Like many people before and after him, the late Charles Witherspoon was captivated by the beauty of Muckamore and the Six Mile River than runs just below the cricket ground. I’m sure the river is in full flow these days with so much rain in recent weeks, but it won’t dampen the spirits of the cricket members who have just pulled off a remarkable double in the past two weeks.
Winning the Ulster Shield and the Graham Cup may be small beer for the big guns of Ulster cricket, but when your club is fighting to prosper in the face of adversity, they are memorable achievements that will boost club spirit and stir memories of past glories for some of the old hands.
Muckamore Cricket Club has always valued high standards of sportsmanship and club loyalty, and it was always a lovely place to play cricket, because the game was always played in the right spirit. Add the natural beauty of Moylena, and there can’t be many better places to enjoy an afternoon’s cricket. And what a magnificent contribution this club has made to Ulster cricket down the years, from its modest origins as a mill team, and the members who made the supreme sacrifice in the 1st. World War, to the current young Graham Cup team that added their names to the club’s roll of honour with victory over Instonians two weeks ago.
It is great for clubs like Muckamore to prosper in these challenging times when top players tend to gravitate towards the bigger and more successful clubs. Holding onto your own has always been a challenge for the club, but loyalty has always been a strong tradition within the membership, sometimes at a considerable personal cost.
The club’s major successes have been light over the years, but if quantity was lacking then quality certainly wasn’t. Their 1963 Senior Cup winning team included the famous two Archies; wee Archie McQuilken and Archie Campbell, probably the best spin attack in Irish club cricket in their heyday. It also included the peerless Benny Craig, stalwart John McCormick, Robin Reid, who gave Trojan service to schools cricket in later years, Billy Boyd, later to become a very popular president of the Northern Cricket Union, and club chairman Norman Entwistle, who was a great servant of the NCU for many years.
The Sixties were some of the most successful years of Lisburn and Waringstown Cricket Clubs, but Muckamore was right up there competing with them. They lost the 1962 senior cup final to Jack Bowden’s Lisburn, but returned the following year and beat Downpatrick on the back of Wee Archie’s McQuilken’s epic performance after the great Noel Ferguson looked to have stolen the show with 8 for 77. Archie then took 5 for 40 and the senior cup was on its way to Moylena for its first and only time. And there was another memorable milestone in 1970 when Muckamore and Waringstown shared the senior league title in 1970, Muckamore’s only senior league success. The Antrim men lost the 1972 senior cup final to Lurgan, and in particular to two outstanding performances from Raymond Hunter and Alan Johnston, and since then the trophy cabinet has been fairly bare.
But the contribution of clubs like Muckamore stretches far beyond trophies won, and the members can take immense pride from the contribution it has made to the development and welfare of NCU cricket. Billy Boyd and Ferguson Grainger were honoured with the presidency of the NCU, although sadly Fergie died in office a short time after being elected. He was a terrific benefactor and patron of Muckamore, but his charisma and entrepreneurial skills stretched far beyond Moylena. Paddy O’Hara also hailed from Muckamore, and I doubt if anyone has made a bigger contribution to raising the standard of umpiring inIreland, both as an umpire and as an administrator. Big Andy Clement was the club’s best player of the modern era and should have played for Ireland. Happily he is now making a big impact as an administrator, while characters like Freddie Ashton, Ivan McCombe and the loyal John McCormick make us all appreciate what sport is all about. Fiery competitors on the field, but great friends off it.
As Charles Witherspoon captured so eloquently in his beautiful lyrics;
‘Would I could live my life again,
To leave this place would give me pain,
The beauty spot that I adore,
Moylena’s banks and Muckamore.”
CLARENCE HILES
EDITOR
