A sudden death in the local GAA club which has moved the mountain

Among the many unique distinctions held by Gavin Mulvey in the Stars of Erin GAA club was his record as the only goalkeeper in history to give away a 45-metre free from his own kick-out. Even if it was the perfect freak of nature.

There were indeed witnesses to this minor calamity, Mulvey neatly kicking the ball into the air, only to see it curl back over his head and out over his own end-line. His club mates always jested it had nothing whatsoever to do with the notoriously gusting winds around their home pitch in Glencullen, high in the Dublin Mountains, famed as the highest in Ireland.

This was among the many stories relayed to us on Thursday morning by Mulvey’s lifelong friend and Stars of Erin member Tommy Roe, as we gathered in our hundreds outside the grounds of St Patrick’s Church in the heart of the village, like a scene from another time and place. A moment of light amusement in the otherwise dark aftermath of Mulvey’s death, aged 40, following a sudden illness last weekend which has moved the entire mountain with its profound sadness.

The church had been promptly filled by Mulvey’s family and close friends, a reflection of their long and high standing in the small mountain community of Glencullen, and particularly in the small local GAA club that is Stars of Erin. A sudden and inconsolable loss to them, foremost his wife Sylvia, and his two young children Iarla and Eilís, just days after celebrating a family wedding.

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He was the fourth generation Mulvey to play with Stars of Erin, and had occasionally played alongside his father Gerry and his two brothers Adam and Neil.

His mother Mary and her parents also served in various club roles over the years. Few had ever held as many roles as Gavin, which in more recent years included vice-chairman, head groundsman, selector for the first adult hurling team, club electrician, chief fundraiser participant, and club PRO, just when social media became the thing.

Thursday’s astonishing turnout, from families and friends far beyond Glencullen was a reflection too of the lasting strength and importance of the local club, no matter what the size.

After his marriage, Mulvey moved to Newbridge, straight away getting involved with Moorefield GAA club, coaching there at underage up until the time of his sudden death.

Still his influence and commitment to Stars of Erin never wavered. Roe, whose own family go back several generations in Glencullen and the club, also recalled: “When you sit down, as I’ve done over the last few days, you realise everything good that happened in the club for the last 20 years had Gavin’s fingerprints all over it.”

His sister Christina also recalled a devoted brother, husband, and father, and in my few brief meetings over the years, my one recollection is his consistent smile. “The ‘Gavin smile’, as it become known,” said Roe. “That welcoming demeanour became the club code.”

It was a little-known fact to some of us that Gavin Mulvey had also once played in goal for Dublin, under Jim Gavin, briefly unseating Stephen Cluxton, who was also in attendance.

“Cluxton never held that against him,” Roe assured us, “sure hadn’t they nine All-Ireland medals between them?”

It will be 10 years, next year, since making my move to Glencullen, buying the small corner pile which had served as the original gate lodge and entrance to Glencullen House, the original seat of the FitzSimon family who owned all the mountain land within sight.

Though never directly involved with the club – beyond some dawn running of laps around their pitch, now served by a one-lane track – it’s impossible not to sense and appreciate that life and history Stars of Erin holds around these parts. And although only around nine miles as the crow flies from O’Connell Street, it’s a million miles from some of the increasingly booming Dublin super-clubs.

It’s also one of Dublin’s oldest GAA clubs, founded in 1903. In the beginning they trained in a field on Barrack Road, across from Glencullen House, often playing their games at night under the bright mountain stars, hence the name, Stars of Erin.

This same field once facilitated the short-lived Glencullen Athletics Club, which in 1969 was affiliated with the juvenile section of BLE. With around 45 members, one of their annual cross-country events was won by a young athlete named Eamonn Coghlan.

While several Dublin GAA clubs can claim to be the biggest, richest or most successful, only one can claim to be the highest, and possibly the most scenic, and not just in Dublin.

In 1916, Stars of Erin won the Dublin junior football title and went on to represent the county in the All-Ireland football final which, due to the Easter Rising, was not played until 1917. They beat Limerick in Croke Park after a replay, that team consisting largely of players born and raised in Glencullen.

For some years Stars of Erin disputed the claim as the highest club in Ireland with An Tóchar in Roundwood. Then in 2005 it completed the move from its old, rented pitch at Maguire’s field behind Johnnie Fox’s (founded in 1798, and famed as the highest pub in Ireland) to its new pitch and now modern clubhouse, a few feet higher just up the valley road, touching on 1,000ft above sea level.

The pitch behind Fox’s was itself famous, given its glaring slant from left to right sideline, which when coupled with that notoriously gusting wind always made for eventful scorelines.

These days Glencullen’s population numbers around 300. It still has the pub, the church, and the national school, but no shop. Stars of Erin has endured and overcome many obstacles over the decades, including certain geographical disadvantages, hitting a low in the early 1960s when among those to help restart matters was Kit Mulvey.

The club always had a small reputation as being a tough place to play, and when they spoke about getting a hurling team going, in the late 1960s, the Dublin chairman reportedly said: “Those lads are bad enough without giving them sticks”.

Visiting teams, however, were always made to feel welcome by the locals, none more than Gavin Mulvey, his smile gone now from the mountain, but never to be forgotten.