S2 E5 Arranmore United, More than Just a Team

On a cold, wind-driven Saturday at Rannagh Park, it’s easy to mistake what’s happening on Arranmore for just another football match.

 It isn’t.

 In this episode of The Tides That Tie, we trace the story of Arranmore United—a club built not just to compete, but to help hold a community together.

From its beginnings in 1987—when three rival island teams set aside differences to form one side for one island—to the present day, where players travel hours and cross open water just to make kickoff, this is a story about commitment, identity, and belonging.

You’ll hear from past and present voices of the club, including:

• Founders who helped bring the team into existence 
• Players from the 1989–90 era that set the standard early 
• Current players navigating emigration, distance, and modern challenges 
• Young voices hoping to carry the club forward 

At the center of the episode is a powerful moment from 2019—a cup final that captures everything the club represents: pride, loss, community, and resilience.

 This isn’t just about football.

 It’s about what happens when a place decides it needs something to rally around—and refuses to let it disappear.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:04

Welcome to The Tides That Tie: Exploring Two Islands, One Soul. A podcast that delves into the powerful connections between Beaver Island, Michigan, and Aaronmore, County Donegal. Their histories, their cultures, their challenges, and the enduring spirit that unites them across the sea. Join your hosts Ron Gregg and Kevin Green as they uncover the stories, the traditions, and the voices that keep these islands forever linked. This is the Tides That Tie.

SPEAKER_03 0:52

It's a cold, wet, wind-cut January Saturday afternoon, and I find myself standing at the soccer pitch, Rana Park, or just the Rana on Aronmore Island. This field, built by hand over time, is one of the most striking playing surfaces you'll find anywhere in Ireland. Surrounded by the Atlantic on three sides, the wind doesn't just show up here, it becomes part of the game. You get the sense that if you strike a ball too high, it might hang and then come right back to you. It's that kind of day. I'm told the crowds are usually bigger than what's gathered here today, but this isn't just any Saturday on Aaron Moore. Across the island, the community is celebrating the hundredth birthday of Bridget Bridey Gallagher. Most of the island and more than a few visitors are packed into the community center right now. Fair enough, milestones like that take precedence. So yeah, the crowd's a bit thin. But what isn't thin and what caught me off guard is the intensity. I'll admit I expected something closer to a friendly. An island team, a visiting side, a bit of a roundabout, but that's not what this is. From the first whistle, it's clear this matters.

SPEAKER_09 2:17

Stay up Stay up.

SPEAKER_03 2:20

Today's visitors are the Swilly Rovers, traveling from Roth Mullen. Their journey alone says something. They've come by bus to Burton Port, then boarded a ferry. It's a trip no other Donago League side has to make just to play a match. And yet, here they are. Aaron Moore starts fast, three unanswered goals, Alan Stevenson, Paul Early, Ben Gothan. Clinical, direct, no hesitation. Swilly pulls one back just before halftime. In the dressing room, there's no sense of comfort. Coach Bernie, originally from Scotland, is not satisfied, not even close. He lets them know it in a voice that carries both authority and an accent thick enough that at times you wonder how much is understood and how much is simply felt.

SPEAKER_09 3:14

Keep pushing on. You'll never won fifty downs in the bowl, so keep pushing on me up.

SPEAKER_03 3:21

The second half settles into a rhythm. Back and forth, hard tackles, quick breaks. Ben Gotham adds another for Aaron Moore. Swilly responds late. Final score four two. After the match, there's a shift. The edge softens. Coach Bernie alongside Coach Early offer words of encouragement. Focus turns forward to the rest of the season. The only real casualty of the day might be referee George's patience and possibly his backside. He's absorbed a steady stream of commentary from both sides, some of it more colorful than constructive. Are you washing my ass?

SPEAKER_08 4:05

Alcohol. Hey! Fuck's sake, George, you was fucking nervous.

SPEAKER_03 4:10

By season's end, Aaron Moore United finishes in the old Orchard Saturday Division II with six wins, five losses and three draws. Not quite what they might have hoped for, but then again, very little about football on a small island follows a predictable script. Because there are places where football is just a game. And then there are places where it carries something more. On Aaron Moore, off the coast of Donegal, football is part of how a community holds together. Today on the podcast All Things Aaron Moore and Beaver Island, we take a deep dive into Aaron Moore United and ask the question When is a football club more than just a team? Football has always run deep on Aaron Moore. There was a time not so long ago when the island was fuller, when the fishing was strong, when more work was here, when the greater number of people could stay. And back then there wasn't just one team, there were three the Hibbs, the Celtics, and the Rovers, each tied to its own townland, each carrying its own loyalties. On Sunday they'd gather down on the strand by Phil Bonds, goals marked out in the sand, the Atlantic at their back, the wind doing what it always does here. And the matches weren't just matches, they were rivalries. You'd have women shouting across the pitch, men carrying arguments back into the pubs, lines drawn, not just on the field, but through the island itself. That was football then, until nineteen eighty seven. Because that's when something changed. The divisions gave way to an idea, one team for one island, Aaron Moore United. And at the heart of that beginning was a man named Hugh Nancy Rogers.

SPEAKER_07 6:07

And the way that came about is one winter's night I got a knock on the door and it was four or five young fellows standing at the door, maybe 18 to 20. And they said we would like to enter a team in the Donegal League. And I looked at the fuck these were young lads. And I said, it it can never happen because we don't have a football feed. Well they said, if you would help us, uh we we'll help you.

SPEAKER_03 7:39

And things started off very well for Arranmore United. Jerry Early picks it up from there.

SPEAKER_08 7:46

1987. We then joined the uh the Donegal League. And at that time we were the only island team, and to this day actually still the same, we're the only island team that would have participated in the National League. You know, our remit was what was within Donegal. And uh Yeah, and that was that was great times because it it coincided with with a lot of fishing was very good at that time. So a lot of the guys and my peers and even younger were on the island working. And 87, 88, 89, there's no question we were not just one of the top clubs in Donegal, but we would have been, you know, national level, we'd have been in the top twenty or thirty national.

SPEAKER_03 8:34

And immediately islanders were enthusiastic supporters of the club.

SPEAKER_07 8:41

It's an island support. You know, that division doesn't exist on the island that it was fifty, sixty years ago, you know. So yeah, we we're we're the best supported team, the whole of the Donegal League. I mean, they're playing there tomorrow, but the party tomorrow, which it wards or Honda birthday parties happening tomorrow, so that'll take away. But generally, you know, but if you go to other matches in Donegal, no matter where you go, you may see 10 or 15 people there. You know, with Iron More, there's always a crowd.

SPEAKER_03 9:12

One of the great highlights of these early teams was the 1989-90 season, in which United won the Donegal League and made it to the Nationals to play against the team from Dublin. Patsy McLanahe describes the playoff run.

SPEAKER_09 9:26

I suppose uh we lost players like, you know, um a few good players like to England. Then we had a few last to the mainland, two boners, they're they're they're actually one last by to an islander as well. So uh one Patty was a goalkeeper and Jim was on the right wing and uh We played Casey Rovers in one of the toughest semi-finals ever. And they were the kingpin's that team was the like all league. They were Premier Division team, but we were uh we were just about probably a second division team, first division, and uh we beat them 4-1. And Jim Boner was on fire that day, got a couple of goals, and Kju didn't know what to hit them. We were shocked ourselves because normally we we had a obvious a tough battle against Kju, and they had a lot more experience than we had, but they had the same guile and enthusiasm and and the willing to win as we had that day. So uh that was just an unbelievable game. Things happen sometimes and you have no control, and once you get on top, that's it. Like this you're just on top and that's it. And they were up against the King Pencil and I got a league, that was hard right. They had players from all over the county and from Northern Ireland as well. And and uh they were a class team, so we were up against against them, and it ended up uh I think it was Law that day. And I went to penalties, and I'm not a big penalty to get captain by all means, but I I was my last I was last to take the penalty. And uh thank god I had the post went in and I was so delighted and then they missed then they were player Cornelius Brennan, he was winning the 17. He missed the penalty for them, and we won the FAA Junior Cup that year. Unbelievable. First time ever to win it. Like that was a big thing for us, and they had a great celebration as usual. And then Donna B then came the ping guns from from Dublin, and we weren't given much of a chance against them, but uh that was a a game that like often think over my head again, like you know, I should have done different my experience, I should have done this. You know, we should we should have won it. Like I scored a goal, I got a good goal to sell out, like there's no reason for it being disallowed. The referee just made a complete mess of it. Then Huey Kavanaugh got injured. That was a nine-minute break, and we were still needing one doll. Probably last kick of the match they equalize, and then it went to penalties and and we just lost in penalties. It was heartbreaking. You know, it was absolutely heartbreaking, but there must have been about 500 at the game that they know from the mainland, it was just unbelievable. For an alien team that had started in '87, three years later, you're in a big biggest game of your career like it wasn't ever. That'll never be repeated again. They were lucky. They were they knew they were lucky, but uh that was uh that was a big uh uh because we mentioned it to lose and penalties and I I kinda still kicked myself for for should have done things different, you know, but it's too late now, but uh we done uh we done island pride and I everybody was part of this and uh I saw it back in that game and one of the highlights of our careers and I like you know, that's for sure.

SPEAKER_03 12:27

So what was it that made this island team so good? It was the same factors that drove the rest of their lives work ethic, commitment, and pride.

SPEAKER_09 12:36

Things are there, like the the passions there, the the will and the commitment to one and and work at it, you know. So we didn't work hard, the boys, like we we all worked hard to get what we were, what we what we achieved, so Yeah. The R More Islanders are different, they're different people, like the very close to their together, like you know, so I think they you just you just can't buy that, Kevin. You just can't buy it.

SPEAKER_03 13:01

After a glorious start, the lack of work on the island reared its head.

SPEAKER_08 13:06

Again, the course of immigration came on us and you know, all this all these better players we were losing um to the dreaded work across the water. Which is totally understandable.

SPEAKER_03 13:20

And we did struggle again for a number of years. While the team would continue to experience ups and downs throughout its history, some things were constant because Aaron Moore United is much more than just a collection of players. There are managers, executive committees, groundskeepers, club secretaries, and treasurers. A group of about fifteen men and women currently work to keep the team running. Some are well known, some prefer to be behind the scenes. Here's Paul Early.

SPEAKER_06 13:48

So we have Sally Brady, she's not on the committee, but she washes our jerseys every week. There's a she has to wash 18 jerseys and shorts and socks every week. You turn up to the dress room every Saturday and there's just the fresh set of rigs, and nobody probably thinks who even washed that. Somebody done it. Somebody had to do it.

SPEAKER_03 14:06

Another great way the Aaron Moore community shows its support for the team is by fundraising. Their generosity enables the team to survive.

SPEAKER_06 14:14

So the team is fully funded and supported by the community of Iron Moore. There might be things like around the field, like say the fencing or whatever, that you can apply for grants for. But generally the club is is fully funded and supported by the community of Ironmore through fundraising, through quizzes. Just last Christmas for the St. Stephen's Day swim that we do on the beachfront down in uh Lake Garrow. That was they chose the club that year as the fundraising point. So all the players were getting involved, going out, doing their own fundraising, filling out lines for donations. And then on the day there was there was volunteers selling raffle tickets in the pub, trying to get throw a bit of money to the club. And the people of Arnmore are so so supportive of the club. Of anything. I think Armor is such a generous community community for fundraising for anything, whether it be the club, the f the pipe band, the community centre, the day centre, the chapel. The the community always shows out for anything.

SPEAKER_03 15:18

On a small island, you have to get creative to feel the team. Age means little.

SPEAKER_06 15:24

The age range in the team is probably from 16 all the way up to 36, 37, 38. It's like a 20-year age gap between the oldest person and the team and the youngest. That's nothing new. That's uh the way Iron Moore is, it's a wide age gap. No, there's a there's a good good group of uh lads that have plenty of experience and lads that are only just getting started. So it's um it's a good uh it's a good core group. Youth and experience. I think it's good. You get you get different age ranges in a in a in a dress room. It's um it can be it can be beneficial because young lads are full of energy. Older lads are a bit more experienced, but so i i the two go hand in hand very well. But it really in our more it's not there's there's absolutely no difference. You're treated you're treated the same. And that's a good thing. Nobody gets treated any differently regardless of their age. You're all playing for Armor United, there's no pff there's no difference at all.

SPEAKER_03 16:16

Aaron More United celebrates its fortieth year as a club in 2027. The foundation has been built, the structure is there. Now the responsibility has been passed on to a new generation, and these lads take their role seriously. Because in Aaron Moore, football isn't just something you pick up, it's something you grow up inside. We talked to current players Brendan Green, Glenn O'Donnell, and Paul Early, along with future player Levi Holmes.

SPEAKER_04 16:44

Yeah, so like it's an island, like we numbers have been dwindling the last few years, but we're still getting a good 18-man panel, and like it's here has always been football soccer-based. Like you get other clubs around, but like Gaelic football's kind of the number one thing. So here everyone from the age of four goes up with a ball at their feet. Like, so it's good like football's kind of in our in our blood here, like going back to winning titles back 80s, like you see pictures and like the 50s and 60s of people playing football on the the goals on the beach, like it was it's just that's our identity, like um and like you get people move away, like as someone said, the mainland, like they're coming up from Dublin week in, week out, to play football. That's four hours, five hours here, staying overnight and five hours back. Sometimes they do it in one day.

SPEAKER_03 17:41

Like for most players, it starts the same way watching from the sidelines, kicking the ball behind the goals, waiting for their turn.

SPEAKER_04 17:51

I've grown up watching Iron War play when I was young, all my life kind of revolves around football, going to the hall every day playing football with like pretty much my teammates now, um, going gym bank holiday down, spending the full weekend on a Durana, and then looking forward to training with the team when you're like 14, 15, looking forward to kind of breaking through, and then when you finally get to put on the shirt, it's just a great feeling like feeling like no other.

SPEAKER_03 18:20

And then one day you're not watching anymore, you're in it.

SPEAKER_02 18:25

I think you just it's just you're just representing everyone here, family, friends. I think when you put it on, you you've people watching you every weekend, and you don't want to let them down, you don't want to let yourself down, um you've got chosen to play. Um if you're lucky, you get chosen to play, and that's a big deal, you know. You don't take it for granted, you know. You're not it's not guaranteed that you're gonna play. Yeah, okay, you might be you might be playing regular, but that doesn't mean that the next week that your your uh your name's on the team sheet. And um yeah, wearing jerseys it's great. You know, when I was growing up, you go over to the pitch and watch watch the team and you think, oh, I'd like to do that one day and you know, just keep going. Because this isn't just another club. Not really. Just I wouldn't want to play for anyone else, and I think it's it's just the possibility of of of what we could achieve, I think, together. And there's no team there's no team anywhere like us. You know, there's teams all over the country, all over the the place, but we're different. We're all born, we're all bred here. People come from the mainland and play for us, but they have connections, they might have grown up here, they might have family here. So we're all we're all one big family here. Um and yeah, I think just missing out on that if I were to leave or if I were to stop playing, I think missing out on that possibility of going on to achieve something with this team, with the lads, with family, with friends, I think is something that I would definitely be haunting me if I if I were to stop playing and you know that chance of what if, I guess.

SPEAKER_03 20:00

And even before they pull on the jersey, they understand what it means.

SPEAKER_05 20:06

Uh be a great honor just thinking of all those who gone before me, just thinking they're like looking, watching the games, all past players come and watching the games. For them, even seeing just the young ones playing, uh fills you a great sense of pride. Like a lot of my family have played for the team, and just knowing that I can carry on that legacy, which is a great honor, really.

SPEAKER_03 20:32

For those who do make it, the meaning of it doesn't get smaller. It gets heavier.

SPEAKER_06 20:38

Well, I mean, it's a sense of pride every time you do it. I mean, it's a privilege. Well, I I think it is anyway. You're putting on a jersey, whether you're at home or you're traveling out to somewhere on the mainland, getting the opportunity to represent your parish, your place. It can be a powerful feeling. Um, and like I said, a privilege. Yeah, you're you're representing your community of 400 people and trying to do your best to get a result, get a victory for the island that that given weekend. It's not often you think about it, but it it is a it is a great source of pride. It's great privilege to be able to do it.

SPEAKER_03 21:11

But there's another side to it, because keeping a team like this going isn't simple.

SPEAKER_06 21:17

It's commitment. And especially living on Earn Moor. We've had to deal with emigration down through the years, lads that have had to leave and have to live their own lives because it we're an amateur sports team. So it's it's get it's getting 11 in a literal sense. I mean, there can be challenges to it. Um if the team is playing well, it's quite easy to get lads that to but like when the team is struggling, sometimes lads maybe like if they're living down the country, like I've done it like and the team's not doing well, you're like, oh, do I really want to go back to Iron this weekend and play? But you do it because it you have to keep the club going. Now that's that's in bad times, but to be fair, most of the time it's it is quite good. Lads that are from here want to play for the team. But yeah, the challenges. It's just it's I suppose it's similar to a lot of the rural towns and rural like a rural island like this. It's not having to deal with lads that are living away, working if they're not living in the country. But yeah, and y when you live on a when you live on a remote island, if you're traveling home, it's not just traveling home for the day. You're traveling home for the for the night too, typically for a weekend. Just play for the team. It doesn't get any easier. It takes a lot of lot of commitment from a lot of people to be able to feel the team. It doesn't just happen. A lot of people might think it does. It doesn't. It takes a lot of buy-hand.

SPEAKER_03 22:38

And sometimes what happens around this team goes far beyond football.

SPEAKER_06 22:44

One of the proudest moments that I've ever had for Aaron would be well, it's uh it's proud and bittersweet, actually, in a personal sense. I think it was it was 2019, April 2019. Um we the club won the Ulster Junior Shield, which is quite a difficult competition to win for most teams, but particularly a team from an island. Um but we we had a really good team that year. When the day of the final, it was April 27th, um m my uh my grandmother was um terminally ill and she was um she was unfortunately passing away. So um the day of the final Saturday, we uh myself and my cousin Michael, who was actually the the club captain at the time, we had the final that day and the day before, um and dad was the manager. The day before dad sat us down, we were up in my grandmother's house and he asked us, he said, Do you just want to play tomorrow? Like, you're under no pressure because all of us were in my grandmother's house, she was she was going to pass, like um and um I just remember Michael saying absolutely that he's going to play. Then my dad looked at me and I was, I'm doing whatever Michael's doing because I'll I'll follow whatever Michael he's he's my captain, like so um we made the decision to go and play that day. Um dad didn't go, dad had to be, dad wanted to be um with my mum and her family. But the team that we had that particular year, whether my dad was there or not, it was no different. The team was strong, strong character, strong bunch of characters anyway, whether he was there or not. The morning that we were leaving, we uh we we always get to half ten fairy for any away day, half ten red. So uh the day, the morning we were leaving, myself and Michael were in my grandmother's house, it was horrible. Um I said we both said our goodbyes to our grandmother that morning, walking out the house. I think um Michael's dad, Mickey, almost had to carry me out the house because I was in I was in pieces, just fell apart. And Michael was the same. Dropped dropped the two of us down to the ferry pier. We left that left the house that morning knowing that that was gonna be the last time we um seen her. But once we got onto the ferry and you wipe your tears and all that, it literally just you have you have to park it because you have a there's a cup final to be played that day for that for Iron War. So we went down to Bally Iron Letterkenny and um there was a big there was a busload going because it was a cup final. There was a busload of supporters there, and we we played the cup final we um just before the game, myself and Michael were both starting in the game. One of the players, Sean O'Hara, he would have been he would have been in his late 30s at this stage, but he's he grew up he's from Iron like he grew up here. He's a he would he's another great leader in the team. I remember we were getting our pre-match huddle and um he says we I can't remember what he said exactly, but it was along it was along the lines that we're playing for two lads and two lads only here today, Paul Early and Micah McHugh. Um because what they're what they're going through at the minute. Um and they're we deserve we deserve to or we have to give our best. I don't know. I think he knew. I don't know did the whole team know the extent of how ill she was, because I wasn't exactly wanting to talk about it. But so when we played the cup final and uh fortunately we won 3-1 against quite a good um Cockhill Celtic youth youth team, um we won 3-1 and we were um celebrating all that and we were on the bus back to the port and uh I think it was about half five or six or whatever, and uh Michael just turned around on the bus to me and just he'd got word from from Aaron that uh she'd passed away and I was like, right. And that was that by the time we got on the ferry pier. I think word had got round that she had passed. So people were start like you'd because I didn't want to show anything on the bus because we were we were celebrating with a trophy. Everybody's happy, and I'm happy too, so I wouldn't want to be saying, Oh, this is what happened, bring the mood down or whatever. But um by the time we got on the f on the ferry, people started hearing, people started coming up commiserating and congratulating. So that's why it's so bittersweet, because you you've won a trophy, but you're also dealing with something personal like that. But um what was really touching is uh when we landed in Iron, all the family, like Michael's my sisters, Michael's sisters, my dad, and all our cousins, the cousins that were on iron, they were down the pier to greet us, along with all the rest of the islanders that were coming to say, give us our homecoming almost. And um Alec Brown was playing the pipes as we were carrying the trophy off the ferry, and uh that was a surreal moment because you're elated by winning trophy for iron, but you're also so upset on a personal, on a personal sense, on a personal level. Yeah, so Michael was Michael was the captain and he took the cup up to my grandmother's house and came into the room and fortunately she was passed at that stage, but he you came back with the trophy and uh it was weird, a strange day, bittersweet day, but I what we I I think Michael would say the same what we felt from everybody on Iron that day. Powerful, very powerful feeling like people are people are so good to you. Um so like we were we went up to the house, up to my grandmother's house, and then all the folk like the all the team had gathered in uh in the bar, in Ernie's bar, the supporters and players alike, myself and Michael went back down and we didn't know we we can't we walked in separately. Michael walked in ahead of me and the whole bar stopped as he walked in and started applauding him. And I came down probably ten minutes later, I didn't know this had happened, and I just walked into the bar as normal and opened the door and the whole bar just started clapping me, and I was I it completely knocked me for six. I had to I was like, oh and I kind of just like left the room, went to the bathroom and cried again just because people'd done that. But it was so sweet, but it's and you know what? If it if it wasn't me that day, if it was somebody else unfortunately going through that, it would be the exact same. The exact same, no different. That's that's the kind of community Aaron is you take care of your own, you lift them up when they're down. That's a community thing, but also a football club thing. That's what Aaron is. They'll lift you up when you're down. Everybody needs picking up. That's probably my favorite day for Aaron. And bad day. All in one. It's such a mix of emotions, but um but it it it encapsulates it encap it encapsulates everything, um everything about the club. Just it's it's it can be so tight.

SPEAKER_03 29:36

A football club doesn't just happen. It never has. From the first matches on the strand to the building of the pitch, to the teams that came and went, Aaronmore United has always depended on the same thing. People showing up. So when is a club more than just a team? Paul early explains.

SPEAKER_06 29:58

You have a parish, but you have a you have a a place where you're from, but you don't often see it represented, if you know what I mean. It's a place that exists, but with with a team, it's something tangible. It's something that is right there in front of you representing that. That's how I look at it. Everywhere has every town, every place has its people, and the people are the people. But something like the football club, for example, like I said, it's a tangible thing. We wear jerseys of our colours. You're going out playing for that jersey, playing for the the name on the badge. So that's why that's why I look at it as something, like I said, a cornerstone of a community, because it's something that is being a representation of that community, like a pipe band that are wearing there. It's the exact same thing. It's something that's playing for that. So that's that's what I look at the football club as. When you're playing uh over at the rana, or if you're traveling to anywhere else, you are playing as that's that thing. I think that's why they're gonna that's why there might be a deeper sense of a deeper sense of pride of the place. Yeah, but that's just what that's just how it is.

SPEAKER_08 31:24

Blessed indeed we are to be dividers with one soul.

SPEAKER_00 31:33

Post script As we heard earlier, the club will be celebrating its fortieth anniversary next year. On the club's thirtieth anniversary, Jerry Early posted a very special tribute that I'm going to read to you now. Aaron Moore United I would have written this post regardless of what or how we did yesterday, but obviously it's much easier to write after another great day in the club's history. This year the club celebrates its thirtieth year in existence. In those thirty years we have won ten major honors, but more importantly, we are still the same club, with the same ethos, and have, despite crippling losses, we are still in existence and thriving. Thirty years ago, a group of visionaries led by Hugh Rogers thought it would be great to form a club to give the youth of the island an outlet to express themselves. It's for the youth of the island we are doing this for, bold Anton Gallagher would say. In the early days it was easy, as we had employment, we had fishing. However, gradually this was taken away. Employment dried up, fishing was taken from us, and we struggled badly at times. Different committees, managers, and players could have easily chucked it all, and I think it's fair to say it did come close to ending many times. But just at the last moment someone would stand up and keep it going. In many ways the club is like our pipe band, it's part of who we are, and the sheer pride of the people in this community won't let our treasures go. In the thirty years of existence, our club have at least twenty five times every year gone out and represented our island with dignity and pride throughout the county. Many, many times this happened with the majority of the team being from the mainland. These same lads are and always will be part of us. Maybe up to seventy players from the Tier Moor down the years have donned the jersey, and I've never, ever heard any of them say a bad word about us. Thanks, lads. You know who you are. We have also lost players, great lads who loved pulling on that jersey. We have put the Rana soil in their resting place. How poignant is that? Rest easy boys. Tes, we have had hard days. But we have also had great days. So so many. Yesterday was another one, and I believe many more to come. Hugh, Patsy, Anton, Tony Saylor, Danny Neal, Connell, were some of the visionaries who started this club thirty long years ago. Thirty years on, Hugh is still chairman and a great leader and example to us all, as is Connell, great, great club men. The discussion comes up often. Who the best ever team was? And it's a great argument. Personally, I think it was the nineteen ninety seven ninety eight team. The team won two games that year, scored ten for the season, conceded sixty, finished bottom of the league. Why do I think they were the best? Because they never chucked it, and it would have been easy. That would have been the end. Different kind of pride altogether prevented that. So in summary, to the many boys, men, and women, Sally and Angel, who have in any small way contributed to keeping this club going, give yourself a pat on the back. It's not easy being the country's only island team. Or then again, maybe it is easy. The term a club like no other is grossly overused. Not in our case. Pride is a mighty tool, folks. From Aaron Moore to Beaver Island, I'm back again. We'll see you next time. The Tides That Tie is sponsored by the Beaver Island Irish Heritage Group, music provided by Ed Palmer and Rich Scripps, Jerry Early, John Gallagher, Ann Canahan, John Flanagan, Hillary Palmer, Cindy Cushman, and Ruby John. With special thanks to Kevin Boyle for our introduction voiceover. To learn more or support the storytellers behind the Tides That Tie, email us at tides that tie at BIIHG.com. That's Tides That Tie at BIIHG.com. Copyright 2026, Beaver Island Irish Heritage Group, all rights reserved.