GERARD O’Neill’s contribution to Kilmihil GAA Club has been honoured.
A long-serving administrator and volunteer with the West Clare club, Gerard on Sunday attended his fiftieth Annual General Meeting (AGM) of Kilmihil GAA club and the milestone was marked by the club executive.
During the AGM, he was presented with a plaque inscribed with the words ‘To Gerard in appreciation fifty years loyal service to Kilmihil GAA’.
His first AGM was on Christmas Day 1975 and the most recent was Sunday’s held in the Community Centre.
Over the years, O’Neill has held the role of club Chairman on three separate occasions and has served as Vice Chairman, Secretary, Treasurer, Registrar, PRO and County Board delegate. He currently holds the dual role of PRO and County Board delegate.
Speaking to The Clare Echo, Gerard said, “I’ve been immersed in the GAA all my life, given that I wasn’t any good at playing so I got involved on the administration side and have remained involved all my life. I played U16 in 1970 and played up to U21 with the club but my eyesight was causing me problems and I wasn’t into wearing contact lenses so that ruled me out, I wasn’t good enough to make the teams but the standard was so high in the club in the 1980s, we were strong in numbers and quality too. I was able to contribute in my own way to the club and I enjoyed the interaction with the lads, I’ve been made feel very much a part of the club with my involvement”.
In 1981, he began taking team photographs and has been able to document Kilmihil teams down through the years. “I started taking team photos in 1981 when I got my first decent camera, a lot of team photos wouldn’t have been taken only for me because I was the only one with a camera whereas now everyone has a camera in their hand. Taking the photographs has helped to preserve the history. In 1973 we won the Cusack Cup and no team photograph was taken, the same happened in 1976 when we won the Clare senior football championship. Cameras were very scarce back in the day. I’ve put together the club’s website and I would confidently say no other club has as many photographs on their website. I’ve helped to put together the history section of our website too with Maura Cotter before me”.
Subscribers of The Clare Echo are treated to Gerry’s quality photographs on a weekly basis with galleries of images from the games he attends available to view online.
Receiving a plaque from Secretary Breda Breen, Chairman Dominic Curtin and Treasurer Eamonn Donnelly “caught me by surprise,” O’Neill admitted. “I had intended getting a picture with the Chairman and Secretary myself to mark the occasion but the presentation caught me by surprise”.
Reflecting on five decades of AGMs with Kilmihil, he pointed out, “I’m the only one that ever contested an election for Chairman during this time, that was in 1987 and in most other years you’re trying to push somebody into the job”.
“Back in the 1980s there would have been a much bigger attendance at AGMs, there was some of the older members of the teams from the 1950s and 60s attending then. I can remember Michael Browne, a great footballer in his time, he wouldn’t speak much at an AGM but if he was asked to make a comment everybody listened with great respect because he was well regarded and always had something very constructive to say. Likewise Fin Callinan a captain in 1959, if he spoke everybody listened and took on board what he said, he was so well respected,” O’Neill added.
