YOU can’t help but think of Paddy Cullen, the former Dublin goalkeeper who sadly passed away on Thursday, without thinking of Mikey Sheehy too.
The pair became synonymous after the 1978 All-Ireland final. In the first half Cullen was very harshly penalised and Sheehy’s grabbed the ball, put it down and sent a cheeky chip sailing over the backpedalling netminder’s head and into the back of the net.
After their playing days they became firm friends and Sheehy was saddened to hear of the passing of the Dublin legend.
“First of all, Paddy was a lovely man,” said the Austin Stacks clubman.
“I got a text from (former Kerry team-mate) Ger Power about him passing away. I knew he hadn’t been well but I was still shocked – another great man gone.
“A few years ago, my club had a do and Paddy and Robbie Kelleher came down and we had a lovely day with him. He was very sociable and when he had the pub in Ballsbridge I often called in to see him.
“He was a lovely man, he was a brilliant goalkeeper and he was ahead of his time. He was a big, imposing figure in goals and he was very agile for a big man. When he walked into a room, you would say: ‘Ah, Jeanie Mac, he’s a fine figure of a man’.”
A few years after Sheehy’s off-the-cuff brilliance had left him red-faced, Cullen asked the Kingdom icon for the boots he’d worn in that 1978 final. Sheehy was happy to oblige but admits he never thought to ask what his old adversary did with them.
“I gave him the boots for the bar,” he said.
“But I never really checked what he did with them. I was often in the bar but I never took any notice – he could have thrown them into the bin as well as put them behind the bar because he was fed up talking about that goal!
“Through work at that time I’d be in Ballsbridge once or twice a month and I’d often call into him and some days he’d come outside the counter and we’d have a few pints and a bit of craic. He was great company, very easy to get on with,
“He never held it (the goal) against me and he always played the game with great spirit, he was a massive leader in that Dublin team. They had a lot of leaders and I’m sure he was one of the better ones in the dressingroom.”
Instantly recognisable with his navy socks pulled up to his knees, Cullen was a product of the O’Connell Boys club in Dublin city centre. He played from 1966 through to 1979 with the Dubs and was a mainstay in Kevin Heffernan’s side that jousted annually with Kerry for the Sam Maguire.
He won three All-Irelands and four Allstars as well as six Leinster titles and two National Leagues during a brilliant career with the ‘Boys in Blue’ and returned as manager in 1990 to guide his county to the Leinster and League titles.
“He was ahead of his time as a goalkeeper,” said Sheehy.
“In those days goalies didn’t come out too far but Paddy would have been very comfortable coming out if he had to. Back then kickouts invariably went out to the middle of the field into heavy traffic but he was always looking to give an advantage to his own teammates.
“A great goalkeeper and a lovely man, I’m very sad to hear he is gone.”
