Din Joe (Denis) Fitzgibbon   1921-1998

Better known as Din Joe, Denis Fitzgibbon was a former Pres boy, who played for the Munster Schools side. He joined and played with Dolphin until he moved to Dublin in 1943. He also played for the Munster Junior’s and won a Cork Charity Cup medal with Dolphin in 1940 and also featured in the Senior Cup semi-final against Young Munster. He was knocked out in a collision with an opponent, there was obviously no concussion protocols in those days, he came around with someone standing over him with a “wee bottle” as he said himself.” I lowered its contents, never have I tasted anything like it”, then he went on the score a try which secured the victory.  the match winning try. They were beaten by UCC 8-6 in the final with Fitzgibbon kicking a penalty.

When he left for Dublin, he did not even have a train ticket, taking a lift in a lorry. He got a job as an Accountant with Batchelors Foods before moving to Fords Smithfield Motors. He started as an Accountant and then moved into sales and ended up as Sales Manager. He set up on his own in the motor trade before selling his interest and joining Radio Eireann.

In the early 1950’s he was appearing on a quiz show panel on Radio Eireann, he had a distinctive voice with his clear Cork accent. In 1953 he was hosting his own live radio entertainment show “Take the Floor”

“Lift the latch, open the door, step right in and take the floor “the famous opening lines. They experimented with television in the late 60’s but quickly returned to radio and the programme continued until 1978.

He became Sales Director for Volkswagen in 1960 + Managing Director of Toyota Ireland in 1975. He also served as chairman of the Marketing Institute of Ireland.

He passed away in 1998 aged 77.

Vince Giltinan
Vince first came to prominence in a rugby context on the PBC Schools Cup winning side in 1948, along with a future Dolphin teammate, Jim Kiernan. He won back-to-back Munster Senior Cup medals win UCC in 1950 + 1951 before joining Dolphin in 1952 and winning a Cork Charity Cup medal.

This was the first of five Cork Charity Cup medals he won with Dolphin in seven years, including a four in a row. He captained Dolphin in the 1954/55 season, when they won the Munster Senior League and Charity Cup double. The following season he was on the side that won the treble (Munster Senior Cup/League & Charity Cup).

Rugby was not his only sport; he was an Irish Universities Boxing Champion and won Rowing medals with Cork Boat Club

Vince was one of the few people that played for Munster, was a Munster Selector and President of the Munster Branch. He played on the Munster Junior side when at UCC and  was the 49th Dolphin player to play Senior for Munster in 1955-56. 30 years later was Munster Branch President, his years as a Munster Selector 1976-81 included the win over the All Blacks.

A Dolphin senior coach, but in 1964 + 1966 coached Abbeyfeale to Munster Junior Cup. A very committed Dolphin man, Vince was Club President in 1968-69. His son’s Paul & Brian also played with Dolphin, not forgetting daughters Clodagh & Jan who played a couple of games on a Dolphin Women’s team.

Charles J Hanrahan   Irish Int. 461        1926-1932

Clonmel born but attended Castleknock College. In an unusual combination, he captained both Castleknock Junior Rugby and Hurling sides. He joined the Munster & Leinster Bank in 1921 and was moved to Cork in 1922 until he was moved to Macroom in 1950 as Manager.

A natural sportsman, leaving aside his rugby abilities, he played wicket keeper for the Munster Cricket side as well as captaining the Munster Water polo side. He was a keen angler and captain of Monkstown Golf Club in 1939.

Captained Munster v Ulster in November 1927, the first time the sides met outside of Dublin. He played a total of 17 times for Munster, 17 consecutive appearances over nine seasons, scoring two penalties and three conversions.
Back 100 years ago, there was more changing of positions, but Hanrahan played in the three rows of the scrum for Ireland. His early caps were at No 8, scored an international try v Wales in just his 2nd appearance. He was best known as a prop, and one stage was joined by fellow Dolphin man Michael Bradley at hooker. He also played one game in the 2nd row. He earned a total of 20 caps, scoring 1 international try.

In his Dolphin career he won Cork Charity Cup, Munster Senior League and Munster Senior Cup medals. He also played with the Cork Bankers Club but was expelled from the club in 1926 for playing with Dolphin in the Munster Senior Cup. He soon got over this as he was capped for Ireland the same season.
He was an international selector between 1946/49 a period they won two triple crowns and in 1955/56 he became the first Dolphin man to hold the office of IRFU President.

    Gerry Harrington  1960- 2021

Gerry, as his friends would know was from Castletownbere, and proud of it. His parents moved to Finchley in London when he was 3 or 4 but Gerry was home every summer growing up and used to work on the family farm or on the boats. He was a very accomplished swimmer, on the radar of the British Swim Association, following an injury he decided to concentrate on rugby and spent eight years on the Saracens 1st side before returning to Cork when he was 30. The period of his life in England left him sounding anything but a West Cork man, I can remember many times when he would say to me “Ger, will you tell them I am from Castletownbere”.

He had three passions in life, his family, rugby and The Arsenal.

It is sad that you only learn things about someone at their funeral. While we all knew of his love for Áine and the family, but we did not know how soon they realised they were the one for each other, in that they were engaged after five weeks and married after 18 months.

He played Senior for Dolphin for a period before taking up refereeing for a couple of seasons before he started coaching. His abilities as coach come to the fore with the success of his U 15 squad in 2012-13 . They almost had the perfect season, winning 17/18 games, the sole blemish being the league semi-final to Skibbereen, but they got revenge in defeating them in the cup final.

Gerry was the instigator of the U15 + U16 Tours in 2013 +14 to Wales + England playing Penclawdd Tonyrefail and Newbridge. Many of the parents of this group showed their appreciation to his dedication and commitment by attending the Services.

He moved to coaching adult sides, starting with the J2’s. He had a couple of successful seasons with them, bringing great structure, the players looking forward to pre-season as it would mean the legendary bonding sessions in West Cork. He joined Steve Ford’s Senior set up as a specialist coach and responsibility for the J1’s. Following a few seasons where fielding a J1 side was a problem, Gerry had them working together as the most successful J1 side for years. He was invited into the Sundays Well set up as a Specialist Coach for a couple of seasons before his illness took over.

Hopefully Áine and the family will have taken solace from the numbers who formed the guard of honour at Dennehy’s Cross Church. The Dolphin members, the J2’s and Cait’s teammates in addition to the Sundays Well players he most recently coached, but there was no representative from The Arsenal.

Liam in his eulogy, finished by quoting Gerry speaking at his father’s funeral, when he finished simply by saying “ thanks Dad”, on behalf of  all the players he coached and all his many friends in Dolphin, “Thanks Gerry”

James N Healy

In 1939, Club President W J Hegarty put up a prize for best place kicker in the club. There were many fancied Senior & Junior players, but the winner came from the Minors. James N Healy (23), who was also an enthusiastic amateur actor.

A qualified Accountant with Fords, he was head hunted by timber merchants Eustace’s but within two years, the company went into Liquidation. This was in 1958 and it would seem unusual now a days, that, at the age of 42 he decided to turn to acting to make a living and went into the theatre full time.

In 1951 he had set up the Gilbert & Sullivan Group, he produced it under the pseudonym Nigel Hay, because he was also the main actor.

John B Keane’s play Sive had been rejected by the Abbey and Healy managed to buy the rights for £50, because the playwright liked the look of his face. put it on in the Father Matthew Hall and it’s run lasted 255 performances, to an attendance of over 20,000.

He went on to produce many of Keane’s plays, and was a collector of songs and ballads, produced books of ballads and regularly appeared on the radio.

Michael Hickey  

Limerickman Michael Hickey was a natural at several sports, International Tennis & Squash player, Leinster Rugby player and talented Golfer.

He would have learned his rugby at Crescent College, leaving the school in 1958. He went on to play Senior rugby for Lansdowne, Blackrock College and Dolphin, also representing Leinster.

He joined Dolphin from Blackrock College in October 1963, He travelled to Cork with Blackrock College to play Highfield on a Saturday afternoon, the following morning togging out for Dolphin in a Junior League game with Bandon. The backrow was successful with a drop goal that day. The following season he once again played with Dolphin and was on the senior side that won the Cork Charity Cup. Tennis was taking precedent; he withdrew from the Dolphin side to play Northampton in 1964 as it clashed with Davis Cup trials.

It was Tennis that he really made his mark. He played in Wimbleton in 1958,1966 & 1969 and played against well-known players like Rod Laver & Bjorn Borg. He won many titles including the Irish Hardcourt Championship (5 times) and made the semi-final of the Irish Open.  He played for Irish Davis Cup team between 1962 + 1978 and was also nonplaying captain of the Irish Davis Cup Team, including for the famous fixture in 1973 against a USA side which included John McEnroe and Arthur Ashe.

 

Max Hogan

Limerick man Max Hogan had two passions in life, Rugby & Rowing. He played wing forward for Bohemians between 1928 + 1936 and won a Munster Junior Cup medal in 1932. Amongst his victories with Limerick Boat Club was the Leander Trophy (Men’s 8) at the Cork City Regatta.

In 1936 he moved to Cork and joined Dolphin and was with Dolphin when he was on a Munster Junior Inter pro series winning side. In 1937/38 he was Junior Captain and in 1964/65 Club President.

Max was assistant treasurer of Dolphin for many many years, the job being the collection the subscriptions and some of his notebooks are still in the club archives. Those playing Minor (3rds,4ths & 5ths) in the 1980’s will fondly remember Max & Alice Hogan as they appeared to plan their weekends around Minor fixtures and attend Senior games if they did not clash.

He was Captain of Cork Boat Club from 1939-45, coached the club to 2 two Leander Wins and was President in 1949. He was elected to the Cork City Regatta Committee in 1945 and spent 43 years on the Committee. He was Treasurer of the Cork City Regatta Committee for 25 years before standing down in 1988 at the age of 80.

He was awarded Life Membership of both clubs.

  Squadron Leader William (Bill) Igoe     

Born in 1911 in Nenagh, Bill was educated at Pres Bray, where he started showing his abilities at rugby and was selected for Leinster Schools against both Connacht + Munster in 1928-29. He moved to Cork and studied Engineering at UCC and joined Dolphin where he won a Munster Senior Cup medal in 1930-31 and completed the double by winning a Munster Junior Cup Medal with Nenagh Ormond the same season.

He received a scholarship to study aeronautical engineering at the London College of Aeronautical Engineering. Having qualified 2nd in his class he opted for a commission in the RAF . He joined in October 1933 and started learning how to fly. A year later he had earned his wings and was confirmed as a pilot officer, flying fighters and then Flying Boats.

At that time he was spending as much time playing rugby as he did flying, playing for London Irish, RAF and Hampshire. It was the rugby and not the flying had him in hospital three times with broken bones in the following year.

He represented the RAF at rugby and boxing and then took an interest in squash and played it to a high level. After a few pints one evening in Spring 1935 in the isle of Wight where he was based he learned another flying boat was missing. He and a crew mate realised they had seen the other boat and they were waving at them.  They went to their CO to tell him what they knew.

They offered to fly back, the CO said, are you playing rugby for the station tomorrow, without you Igoe, we will probably lose, so you are staying here. He played the following day but never flew a flying boat as he was injured in the game and when he was released from hospital he was sent back for a refresher course on a single seat fighter. His next game of rugby was for the RAF in Egypt.

In September 1935 he was back in Essex, back at out half for London Irish first side, he was offered a place in the final Irish Trial but was unable to attend due to service commitments. According to his son Brian in his book “To fly is everything” It cost him an Irish cap, the man who was picked for Ireland was playing on the London Irish 2nd team.

He was very lucky in 1937 to walk away from a plane crash, the plane had been on fire, he rolled in the grass to put out the flames on his clothes. He had significant 3rd degree burns and it was touch and go and he spent four months in hospital.

In the 1938/39 season he was vice captain of London Irish, nine of the team were lost in the 2nd World War.

He went from flying officer to Squad Leader in 54 weeks. He had another close encounter in 1940 at RAF Biggins Hill, there was a bombing raid going on and he and a flight sergeant approached the gate by car from different directions. It was his right of way, but he waived Bill through. Bill acknowledged it and insisted the sergeant go through first. He did and as soon as he went through the gate his car was hit by a bomb and he was killed.

Each season, London Irish present an honours tie to a back and a forward for each team, Bill was the backs winner in 1946-47, the first time it had awarded in eight years due to the war. He was Senior captain in 1949, when 38, he retired from playing two years later.

He turned his sporting interest to golf and in 1959 was a winner of the Gleneagles Hotel Foursomes, a tournament that Christy O’Connor Snr won three years later.

He started a tea plantation in Rhodesia, which would end up employing 5,000 people. He died in 1993 aged 82.