Willie Valentine, Alex Valentine, Eddie Valentine, Paddy Collins, Felix Valentine, Charlie O'Malley (Cork), Pat O'Malley (Cork), Patrick Travers.

The Pipe Track team won that day but an interest in the sport had been awakened and an appetite for competition had been whetted.

Fr. Denis Cahill then got together the men from Guiness and from Slieveniskey with the express intention of forming one team - as a result of this meeting the two teams combined and competed under the Slieveniskey banner. Such was the humble beginning of the famous Slieveniskey Tug-of-War Team.

Training began immediately at Andy Rogan's corner, and their adopted training methods showed the highly inventive nature of the men from the mountains. James McCormick rigged a rope over the fork of the tree, and attached a large boulder to one end. Mark Maginn, the trainer, then set the men the task of hoisting the boulder and holding it aloft for long periods. By exploiting the stubborn stamina bred into all mountain men, he developed the ability to hold and tire opponents, a potentially winning combination of tactics. And so it proved it to be.

After just a fortnight of training, the team had its first outing at the parish sports in Clanvaraghan, held in a meadow owned by Paddy Kelly of the Rock. On the 'rope' that day were: Patrick McGrady (anchor), Tommy Jennings, Robert Pollock, Hugh Milligan, John McVeigh, James McCormick, Patrick McCormick and Patrick Milligan. The most serious challenge to the mountain men on that day came from the famous Kennedy's Bakery team from Belfast coached by Edward (Ned) Toman, who himself was then the reigning All Ireland Champion 56lb weight thrower. The large crowd cheered their own team who held and wore down the Bakery men - demonstrating the strategy that was to prove successful in this, their first serious outing, the forerunner of many victories that year.

From the parish sports in Kelly's meadow the team embarked on a wining spree that took them unbeaten from tournament to tournament until they came to the final of the Ulster Champions held that year in Downpatrick. In this, their biggest test, they once again encountered the brawny men from Kennedy's Bakery in Belfast. Crying vengeance for their first defeat, the Bakers meant to show the mountain men that they had only beginner's luck. The men from Slieveniskey and Guiness, however, had a different plot to unfold. Once again they took the strain, gained not a foot, lost none either; holding steady they waited whilst the Bakers did their utmost to dislodge them, then when the moment appeared ripe, they applied the pressure, pulled the Bakers eight, won the day, the title and the cup their own - the Slieve Croob Cup.

That night there was a dance at Andy Rogan's corner to welcome home the conquering heroes. The cup was filled and filled again with whiskey supplied by James Connor of Ballynahinch. Whatever else the team did that night it wasn't hoisting or holding a boulder on the end of a rope, and if the Guiness road in those days had been straight, not many of the Slieveniskey men would have kept out of the ditches on their way home.

The following year the patter was repeated with the Slieveniskey team taking on and beating all corners at tournaments the length and breadth of the country until, once again, they took their place in the final of the Ulster Championship. Held this year in Corrigan Park, Belfast - a Belfast venue and a Belfast opponent, yes the redoubtable men from Kennedy's Bakery. It was two determined teams that took the field in that final and both had something to prove. The Slieveniskey men…that they were no 'flash in the pan'. The Bakery men…to regain some of their lost pride.

Fate, sometimes kind and sometimes cruel, took a hand - the contest took place on a cinder pitch whereupon members of both teams suffered repeated falls as they strained against each other. As a result both teams were disqualified.

It was a disappointment for both teams and it left a question asked what was never going to be answered. The Slieveniskey team changed trainers - their new coach had ideas different to those already tried and tested. He wanted the men to heave the rope whereas the men wished to continue with the strategy, which had proved so successful. Eventually many of the team members left and their likes were not to be seen again. The team was disbanded.

Years later, reflecting on the exploits and the memories of that time, one of that victorious band committed this thoughts to paper.

THE SLIEVENISKEY TEAM

Composed by Mark Maginn

I

The summer sports are over now,
The summer days are gone;
The Tug-o-War is finished
And the best team finally won.
Of all who have contended
The best, by far, I deem
And the men who always won the day
The Slieveniskey Team.

II

They beat Saul and Ballyculter
Loughinisland too
The men from Kennedy's Bakery
The Pipe Track and Kilcoo.
They were always were victorious
Of sportmen they are the cream;
For theres' none could get the beating of
The Slieveniskey Team.

III

Andy's Rogan Corner
Is where they'd meet to train,
And often on a summer night eve
You'd see them take the strain.
If there's one who thought could beat them
They had an idle dream,
For there's none could take the laurels from
The Slieveniskey Team.

IV

The success to Slieveniskey,
And on a manys a future day
We hope to see them pull again
And bear the prize away.
For when it comes to Tug-o-War
It's they who rule supreme
The men who never knew defeat
The Slieveniskey Team.