Club History 3
Trouble was never too far away and in early 1950’s Urney was alleged to have played five unregistered players. It transpired that the delegates walked out of the meeting and with Strabane showing a lack of interest, the North Tyrone Board looked to be failing.
A special investigation committee was set up to investigate the situation. They suspended the three Urney delegates for twelve months. The club formed a new committee and returned to the league. The North Tyrone Board was reformed in 1951.
The Mc Elduff Cup was competed for the first time and Urney lost to Carrickmore on a score of 1 – 08 to 1 – 04.
In August of that year a juvenile game between Ballybofey St Malachey’s and Urney took place with a band parade from the village to the pitch. The game ended in a draw. This game drew much praise from the press for its skills. Urney lost in the St Enda’s Cup to Omagh at the semi final stage.
In 1952 details are limited with Urney losing to Omagh in the St Enda’s Cup. The Davis Cup for 1953 did not come to completion until the early part of 1954 when Urney and Dromore met in the semi final. After a poor first half Urney ran out easy winners by a score of 3 –0 8 to 1 – 03.In the final on the 6th February at Mourne Park in Strabane, Urney met Cappagh and when Cappagh fell away in the second half Urney won easily on a score of 2 –0 6 to 0 – 04.After this Urney returned to the West Tyrone League and beat Trillick in the first round of the Championship with a score of 3 – 08 to 0 – 05. Urney fell at the quarter finals of the Championships when Dungannon won on a score of 1 –0 8 to 2 – 02. Urney were suspended for two years for incidents after the game but won their appeal to Ulster Council with the suspension been reduced to six months.
Urney qualified for the West Tyrone final against Carrickmore when controversy clouded the game. Carrickmore won on a score of 1 – 08 to 2 – 04. However everyone, bar the Carrickmore team and supporters were of the opinion that a Carrickmore shot had gone over the bar rather than under it, which would have meant Urney should have won by one point. Urney appealed claiming that one of the Carrickmore players was a US. airman. They lost at the West Tyrone Board but had the decision reversed at the Tyrone County Board hearing who ordered that the game be replayed. Urney won the replay when it took place in 1956 and thus lifted the 1955 title.
Again Urney lost in the County Championship in 1956 at the quarterfinal stage when they fell to Clonoe. Urney were matching Clonoe all over the pitch for the first fifteen minutes until a high ball deceived the goalkeeper and ended up in the back of the net. During the 1956 season club delegate Joe Hunter enquired when the 1955 St Enda’s Cup was taking place as the Urney players wanted to know before going on their annual working term in Scotland. The game was finally played in September when Urney won by a score of 3 – 06 to 1 -04, Urney were superior in virtually every position.
Meanwhile Urney success continued when they defeated Newtownstewart 1-11 to 1-02 to retain the Davis Cup with Dermot Gallagher the star player. They defeated Letterkenny to win the inaugural Sean McCumhaill Memorial Cup. However as usual, Urney failed to progress in the County Championship losing to Ballygawley in the first round.
Again at the start of 1957, the dark clouds hung over the club as Urney met Carrickmore in the West Tyrone League Final losing by a point 2-06 to 1-08. After taking part in the Beragh tournament the Club was suspended for 12 months for playing two illegal players against Clogher. However this news was not supported by all other clubs within the County. Clubs felt that senior football in North Tyrone would cease if the club was suspended as they were the only strong club in the area and most clubs also thought the County Board’s action was short-sited. It was also stated that most teams from Tyrone and Derry were competing in tournaments with illegally constituted teams. With all this support, Urney finally appealed to the Ulster Council stating that the Urney parish takes in Donegal and Tyrone areas.
The Ulster Council ruled in favour of Urney and reinstated the club. This also established Urney’s right to play those players from the Donegal end of the parish – (this was reversed some years ago by the then Ulster Council and included many other clubs whose parish crosses intercounty boundaries). It should be noted that the Tyrone County Convention took place in Donegal (at Doneyloop Parochial Hall) on the 13th January 1991.
Urney won four of their first five matches and because of their style of play they received many invitations to tournaments in counties Derry, Tyrone and Donegal. The Letterkenny Tournament was top notch with Armagh Harps, Letterkenny, Omagh, Clontibert, Stranorlar, Coalisland, Keady and Urney. This reads almost as an Ulster Club Championship.
Urney had S. Bogle and S. McLaughlin on the Tyrone Minor Team while L. Strain had a seat on the bench. This gave Urney confidence that they would do well in the championship where the team was coached by Sean McCutcheon. During the year the team played twenty games winning 18 and losing 2. However, in the minor Championship they won the West Tyrone Final beating Ballygawley and went on to play Ardboe in the final. Urney created history when they defeated Ardboe on a score of 2-04 to 0-09 becoming the first Urney team to win a county title in September 1959.
Urney also qualified for the St. Enda Cup Final but the game was never played. Urney made inroads in the Senior Championship in 1961 beating Edendork by 0-11 to 0-05 to reach the semi final before throwing the game away having led by 8 points at half time against Moy. However, they made amends in the League winning their section and going on to defeat Newtownstewart in the final (McElduff Cup).
Even though Urney won the West Tyrone League in 1961, they had to meet Trillick in a playoff for a top 4 spot in the League. Both teams were furious especially Urney who had reached the semi-final the year before. Nevertheless Urney beat Trillick in the play off by 1-10 to 1-06. Urney proved their point when they went on to beat Moy in the quarter final by 2-09 to 1-03 and were the only West Tyrone club in the semi-finals. Unfortunately on the morning of the semi-final Eddie McCrory died and his two sons in law, Billy Melly and Eugene McNulty could not travel to the match. Bill Melly was the manager. Urney met disaster in the game when H. O’Kane was sent off within five minutes and then gave away an own goal. They were finally beaten 2-04 to 0-05.
In 1963 Urney led the table with 7 wins from 7 games but still conspired to lose the League to Carrickmore.
At Convention in 1964 the Club were deemed to be in debt to the sum of £1 and 10 shillings. Nevertheless it was agreed that should they win the St. Enda Cup they should fill Flanagan’s Bar. On the field of play Urney qualified for the Final of the Fr. Campbell Cup against Clonoe who were hot favourites. In one of the best games for many years Urney were victorious on a score of 1-08 to 0-10.
After twelve games in the League, Urney led Carrickmore by one point but fell back after being deducted four points for unregistered players. Having qualified for another St.Enda’s Cup final they failed miserably losing on a score of 1-00 to 3-03 with the goal coming from a penalty in the final minutes.
