1963, for example, he won the Longford-Westmeath Junior Middleweight title (amateur) in Castlepollard. Paddy’s boxing skills were confined to the ring: in a lengthy GAA career he was never booked or never sent off. Before he concentrated on Gaelic football and hurling,   Paddy was also a talented soccer player with Brosna Rovers and Mullingar Town. His soccer exploits with Brosna Rovers regularly feature in the Westmeath Examiner, a team he captained. The team also included one Tommie Lennon, another man known to Mullingar Shamrock’s people. 

The year 1960 was a significant one for Mullingar Shamrocks at under-age level; the club contested the Minor, Under-17, Under-16 and Under-15 county finals winning the latter title and the Minor title. Paddy Cole collected his first county medal as part of the successful squad and added a second minor medal to the collection in 1961 where he lined out at mid-field with Kevin Nugent.  Paddy first played adult football for Mullingar Shamrocks in 1960 and was a member of the team beaten in the junior county final by Ballymore (2-2 to 1-2), The Downs were defeated in the semi-final and the famous objection to Paddy playing soccer followed that game. Shamrocks survived and after that episode Paddy limited his soccer playing activities to the dismay of his uncle.  The first five years of the decade were some of the most successful in the history of the GAA in Mullingar. Paddy Cole was centrally involved in all the successes which began in May 1962 when Pearse’s defeated Raharney 3-13 to 3-7 in the Feis Cup final. On 26 August Raharney were again defeated (2-9 to 3-5) in the County Senior Hurling final, the first Senior hurling title won by a Mullingar team since 1945 and the last one since that day.  Paddy had ‘a very good hour’ according to the Westmeath Examiner report. Castletown Geoghegan and Clonkill were beaten enroute to winning the championship. Two weeks later many of the same players returned to Cusack Park for the Junior football final and senior football status was achieved with the 4-4 to 2-6 defeat of Boher. Paddy Cole partnered James O’Dowd at midfield and scored the fourth goal. Two years later on 20 September 1964  the Senior football title was won for the first time when hot favourites St Mary’s Rochfortbridge were narrowly defeated. Three points scored by Sean Magee Mick Lynch and Tony McCormack in the last two minutes secured the title after Shamrocks led by 0-2 to 0-0 at the interval. This was one of the many occasions when Paddy Cole’s high fielding, quality distribution, football brain and leadership qualities were instrumental to the Shamrocks success story. Shamrocks completed the Championship-League double in 1964 but had to wait until 16 May 1965 to complete the double when Athlone were defeated 2-11 to 2-6 in the league final. Mullingar Shamrocks also won the Under-21 football championship in 1964. Paddy Cole captained Shamrocks in 1965 but were eliminated from the championship by Ballymore (1-6 to 0-7).  The club bounced back in 1966 and victories over Rosemount, The Downs GAA Club, St Mary’s Rochfortbridge and Maryland (5-10 to 1-5) in the final played on 2 October 1964 secured the club’s second senior title and Paddy’s  second senior football championship medal.  Three weeks later Paddy Cole was back in Cusack Park but this time Pearses lost to Castlepollard in the senior hurling final (2-7 to 2-4). The same happened a year later when Raharney defeated Pearses (4-12 to 1-8) in the club’s last appearance in a final.

Shamrocks championship winning run ground to a halt at this stage as the club struggled through the 70s before recovering to reach the senior final  in 1979.  Between 1965 and 1978 Shamrocks played 36 senior championship matches winning just 13; the 1975 and 1976 seasons were the worst In club history as the championship record read 1 draw, a walkover conceded and 21 championship defeats.  Paddy Cole, as player manager and lining out at full forward was instrumental in leading this revival. Unfortunately, Athlone proved to be too good in the final and were convincing 1-10 to 0-5 winners.  His contribution was recognized by his selection as Clubman of the Year in 1979.  Paddy Cole continued to line out for Mullingar Shamrocks into the 1980s and played his last senior championship match for Shamrocks against Athlone. A wonderful 22 years of senior championship action ended on 26 August 1984 in this semi-final loss to the Shannonsiders during which time Paddy almost always lined out in the key-positions of the day, initially midfield but later full-forward, centre-forward, centre-back or full-back as the need required.  However, Paddy was still lining out for Mullingar Shamrocks in 1986 at junior level, the year a remarkable club playing career ended.  

In the late 1970s-early 1980s,  Paddy Cole extended his football repertoire and he was a regular on the Mullingar Rugby 1st team for a number of seasons  playing in the centre with a number of other Mullingar Shamrocks players also featuring,  as well as one Michael O’Leary.  It would be interesting to know how many have represented Mullingar teams in senior football, senior hurling, 1st team rugby, and Mullingar Town in soccer. Can’t be too many with the range of skills required. 

Paddy Cole’s intercountry career was equally significant. His soccer playing exploits ensured that he was not selected for any Westmeath Minor teams – no footballer or hurler who openly played the ‘foreign game’ was going to be kitted out in a Westmeath jersey. County Chairman Eamon Moynihan’s policy on this allowed no room for compromise:  ‘Players had a choice of playing whichever codes they wished but they could not play Gaelic games and foreign games’. Paddy made his inter-county debut on 14 October 1962 in Cusack Park in a National Hurling League Div. 1C match against Dublin as part of a hardy full-back line that also included Jack Power and Pat Jackson.  It wasn’t a good outing for the county (or the full-back line!) as it shipped an 8-8 to 2-7 defeat.  The politics of hurling selection had little appeal for Paddy and his inter-county hurling career was short lived. On one occasion Westmeath played Offaly in Tullamore. During the game there were two selectors on each side of the pitch. ‘Young Cole you go in’ Paddy was told by the men-in-charge at his side; the selectors on the other side took Paddy off almost as soon as he arrived. Invitations to join the panel after this were generally ignored, although he did line out in November 1967 and February 1968 in the two Div. 2A NHL games against Roscommon. 

A week after his hurling debut, Paddy Cole made his inter-county football debut at full-forward against Leitrim in a NFL Div. 2A match played in Cusack Park on 21 October 1962. It was a winning 1-10 to 3-2 start in what stretched to 47 league games played for the county between 1962 and 1974 (Thanks to Gerry Buckley’s books for making it possible and easy to gather these stats). In addition, Paddy played in 12 Leinster senior championship matches between 1966 and 1974, beginning in Navan on 9 June 1964 when Meath defeated Westmeath (3-8 to 0-7) in the Leinster Championship. His final league game was on 3 February 1974 against Derry in Kinnegad and he ended his inter-county championship career in Croke Park against Meath lining out at corner-back on a team that lost 3-8 to 0-7. Times were different when Paddy made his first-start against Leitrim. He was playing his second game of the day as in the morning he lined out for Mullingar Shamrocks against Trim, the Mullingar Shamrocks reported. It was a report of commendation rather than condemnation for Paddy. 

Paddy Cole played most of his inter-county football at right corner back but he was also known to make an impact in the forwards on occasion. In the period between 1967 and 1969 Westmeath football enjoyed something of a mini-Golden Age. Paddy Cole had a number of important contributions to the time when ‘Westmeath for the first time, crashed football’s big time’, as the Irish Independent  saw it.  On 11 June 1967, in Tullamore, Westmeath eliminated Dublin from the Leinster championship (1-6 to 0-8).  On this occasion, it was Paddy’s vigilance in defence that secured the victory as he dispossessed Leslie Deegan as he was about to shoot. ‘As he was shooting however the flying body of Paddy Cole arrived from “nowhere” to smother the shot and Dublin were quite unexpectedly kayoed form the championship’ was how Donal Carroll described Paddy’s heroics in the Irish Independent. 
   

In the opening round of Div. 1B of the NFL on 22 October 1967 played in Athlone, Westmeath again took care of Dublin. Paddy Cole retired injured in the first-half but returned after the interval at right-half forward. In the final minute, Dublin desperately defended a two-point lead when in the words of the Irish Press reporter ‘Cole became the man of the match. He snatched up the ball from a Dublin clearance, and banged it back into the net to leave Westmeath winners [1-5 to 0-7]’. This was followed by victories over Armagh (1-8 to 0-8) and Monaghan (1-3 to 0-5) before the inevitable elimination by Meath. Against Monaghan, Paddy Cole again scored the vital goal this time from a penalty kick in the closing stages as he retained his composure despite the Monaghan distractions. (Anyone that believes that football was a feast of open play and great scores, consider the final scores in these games. It was nothing of the sort!).  

Westmeath remained on the big stage for the 1968-69 NFL with Paddy Cole still involved mainly in a forward role. On 16 March 1969, Down were defeated 0-13 to 1-8 in Arctic Carrickmackross. This result against the reigning All-Ireland champions would feature in any list of the county’s all-time Top-10 victories. Some of the greatest players of the era or any other era lined out for Down on the day including Sean O’Neill,  Paddy Doherty, James McCartan, the father of modern GAA coaching Joe Lennon and Dan McCartan at fullback.  Another victory over Dublin qualified Westmeath for the NFL semi-final against Kerry, a match played in Croke Park on 11 May 1969, on the week that French President General Charles de Gaulle came to visit Kerry and the Parknasilla and Sneem in particular.  This first time meeting of Westmeath and Kerry in an important game marked ‘the entry of Westmeath into the big time, the culmination of patient endeavour by players, selector and trainer, and the assistance behind the scenes of the officers of the County Board’ according to Aindrias-O in the Westmeath Examiner.  Westmeath pushed Kerry all the way as the county produced its finest Croke Park display at the time leading by 1-6 to 1-4 at the interval, the more experienced Kerry eventually winning 2-12 to 2-8. Paddy Cole was a second-half replacement for Pat Buckley and continued his goal scoring record in important games by scoring the second goal to reduce the deficit to two points with just over five minutes remaining.  A week later Kerry easily defeated Offaly (3-10 to 0-8) in the NFL final in what was ‘a triumph of brain over brawn, sheer class asserting itself over the rough tough but novice-like approach of Offaly’, The Kerryman reported.  

Westmeath followed this with a victory over Louth in the Leinster Championship before a heavy defeat by Offaly ended the quest for a Leinster title. The Offaly team was stacked with players who went on to win All-Ireland titles in 1971 and 1972. However, what happened next did incalculable damage to the image of Westmeath football and the notion that the county was in the top flight of the Gaelic football elite. The impressive display in the NFL semi-final was rewarded with an invitation to travel to play Kerry in a match to mark the official opening of the J. P. O’Sullivan Memorial Park, Killorglin on 31 August.  The Jimmy Lucey Memorial Cup was at stake: so too was the reputation of Westmeath football as ‘a makeshift Westmeath fifteen, missing half-a-dozen regulars offered but token resistance to the  earnest Kerry men and went down to an ignominious 2-20 to 0-3 defeat’, as the Westmeath Examiner reported. Paddy Cole was one of the 16 who made the journey to Killorglin and lined out at midfield on a day where ‘Westmeath far from gaining anything, have lost much’. As bad as it was, it could have been much worse as Kerry, the All-Ireland champions in waiting,   held an interval lead of 2-12 to 0-2. 

Interprovincial Honours 

In the 1960s, the ultimate representative  honour for a GAA player was to gain selection for his province and play in the Railway Cup.  In 1868, Kevin Higgins became the first Shamrocks player to gain inter-provincial honours and the first Westmeath player selected to play in goal for Leinster GAA when he played in the Railway Cup semi-final match against Munster. An injured Higgins was replaced by Martin Furlong for the final but Shamrocks were still represented in Croke Park on St Patrick’s Day as Paddy Cole played at right-corner back in the final against Ulster. Paddy Cole is the only Shamrocks player to play in a Railway Cup final.

At the Mullingar Shamrocks AGM of December, 2017 Paddy Cole’s contribution to the history of Mullingar Shamrocks were formally recognized when he was included in the list of Honorary Presidents.