Dave Creedon

David Creedon (1 August 1919 – 11 March 2007) was an Irish hurler and Gaelic footballer whose league and championship career with the Cork senior team spanned seventeen years from 1938 to 1955.^[1][2][3][4]

Born near

Creedon made his debut on the inter-county scene at the age of sixteen when he was picked on the Cork minor panel. After two unsuccessful years in this grade, he was later added to the Cork junior team. A two-time Munster medal winner in this grade, he also won one All-Ireland medal. Creedon was added to the Cork senior panel in 1938. Over the course of the next ten years he remained as understudy to Tom Mulcahy, however, he did win his first All-Ireland medal in 1946. After retiring from inter-county hurling in 1949, Creedon was coaxed back to the Cork team in 1952. He went on to win a further three All-Ireland medals in-a-row between 1952 and 1954. Creedon also won five Munster medals and one National Hurling League medal. He played his last game for Cork in June 1955.

In retirement from playing Creedon served as an administrative officer and as a selector with Glen Rovers.

Playing career

Club

Early successes

Creedon first enjoyed success as a member of the Glen Rovers minor team. He won back-to-back county championship medals in 1933 and 1934, before later being added to the Glen Rovers senior panel. In 1940 he took over from

Glen Rovers continued their remarkable run of success in 1941 by qualifying for an eight successive championship decider. A Willie "Long Puck" Murphy-inspired Ballincollig provided the opposition, however, they were completely outplayed. The Glen recorded a 4-7 to 2-2 victory, setting the all-time record of eight championship titles in succession.^[5] It was Creedon's second successive winners' medal.^{[citation needed]}

Nine-in-a-row proved beyond Glen Rovers as Ballincollig exacted their revenge in the semi-final of the 1942 championship. After a season of reorganisation, which saw the introduction of nine new players to the team, Glen Rovers reached the 1944 championship final where they faced reigning champions and three-in-a-row hopefuls

Divisional side Carrigdhoun provided the opposition as Glen Rovers reached the 1945 championship final in search of their tenth title. In what was probably the most exciting decider in which the club had been involved in so far, the Glen were five goals ahead after 25 minutes having played with a gale force wind, however, Carrigdhoun fought back to reduce the arrears and set up an exciting finish. Lyons was single dout for praise at full-back as Glen Rovers retained the championship title following a 4-10 to 5-3 victory.^[6]

Glen Rovers march on

After defeat by St. Finbarr's in the 1946 championship final, Glen Rovers saw a number of changes to the team when they next contested the decider in 1948. Retirement and emigration and forced a number of changes, however, Creedon remained in goal. Glen veterans

Glen Rovers were presented with their chance of retaining their title when they faced divisional side

Southside rivals St. Finbarr's were the opponents as Glen Rovers were determined to make it three titles in-a-row in the 1950 championship final. St. Finbarr's had the advantage of a very strong breeze in the first half and mounted attack after attack on the Glen goal but failed to raise the green flag. The Glen backs gave one of the finest displays of defensive hurling ever seen in the championship and kept the southsiders tally for the first half to 0-4. "The Barrs" added just one further point to their tally after the interval. The 2-8 to 0-5 victory secured a third successive championship title for the club and a seventh winners' medal for Creedon.

Final victories

Creedon played with the Cork minor hurling team in the mid-1940s. He was a member of the senior panel when Cork won the Munster Championship in 1947, however, he had yet to make his own championship debut. He won his first All-Ireland medal when he was sub goalkeeper in the 1946 final. In 1952 Creedon came out of retirement at the age of 33 to become the first-choice goalkeeper on the Cork senior hurling team. It proved to be an excellent decision as he won his first Munster title that year before later defeating Dublin to claim his first All-Ireland medal. 1953 began well for Creedon when he won his first National Hurling League title. Later that year he won his second consecutive Munster medal as well as a second consecutive All-Ireland medal following an ill-tempered win over Galway. In 1954 Creedon made it a hat-trick of Munster and All-Ireland medals as a defeat of Wexford gave the team its third All-Ireland title in-a-row. In 1955 Cork were defeated by Clare in the first round of the championship. Creedon subsequently retired from inter-county hurling.

Honours

St. Nicholas'

• Cork Senior Football Championship
  (3): 1938, 1941, 1954

Glen Rovers

• Cork Senior Hurling Championship
  (9): 1940, 1941, 1944, 1945, 1948, 1949 (c), 1950, 1953, 1954

Cork

• 1954
• Munster Senior Hurling Championship (5): 1946 (sub), 1947 (sub), 1952, 1953, 1954
• 1952-53
• All-Ireland Junior Hurling Championship (1): 1940 (sub)
• Munster Junior Hurling Championship (2): 1938 (sub), 1940

References