A Brief History of Tulla A.C. History
The Minute book of Tulla Athletic Club recalls the founding of the Club in a very straightforward manner. There are no stirring speeches recorded or no exhortation to compete for the honour and glory of the little village. The Minutes simply state that :-
At a meeting held at Michael O’Keeffe’s, Miltown, Tulla on Friday 11 November (1952) the following officers were elected: Michael O’Keeffe, Miltown was its first Chairman and Pat McNamara, Crusheen was the first Secretary.
The formation of the club came from the splitting of St. Michael’s Athletic Club into two separate units, Ruan Athletic Club and Tulla Athletic Club. There may have been an earlier attempt to start a club. In a short article previewing the 1945 County Novice Championships, the Clare Champion of 1 December 1945 states that defending champions Truagh will be hard pressed by a number of newly-formed clubs and mentions Tulla among the newly-formed clubs.
There have been many highlights in the history of the Club, including twenty-eight County Senior Cross-Country Championship titles. The club began by winning the Senior Championship in its very first year and went on to win five-in-a-row. The next title came in 1961 which was the start of a magnificent twelve-in-a-row run of successes. This team also won three Munster Senior titles in 1964. 1966 and 1967 and the Quinlan Cup, an open All-Ireland cross-country event, in 1964. The Clubs finest hour was probably the 1963 All-Ireland Junior Cross-Country competition. Tulla supplied six of the winning Clare team and had three finishers in the first six. Indeed if only the six Tulla men were allowed to score that day, Clare would still have won. The roll of honour was blank again until ’79 and ’80 and following a one-year gap, the Club gained another five-in-a-row from ’82 to ’86. The club won the Munster Junior Cross Country Championship in 1998. The next title came in 2002 and the club went on to win four-in-a row. They won two Munster Intermediate Cross-Country titles in 2002 and 2005. Tulla were crowned Munster Senior Road Champions in 2003 and Munster Novice Road Champions in 2003.
Individual Success
Mention of individuals in a short article such as this is courting disaster but mention must be made of individuals who made an outstanding contribution down the years. Pride of place must go to a man who became a legend in his own lifetime, Dermot Walsh. A founding member of the club, Dermot’s career spanned all aspects of the sport – athlete, coach and official from the ‘30’s to the ‘80’s. He won All-Ireland’s with the famed O’Callaghan Mills teams in ’33 and ’36 and five in a row with Feakle between ’40 and ’44.
The star of the 50’s must have been Jimmy McGrath of Feakle, who in 1954 won the individual County Novice, Junior and Senior titles and went on to win three Senior titles in a row. The ‘60’s was a time of great team effort but again individual performances stand out. Joe Lynch figured on each of the twelve-in-a-row teams, collected two individual titles and also won a Munster Individual Novice Title. John Danaher won eight team medals and one individual medal. Thomas Kennedy collected nine team awards while Tom Byrnes also has nine team awards and an All-Ireland Junior Individual Title.
The 1970’s and ‘80’s produced their stars, Michael Minogue bridged the gap between the team of the 60’s and the next generation. He won two individual titles in ’70 and ’74 and added seven team awards to the five he had won with the twelve in a row team. Michael holds the record for consecutive appearances in the Clare Senior Cross Country championships, 40 in total from 1966 to 2005. Michael Culligan won three individual awards and five team awards to equal Jimmy McGrath’s feat, while Nigel Moloney won a Munster Individual Novice Title. The star of the ‘90’s was undoubtedly Donal McGrath who won six Clare Senior Cross-Country titles between 1988 and ’98. He tied with James McIntyre in 1998 with Rory Hogan finishing third. Donal also won the Munster Intermediate Cross Country title in 1996.
In recent years James Murphy won the Munster Senior 1500 Metres Championship in 2005 and two Munster Intermediate team awards. Michael O’Brien captured the All-Ireland Masters 56Lbs for Distance title in 2009 as well as a Munster Senior individual title in 2011.
The club has had a long tradition of success at juvenile level down through the years, but again individual performances stand out. Declan Hogan won the Munster U13 Cross Country title in 1992 to add to three Munster titles at the 1500 Metres. Katie McInerney won Munster U17 Shot Put title in 2010 and Fergal Conlon collected the Munster U16 1500m Walk title. In 2011, Grace Moloney won the Munster U12 Ballthrow while Ferdia O’ Lionain and Fintan Caulfield were members of the Clare Team which won the Munster U10 4x250m Cross-Country Team Championship.
There it is – a brief history of 60 glorious years. The highlights of those years – I shall leave it up to the reader to decide. Was it winning 12 senior cross country championships in a row, Joe Lynch and Michael Minogue’s 14 senior championship medals, Donal McGraths six individual titles, Jimmy McGrath’s 3 individual titles in a row, 3 Munster Senior Titles in 4 years, Munster championship wins by Joe Lynch and Nigel Moloney or Tom Byrnes great victory in the 1963 Junior All-Ireland.
Tulla Athletics Club 