7. Sports: Eddie tracy, Gerry Daly & Liam Whelan.

[DIRECTIONS] Now that you have reached the back entrance of the church, we are going to move on to another important aspect in the lives of people of Cabra. Keep walking straight ahead and I will tell you about some of Cabra’s sporting heroes.

[Narration] Sports

Cabra West has a lot in terms of sport, and Cabrionians have brought great sportsmanship and dedication to a wide range of activities. There are so many sporting heroes in Cabra, and here is the story of One of Cabra West’s most famous sports people, boxer Eddie Tracey, from Broombridge Road.

At the end of this road you will see Broombridge. The big brick building across the road is the St Finbarr’s primary school which he attended. Eddie took up boxing at the young age of ten.

Eddie was a member of the Avona and Arbour Hill Boxing Clubs. He rose through the ranks of Irish amateur boxing and in 1960 became a National Juvenile Champion. He later won the Leinster Junior title, the National Junior title, and the National Senior Bantamweight title.

He went on to achieve great success and was later selected to represent Ireland at the Mexico Olympic Games. At the Olympics, Eddie won his opening contest against Jamaica’s Errol West and finished among the leading featherweight boxers in the world.

He represented Ireland on approximately twenty five occasions, including three European Championships in East Berlin and Bucharest. Eddie retired from boxing in 1969. In the year he retired, he won the National Senior Lightweight Championship, defeating a French lightweight champion in an international contest.

His achievements placed him among the strongest amateur fighters ever produced in Cabra and helped build the reputation of the area as one of Dublin’s great boxing communities. His legacy remains an important part of Cabra’s sporting history and continues to inspire future generations of local athletes.

Cabra West has also produced footballers who represented their community on the international stage, including Gerry Daly, who was born in 1954.

Gerry loved to kick a ball around Quarry Road in Cabra and later played with local clubs including Young Elms and Villa United. In 1972, he signed for Bohemians at Dalymount Park and won a Leinster Senior Cup medal before being transferred to Manchester United for twelve thousand pounds.

At Manchester United he won a Division Two Championship medal and an FA Cup runners up medal. In 1976 he moved to Derby County, where he spent four successful years and famously scored twice against Real Madrid in European competition.

Gerry later played for several English clubs including Coventry City, Leicester City, Birmingham City, Shrewsbury Town and Doncaster Rovers before finishing his career as player manager with Telford United.

Gerry Daly married a Manchester girl named Sheela in the Church of the Most Precious Blood, the church we have just passed, in 1974. After his transfer to Manchester United he had reached hero status in Cabra, and crowds gathered to catch a glimpse of the football star on his big day.

Another great footballer Cabra has produced was Liam Whelan, who grew up on St Attracta Road.

Liam first developed his football skills playing locally in Cabra and quickly became known as a player of exceptional ability. His talent brought him to Manchester United, where he became part of the famous Busby Babes team under manager Matt Busby.

He went on to represent both Manchester United and the Republic of Ireland and was widely regarded as one of the most promising young footballers of his generation.

Tragically, Liam Whelan lost his life in the Munich Air Disaster in 1958 at just twenty two years of age. The Manchester United team had been travelling home after playing a European Cup match in Yugoslavia. The plane stopped in Munich to refuel, but during take off it crashed on the runway in heavy snow.

His death was deeply felt in Cabra and across the football world.

Today, Liam Whelan is remembered as one of Cabra’s greatest sporting figures. On the eighth of December 2006, the railway bridge at the Fassaugh Road and Dowth Avenue junction was renamed in his honour.

[Directions] If you are unsure where to go, please look at the highlighted blue shapes on the Echoes app and follow that route for the sound to play.

Keep walking straight ahead until you see the small block of flats in the distance. Once you reach them, turn right and walk straight, where the next story will begin.

[Music Reference] Music: “Cinematic Ambient” by The_Mountain (via Pixabay)