*Jim Enright receiving congratulations from Munster GAA Chairman Tim Murphy.
CRATLOE’s Jim Enright will be honoured for his contribution to Scór.
A livestock farmer from Cratloe and a life-long member of Cratloe GAA club, Jim will be presented with the Munster Scór long-service award at the All-Ireland senior scór finals which take place in Castlebar on Saturday (April 26th).
He was nominated to receive the honour by PRO of Munster Scór, Anne Hayes from Lissycasey. He will be presented with the award by GAA President, Jarlath Burns who he previously faced off with in a Scór competition.
Scór is a GAA competition that combines all the colour and rivalry of gaelic games with the social element of Ireland’s traditional past-times. The competition was established by the GAA in 1969 with the aim of promoting Ireland’s traditional pastimes and culture while offering club members the chance to meet up, have fun and represent their club during the winter months while Football and Hurling had ceased.
There are eight events/disciplines in Scór that cover all aspects of Irish culture: Figure/Céilí Dancing, Solo Singing, Ballad Group, Recitation/Scéalaíocht, Nuachleas/Novelty Act, Instrumental Music, Set Dancing and Table Quiz. The competition is divided into two age levels, Scór na nÓg, for young people under 17 and Scór Sinsear, for those over 17.
Jim’s first involvement with Scór was on Bloody Sunday January 1972 but the event was postponed. He recalled, “Nobody knew what was happening, I was asked by two other people who have sadly passed away to go to Quin Hall for the first round of senior Scór and when we got there we discovered that it was cancelled because Bloody Sunday, nobody was in the humour to do anything”.
Every year since then Jim has been involved in Scór. He won numerous county titles in Tráth na gCéist, four Munster titles and one All-Ireland title on the Cratloe team alongside Ballynacally native Flann O’Reilly now a staunch Cratloe resident and Michael Thorne originally from South Tipperary. They won the All-Ireland title in 1977.
Enright has been a quiz master at Scór competitions all over the country. “I made a lot of friends, it was fantastic,” he recalled of his involvement. He praised Anne Hayes, Joe Garry and Flann O’Reilly for helping to keep Scór alive and in a healthy state in Clare, “it is stronger than it has ever been”.
He has been a member of Coiste Scór na Mumhan for many years and has also served as Cathaoirleach of Scór na Mumhan. Jim is the current Cathaoirleach of Coiste Scór an Chláir.
Within Cratloe, he served for five years as Chairman of Cratloe GAA club and was a long-serving PRO. He was also Chairman of the now defunct South Clare GAA board.
Jim is married to Joan, they have four children, Patrick, James, Valerie and Caroline. James was part of the Cratloe team which won this year’s Scór Tráth na gCéist county final defeating Newmarket-on-Fergus following a tie-break while all of the Enright children have represented Cratloe Scor na nÓg and Scór Sinsir.
