Remembering Johnny Carroll, a passionate Cork football man who served club and county with distinction

An overdue Munster title against Kerry and a pulsating victory over Meath.

Cork football badly needed a boost like that and no doubt the late, great Johnny Carroll would have relished every minute of it.

The affable and knowledgeable former Cork senior footballer and county winner with Dohenys and Carbery passed away last week. A very skillful and determined forward in his heyday, Carroll lined out for Cork in the 1967 All-Ireland final when, unfortunately, the Royals lifted the Sam Maguire Cup.

He was a Munster winner in 1966 and ’67 and those teams featured the likes of Billy Morgan, Denis Coughlan, Mick O'Loughlin, Con Paddy O'Sullivan, Frank Cogan, Eric Philpott and Éamonn Ryan.

Carroll collected an All-Ireland medal in ’72 with Cork at junior level and also served his county as a selector, helping the Rebels to a league title in 1980. A genuine Cork football man.

Interestingly, when he was a minor, he lined out for Kildare, as he was based in Naas at the Irish Army Apprentice School, predating the Cork-Kildare connection that reaped such a rich reward when Shea Fahy and Larry Tompkins landed on Leeside.

At club level, he was a Dohenys legend. 

He helped his beloved club to county glory at junior and intermediate level, while sandwiched in between, he was involved in two senior successes with Carbery.

Living in Ballincollig, Carroll and his family gave a huge amount to his adopted home. He worked alongside manager John Winning for Collig’s U21 success in 2009 and was also a senior selector. His son Alan is one of the club’s most passionate supporters.

Johnny Carroll was an absolute Cork football fanatic. He adored the game and, despite all the setbacks over the years, was always full of enthusiasm in the build-up to a Cork-Kerry battle.

He’d certainly have gotten a massive kick out of a Ballincollig player captaining the minors to Munster glory last week, topped off by Joe Miskella delivering his speech as Gaeilge.

WARM

A witty and warm person, with an infectious laugh, Johnny was extremely popular in Cork football circles. He’ll be missed by his family, of course, but also the wider GAA community in Rebel county.

There was a minute’s silence at the Cork-Meath clash in his memory and perhaps he sprinkled a bit of magic down in that sensational second half. Those Steven Sherlock two-pointers were certainly special.

Cork making a push towards the latter stages of the All-Ireland series would be transformative for football on Leeside. 

It’s hard to get your head around the fact it’s now 14 years since Cork reached the semi-finals, squeezed out by Donegal when as Munster and league champions, they were favourites to land Sam Maguire.

There haven’t been enough memorable days for Cork football since and even the last victory over Kerry came behind closed doors in 2020 during Covid and was followed by a Munster final loss to Tipp. Taking down Meath was a step in the right direction and gives Cork two chances to qualify for the quarter-final.

That was the scenario in 2024 too though, when group wins over Meath and Donegal put Cork in a strong position but they subsequently lost to Tyrone and Louth to exit before the last eight. This is the summer to change all that.