By Sean Collins
Last week saw the death of local hero and community man Frank Farrell who lived for all of his 91 years in Drogheda. I will miss his friendly “hello”, which I was last greeted with about two weeks ago. I wrote a piece to celebrate his 89th Birthday and it is repeated here:
Frank Farrell, 89 years young today, May 2nd 2021
In 1932 the Eucharistic Congress was held in Dublin, Adolf Hitler was on the rise in Germany, the British once again arrested and jailed Gandhi, Amelia Earhart landed safely in Derry having flown solo transatlantic, and in Magdalene Street, Drogheda, Frank Farrell was born to James and Brigid Farrell, both members of families long resident in Drogheda.
Frank’s first job at the age of 10 was delivering milk for Callan’s dairy in Magdalene Street. He also worked in McNamara’s and Barney Corcorans, and in 1964 he joined the new Tegral Pipes Company at Newtown where he stayed until his retirement.
Like many a fella from the faa side, he had to come to Dooley Gate to find a good woman. He met and married Margaret (Peg) O’Brien of Mount St. Oliver in 1957. In the early 1960’s they moved into the new houses at Ballsgrove and raised their family there.
Super Drogs supporters all agree that Frank “Dusty” Flanagan was one of the most courageous players to ever wear the “claret and blue”. Discussing the beautiful game, of which I know little, I asked Dusty was Ray Treacy the biggest influence on his career.
Without any hesitation Dusty said the man who had influenced him the most was Frank Farrell. He spoke fondly of Frank’s great skill and dedication to all the young guys in Drogheda, not alone in Ballsgrove, who wanted to play soccer. His way of encouraging young players and calming the wild ones.
It is not surprising then to find that Declan Dooley (Sir Alf) writing in the local paper pointed out that in November 1967 Frank Farrell and Tommy Fagan founded Grove Celtic A.F.C. for players in the general Ballsgrove area.
Frank’s efforts were soon rewarded when in 1971, the Drogheda Branch of the Irish Soccer referees, awarded Grove Celtic and their manager Frank, the “Pat McPhilips Memorial Cup” for the best turned out and most sportsman like team in the league.
Soccer players along with “Dusty”, like Ronan Rooney, Declan Farrell, Dermot Haughey, Alan Milne, Brendan McArdle, Jimmy Mackle, Philip Murray, Jim Walsh, Terry Collins, Pat Kavanagh, to name but a few, got their first opportunities at Grove Celtic, under Frank’s inspiring leadership.
In 1970, Peter Corr of Marian Park, another local soccer stalwart, proposed Frank as Chairman of the St. Mary’s Schoolboy’s League in acknowledgement of Frank’s efforts in securing the first football pitch at Ballsgrove. Juvenile soccer in that year lost a great supporter and colleague of Frank’s with the premature death of Eddie Walsh, co-manager of the club.
A memorial cup was instituted in 1971 to his memory and to Frank’s delight Grove Celtic won it that year with Jim Walsh, Eddie’s son, playing on the team. Frank continued in his campaign to improve the standard of soccer played in Drogheda.
In 1970 Frank, along with Charlie Devitt, Mal Grogan, Jim Farrell and Tony Connor, convinced Drogheda F.C. to enter U-12 and U-14 teams in the Dublin leagues. They believed that this move more than anything would help raise the standard of soccer played by the youth of Drogheda.
Side by side with his role in developing Grove Celtic, Frank also took an active interest in Drogheda United F.C. He served as Chairman of the supporter’s club in the 1970’s, and he noted at the AGM in 1974, the committee had 48 meetings that year and were able to provide £5,000 of financial support to the club’s budget.
However, his heart was obviously in Grove Celtic, he continued to campaign for playing pitches for the young players which led to many colourful encounters with Drogheda Corporation down through the years. In 1974 the local paper had the headline “Threat by the Soccer Men to set up No-Go Areas”, reflecting I suppose more serious matters in Derry, but in Drogheda for Frank Farrell it was soccer pitches !!!
Frank told the Mayor Peter Moore at a public meeting that the soccer players were fed up being kicked around by the Corporation. In the long term these endeavors paid off with the allocation of ten acres for pitches provided at Rathmullen in 1975. Another milestone for soccer in the Holy Family area.
Throughout the 1980s Frank took an active part in the affairs of the Ballsgrove Residents and Tenants Association, always making himself available to support the local community. He entertained on many occasions with Noel Phelan the old folk in St. Mary’s Hospital on the Dublin road.
Throughout all these years Frank enjoyed and acted as Chairman of the Drogheda Caged Bird Society, and was a founder member along with his neighbour Joe Bell and Phil Conyngham of the Federation of Resident’s Associations.
Rest easy old friend.
