Tom Creedon 40 years gone but never forgotten: ‘I think about him every day, he’ll be on the front of my mind on Sunday’

Colman Corrigan frequently heads out the Killarney Road to the cemetery in Macroom. One of the gravesides he visits is up in the corner, top of the left. That’s where Tom Creedon rests.

Forty years gone. But never forgotten.

On Sunday, Corrigan will meet up with several of his former Cork comrades – Dinny Allen, Jimmy Kerrigan, Barry Coffey, et al. Occasionally they’ll grab a pint beforehand. Either way, they’ll be sure to have one after, a chance to give their tuppence worth on Cork football, but mostly because of the unspoken fulfilment it brings to simply be in each other’s company. Not old, just older. A critics collective.

But when Dublin come to the Páirc, well it cuts differently. Because of 1983, and all that. Corrigan was midfield in that iconic All-Ireland semi-final replay at Páirc Uí Chaoimh 40 years ago.

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Dublin ran out 4-15 to 2-10 winners, but Cork lost more than a football game that day. Just hours after the final whistle, news filtered through that their team-mate, Tom Creedon, had died. He was just 28.

“We were well beaten by Dublin, everybody was disappointed, then later that night we heard about Tom,” recalls Corrigan.

Tom won an All-Ireland minor title with Cork in 1972 and made his senior debut in 1975. He was ever present from then until his passing, playing in nine senior Munster finals (including two replays) but coming up short against the great Kerry team of that era. He won a National League in 1980.

Tom featured in the league during the spring of 1983 and would have played in the championship that summer too, but on May 14th he was left in a coma following injuries suffered in an accident during which he saved his young son’s life.

Tom Creedon junior was just 19 months old when his Dad took him out for the day to give Marion a break for a few hours. The young family lived in Ennis at the time, Tom was working at Moneypoint.

So, father and son headed to Tom junior’s grandmother’s house in Cork City to deliver furniture. With the baby in the cab of the van, Tom senior started lugging the furniture out when the handbrake went and the vehicle started rolling down the hill. Tom jumped behind the van, but in his attempt to stop it he got dragged under, though his intervention altered the course of the van and rather than rushing down the hill it instead hit a nearby wall.

“He died saving my life,” says Tom junior.

At the foot of the tump that day was a boy kicking a ball around. That kid would later win 27 caps playing rugby for Ireland.

“David Corkery was at the bottom of the hill,” says Tom. “I spoke with David about this recently. If the van had got to the bottom of the hill, there was a significant drop to a garden below. The direction of the wheels changed by Dad trying to stop the van.”

Tom senior spent the next 15 weeks in a coma at Cork University Hospital.

“It became apparent very early on that he was in serious trouble,” recalls Corrigan.

It was as if he had held on, waited to see if Cork could beat Dublin and get to the final. But when it was over, he just let go

Those who played with Tom reckon his best position was centre back, but he also played corner back. In the 1980 league final he operated at midfield – scoring a point.

Séamus O’Sullivan first met Tom at Coláiste Íosagáin. They both went on to study civil engineering and for many years they togged out together for Cork, including the 1972 minor final and 1980 league decider.

“I would have classified him as one of my best friends,” says O’Sullivan.

“He was a real leader and well able to motivate people. He was ahead of his time, going to the gym when he was 18, 19. He was very dedicated, very committed. Outside of football, he was such a genuine person, a family man who was well respected by everybody.”

Creedon captained Macroom to the Cork intermediate title in 1982. Corrigan, who went on to win two All-Irelands with Cork, was part of that great Macroom side. But Creedon was the glue.

“People might have different interpretations of Tom’s skill level, but everybody agreed on his leadership qualities,” says Corrigan. “For that team in 1982, he was the leader of the pack.”

Whatever void Tom’s passing created in the Cork dressingroom, it was nothing compared to the hole it left in the lives of his wife and son.

“No good came out of my Dad dying,” says Tom junior. “I often think, from some of the worst things imaginable, some engineering advances or something might come about. But my Dad dying, no, there was nothing good from it, literally no good.”

Tom, Marion and the Macroom GAA club have ensured he is remembered.

In 2020, Tom established Masseytown Rotisserie Deli on Paul Street in Cork City. The name is a nod to his Dad, Masseytown was the area of Macroom where he was reared.

“Calling it Masseytown was a personal thing, it wasn’t so much for anybody else, it was for myself,” Tom adds.

He sources many of his ingredients from the Macroom region, trying to use suppliers from the community if possible. His Dad’s name is brought up regularly by customers.

“All the time,” he says. “It’s nice to hear the stories, but I suppose as I’ve got older I’ve started to appreciate more that he was my Dad, he wasn’t just this guy everybody knew because he was a footballer, he was my pops.”

The years after the accident were difficult for the family but Tom mostly recalls being surrounded by love and how his grandad stepped up as a father figure. Nine years after the accident Marion found love again and married Cormac Hegarty.

“He’s a really great guy, he adores her and they are still madly in love,” says Tom, “After the accident she was a young single mom who had lost her husband and had a baby to look after, that was tough, but she was brilliant through everything, so it was great she met Cormac.”

Marion Creedon Hegarty is now a successful entrepreneur in the image consultancy business, excelling in the arena of cosmetics, fashion and accessories.

In February 1983, Cork played Dublin in a league match at Croke Park, during which Tom featured off the bench. In between the league and championship, the accident occurred.

On August 28th, the morning of the All-Ireland SFC replay against Dublin, O’Sullivan – who by then was no longer on the Cork panel – travelled from Limerick to take in the encounter as a spectator. But he left home early to first stop off at CUH.

“I went in on the morning of that match to see him. Because I was living in Limerick at the time, whenever I was back in Cork I’d make sure to go visit. So I went in that morning before going to the game.”

O’Sullivan was one of the last people to see Tom. He passed away hours later.

While O’Sullivan was in the hospital with Tom, over on the banks of the Lee, a dressingroom they had inhabited for many years was grasped rigid with nervous tension.

“It is one of the most recognised games of the last 50 years,” says Corrigan. “Unfortunately, Dublin basically blew us away.

“Brian Mullins gave a masterful display in both football and physicality, shall we say! We got done over.”

[ Dublin football great Brian Mullins dies aged 68 ]

Afterwards, the Cork players showered and changed, some meandered down to The Leaping Salmon in Blackrock. But it wasn’t an evening for hanging around, and Corrigan was soon on his way to Macroom.

“I had only landed home, it was around 7.30, 8pm when I heard Tom had died. It was as if he had held on, waited to see if Cork could beat Dublin and get to the final. But when it was over, he just let go.

“He had held on from May right through the summer months up until the 28th of August, for as long as Cork were in the championship. It seemed that way.”

O’Sullivan arrived back to Limerick only to hear the friend he visited earlier that day had passed.

Since 1985 the Macroom GAA club has run the Tom Creedon Cup, with the likes of Pat O’Connell and Martin Fitzgerald keeping it vibrant. Marion and Tom are invited to the launch annually and one or both are usually on hand to present the cup after the final.

“The club make a real effort with it, there’s a real heart and soul community feel around it. We as a family really appreciate that,” says Tom.

Then, in March 2004, the club officially opened Tom Creedon Park.

“I love going down there, that’s where I go to remember him,” adds Tom.

As if any further symmetry was needed for Dublin’s arrival to Páirc Uí Chaoimh on Sunday, the current Cork manager, John Cleary, was corner forward in 1983.

When Corrigan scans through the names from Cork teams of that era, with every passing year the list of absentees grows.

Tom Creedon from Macroom, Christy Ryan and John Kerins of the Barr’s, Diarmuid McCarthy from Ballyvourney, Michael Burns from Castlehaven. All gone.

“I go up to visit Tom once a month. Some of us may not go to church or whatever but we still find comfort and solace in going to see loved ones. Just to say a prayer or have a talk. There’s a fairly handy team of them above in heaven now.”

Tom junior will be in the Páirc on Sunday too. There is extra resonance with Dublin coming to Leeside in the 40th anniversary year of his Dad’s passing.

“I think about him every day,” he says. “He’ll be on the front of my mind on Sunday.

“It’s nice when people want to chat about him. I always think when people stop mentioning your name, that’s when you are truly gone. Keeping his name alive, it’s important.”

Over the coming days, Colman Corrigan will make his way out beyond Tom Creedon Park to the cemetery in Macroom. He’ll amble up to the corner, top of the left, where he’ll pause for a while and let his friend know how it all played out against the Dubs this time.