Death of Frank Toman
The death has taken place of Frank Toman, a member of the All-Ireland Hogan Cup winning team of 1971.
Frank held the honour of been the only footballer to win a Hogan Cup with two different schools.
As a fourteen-year-old he had appeared as a second half substitute for St Colman’s in the Hogan Final against St Jarlath’s, Tuam in Mullingar to help them collect their first Hogan Cup title. His studies then took him to Belfast and to St Mary’s, where he joined a number of Lurgan pupils in the school. This was not unusual as St Mary’s pre-1968 had many pupils arriving into their Barrack St school from the Armagh town.
At St Mary’s Frank joined another group of talented footballers and set about making a bit of history for himself and the school. The school set about their MacRory Cup campaign with a professional approach and their coach Kilkenny born Br Harry Nolan knew what it would require to overcome some excellent opponents. In the semi-final of the Mac Rory, they defeated the reigning champions St Malachy’s. Frank produced an outstanding display in the final played in his hometown Lurgan, scoring 1-4 of the school’s total when they defeated Abbey CBS Newry 1-11 to 1-7.
Now the All-Ireland campaign began and St Mary’s beat St Mel’s Longford in the All-Ireland semi-final.
This set up a Hogan Cup clash with the Munster champions Coláiste Iosagáin packed full of Kerry and Cork stars. During the All-Ireland final played in Croke Park it was Frank Toman who was the standout player scoring 1-4 as St Mary’s CBS Belfast went onto win their only Hogan Cup on a scoreline 1-13 to 1-7.
After leaving St Mary’s Frank went onto play for Armagh seniors in 1977 All-Ireland final against Dublin and he also played rugby for his home club Lurgan.
Frank moved to the midlands of England with his wife Janice and he continued to play football , rugby and spent his later years fishing. He is survived by his wife Janice, daughter Anna and son Rory. Anna is a professional hockey player with London club Wimbledon and plays for Great Britain. Frank was delighted to see his daughter win a bronze medal at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Rory is a talented rugby union player.
Frank’s funeral will be held in Derbyshire on 4th of November 2022.
Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.
