All-Ireland medal presented after 53 years

Back in 1950, Prendergast was based in Galway and had no transport to travel to Ballina for the presentation dinner. It was only when the book “The Green Above The Red,” was published in 1985 did Tom’s children realize their father was an All-Ireland winner. The book carried a picture of the 1950 team, but it was current Mayo junior manger Billy Fitzpatrick, who eventually arranged for the medal to be minted.
“I very much appreciate the medal after nearly 53 years,” said Tom, whose twin brother, Sean, played with New York for many years. “No one can take it from me now. All-Ireland medals don’t grow on trees.”

SUGAR AND ROCK
Dubliner Jim Rock will box on a Sugar Ray Leonard promotion in Las Vegas if he wins the vacant World Boxing Union light middle title in Belfast on Saturday. Rock’s rival in the Odyssey Arena, Belfast, is Mehdoud Takaloo, a 27-year-old Iranian based in England who has won 20 of his 22 fights. Rock has won 21 of his 23 contests and, according to
his manager, Brian Peters, Leonard is anxious to show Rock to U.S. audiences.
Meanwhile, unbeaten Bernard Dunne will have his fourth U.S. pro fight on Feb. 7 when he shares a ring with newcomer Eric Trujillo at the Samstown Casino Las Vegas.

O’DWYER HANGS ‘EM UP
Kerry-born Karl O’Dwyer has retired from intercounty football. O’Dwyer joined Kildare five years ago when his father, Mick, was manager and he played in the All-Ireland Final of 1998 with the Lilywhites. A teacher based in Rathangan, Karl been struggling with injuries of late and obviously with his father now moved on to manage Laois, he decided to quit.

SLOWEY JOINS DUBLIN CLUB
Monaghan player Michael Slowey is the latest intercounty player to join a Dublin club. Slowey, who has recently returned home from New York, has now joined Dublin club Ballyboden St Enda’s. Before immigrating to the U.S. three years ago, the Clones man was a regular on the Monaghan team and has now been recalled to the senior squad by new manager Colm Coyle, the former Meath star. At Ballyboden Slowey will link up with fellow Northerners Andrew McCann from All-Ireland champions Armagh and Fermanagh’s Liam McBarron.

EYES ON CORK, KERRY
Any Gaelic Football game between old rivals Cork and Kerry is bound to be of interest, whether it’s a Munster Final in Killarney in July or a League game in Cork in February. Following the recent Paidi O Se row in The Kingdom, there is bound to be a lot of interest in Saturday night’s game at Pairc Ui Rinn, the first-ever National League to be played under lights. Last year, the counties met three times in the championship with honors even. The first meeting, the Munster semifinal in Killarney ended in a draw, Cork easily won the replay at Pairc Ui Chaoimh, while Kerry came out on top when the counties met in the All-Ireland semifinal at Croke Park in August.
Of course the main focus on Saturday evening will be on Kerry manager Paidi O Se and trainer cum selector John O’Keeffe. The pair officially put their problems behind them last week via a Kerry County Board press conference, but analysts will now be looking at every move they make.
The Kerry County Board say that an invitation went out to Maurice Fitzgerald to rejoin the squad around Christmas, but it seems unlikely Maurice will
return for this game or even for the championship. The 33-year-old Cahirciveen star, who didn’t play for the county last year, told Radio Kerry last week: “For personal reasons I will not be involved with Kerry football for the foreseeable future. Football is the furthest thing from my mind at the moment.”
Also on Sunday, Dublin are expecting a crowd of around 40,000 for the visit of All-Ireland champions Armagh to Croke Park. The Dubs have gambled by moving this game from Parnell Park in a bid to attract more young supporters to Croker. If the move is a success Dublin will play more of their home League games at Croke Park this year.
And Meath will be without star forward Trevor Giles for most of the League campaign. The Skryne clubman is currently on a working holiday in Australia and is now due back in Ireland until the end of March.

HEINEKEN CUP FOR DONNYBROOK?
Leinster are virtually certain to switch their Heineken Cup quarterfinal game against French club Biarritz from their own compact Donnybrook ground to
Lansdowne Road. Donnybrook can hold only 8,000 spectators, and with the French club claiming they will bring 20,000 spectators, it seems certain that the game will be played at Lansdowne Road on Saturday April 26. Normally Leinster play their home games at Donnybrook on Friday nights.
And Leicester may be tempted to switch their quarterfinal tie against Munster in April from their own Welford Road ground to the 32,000-capacity Walker stadium.

CLOUGH HAS TRANSPLANT
Brian Clough, the man who gave young Roy Keane his big break in English football, had a life-saving liver transplant operation recently, thanks to an Irish donor. Beaumont Hospital in Dublin wouldn’t reveal who the donor was, but doctors say that Clough would have died within weeks if he didn’t have the operation. The 67-year-old, who had success with Derby County and Nottingham Forest, underwent the operation at a private hospital in Newcastle last week.