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| John Dowling, Liam Murphy, Oliver McCrossan and John Delaney. |
A presentation yesterday to one of the founder members of the
County Kildare Motor Club honoured
Liam Murphy for his contribution to the 57-year-old club and to Irish motorsport in general,
writes Brian Byrne. It was made at a lunch in The Hideout by
John Dowling, one of those who were at the original meeting in January 1968 when it was decided to form the club. Among the 30 people at the lunch was photographer
Oliver McCrossan, who had also been at that meeting.
John Dowling said the idea to make the presentation 'sooner rather than later' had come when he and Oliver had driven together to attend the funeral of George Freyne. "We were acutely aware of our mortality seeing as we had parted with one of our most popular members in George," he said. He expressed his appreciation on behalf of the club to George's wife Breeda for being present at the lunch.
He noted that Liam Murphy had spent at least 60 of his 81 years involved in motorsport in 'an active and enthusiastic way'. "Not as an observer, not from a distance, but right there in the middle of it. He has to be getting his hands dirty and not just with spanners but in creating, organising and supporting." In particular he recalled Liam's great forte was in raising sponsorship for the club and the races they organised in Mondello Park. "For one meeting we had so many trophies that we took the whole window in Kerrigans shop in Naas to show them."
Oliver McCrossan provided an account of the club's early history. He told how, at the inaugural official meeting, the proposed activities of treasure hunts, night navigation rallies, film shows and an annual dance were 'favourably received'. "But eyebrows were raised when we said CKMC also planned to run a full scale race meeting when Mondello Park was up and running." Despite some pushback from the RIAC when they were forming the club, they persisted and eventually became regarded as one of the best motor clubs in the county. "And today's happy gathering is proof of that."
He recalled the opening race meeting at Mondello Park in May 1968 where Liam Murphy in his Sprite had a podium finish and Dick O'Reilly in his Mini Chick put in some very fast laps. There was also the excitement of subsequently seeing other local drivers race at Mondello — among those he name-checked David Hall, Eddie Reagan, Des Donnelly, Sean Connaughton, Michael Roe, Seamus O'Connor, Brendan Conlon, John Burke and Jay O'Malley.
Altogether, yesterday's event was a happy buzz of reminisce and recollection, with echoes of gatherings in the same location through the 1970s and 1980s when the pub was where members met to plan and debrief club activities.
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| Myles O'Reilly, Peter Lynch, Ann Fitzsimons, Tom Callinan. |
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| Des Bruton, Padraic Farrell, Eddie Rootes, Ed Colton, Rory Dooley. |
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| Sean O'Gorman, Eddie Kinironn, Tony Phillips. |
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| John Dowling, David Towey, Breda Freyne, Reece Dowling. |
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| Anne Dowling, Bob Webster, Betty McCrossan. |
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| Oliver McCrossan, Liam Murphy, Eddie Fitzgerald. |
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| John Delaney, Syd Quille, Robert Moody, Sean Connaughton, Mairead Connaughton, Gaye Brabazon, Pat O'Connor. |
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