Sheamus was an innovator who never forgot his roots
MOURNERS TRAVELLED from far and near to pay their respects to Sheamus Howlin, the former Wexford GAA and Leinster GAA chairman, who passed away at the age of 69 years at his home in Piercestown after a lengthy battle with illness.
Born in 1949 to Jim and Anastasia (Babs) Howlin of Rathjarney, he was educated in Piercestown NS and later Wexford CBS. He played hurling and football at Rackard League level in primary school and later with St Martin’s to whom he would go on to give a lifetime of service as player, coach and administrator.
On the playing field he was most proud of winning the county intermediate hurling title in 1977 when he partnered a very young George O’Connor in midfield. St Martin’s have been operating in the senior grade ever since.
Before he retired from playing, Sheamus began his coaching career and he trained the minors to a three in a row ( joined with Glynn-Barntown) in the mid 1970s and went on to coach many other underage and adult teams in the club. He was also a Wexford minor hurling selector in the late 1970s. Sheamus also served St Martin’s in every administrative role (except treasurer) through the years and was an active fundraiser right up until his death.
On the development side, he was involved from the beginning. In order to purchase the current playing fields, a bill had to be passed through Dail Eireann as selling off any of the Johnstown Castle Estate was forbidden. He met with Taoiseach of the day Charlie Haughey to negotiate a way for the club to own their own grounds and therefore develop them. A bill was passed and subsequently St Martin’s built their Community Centre with two playing pitches and it was officially opened in 1983.
However, the club continued to grow and further expansion was required at the end of the 1990s. Sheamus was again centrally involved as more dressing rooms were added to the centre as well as a new reception and more land was bought for pitches. He was passionate about St Martin’s having the best facilities and was zealous in his efforts to fundraise to pay for them.
He was keen that the club continually develop their facilities and was happy to help with the hurling wall, the dug-outs and the recent installation of the floodlights.
Sheamus also enjoyed the social side of the GAA and many young men from the parish have him to thank for their first overseas trip as he organised numerous club outings to Manchester, Liverpool and later Spain.
Apart from the GAA, Sheamus was a talented athlete and he won many cross-country medals with the DMP as a young boy. He was also an accomplished rugby player for Wexford Wanderers where he played in the centre position.
Sheamus first got involved with Wexford GAA in the early 1990s when he headed up a Sponsorship Committee that proceeded to attract sizeable amount of funding for the County Board. He was also a driving force behind a vibrant Wexford Supporters’ Club under John Doyle and Matt Browne.
He organised golf classics in Courtown and Rosslare for many years, which raised significant funds each time to help improve the fortunes of the various Wexford teams.
He was behind the motion to allow sponsorship logos on playing jerseys in 1991 and it was apt that Wexford were the first team to make history and wear a logo on their jerseys as Enniscorthy native Michael Foley, through the firm Buckler, sponsored Wexford in the later stages of the National Hurling League in 1991. The following year, Sheamus got Wexford Creamery on board and forged a strong bond with Dr. Seamus O’Beirne as Wexford Creamery sponsored all Wexford GAA teams for over ten years.
He was also involved in producing match day programmes in the early 1990s when Wexford county final programmes won McNamee Awards. Sheamus was extremely proud of Wexford’s All-Ireland senior hurling success in 1996 and undertook a lot of the fundraising behind the scenes for the team during the run to All-Ireland success and again for the team holiday to the USA.
Along with Mick Kinsella, Pat Neville, Fergie Duff and Joe O’Shaughnessy, he was behind the redevelopment of Wexford Park in the late 1990s and turned it into the modern day stadium it is today.
Over this time he was elected as Vice-Chairman of Wexford GAA and was deeply honoured to be elected as Wexford Chairman in 2001. In this position he was never afraid to make difficult or unpopular decisions that came his way and stressed the importance of the rule book and upholding it.
In recent years, Sheamus also secured vital funding for the Ferns Centre of Excellence which enabled the magnificent facility to be completed for use by Wexford county teams.
Sheamus served as Wexford’s representative to Leinster Council in Portlaoise from 1989 and thus began a lengthy period of service to the provincial council. He went on to serve as Leinster PRO and was he elected Vice-Chairman which resulted in him becoming Chairman for the years 2008-10, a role which gave him tremendous satisfaction and pride being the first man from St Martin’s to do so. He also played his part in Leinster Council developing new state of the art offices in Portlaoise. He made many close friends from all over the province as well as the staff in the office during these years.
On a national level, Sheamus was a member of the Croke Park Management Committee, youth committees, fixtures committees, referees committees, finance committees, Central Council, Games Administration Committee, Trustee, Chairman of Overseas Committee and Chairman of National Insurance Committee.
However, it was during his spell as Chairman of the Overseas Committee under the presidency of Nicky Brennan (2006-09) that he left a huge legacy all around the globe which was evident at his funeral as there were people who had flown from all over the world to attend.
In his capacity as Overseas Chairman, he developed links with the Department of Foreign Affairs through Ray Bassett and the Minister at the time Brian Cowen - who both became his good friends - and he secured sizeable funding for the development of GAA Centres in many countries on many continents.
During this time, at a GAA function, he was introduced to the Queen of England as the Minister of Foreign Affairs.
In 2014, he ran for president of the GAA and came a credible second.
Up until his death, Sheamus served as Head of the National Insurance Committee under current GAA president John Horan (who delivered the graveside oration). He carried out his duties with great dedication and had meetings scheduled around his chemotherapy sessions in St. Vincent’s Hospital which indicates his devotion to the GAA.
Everything he did was for the betterment of the GAA – St Martin’s, Wexford, Leinster and the GAA as an association in general. As he rose up through the ranks of the GAA, he didn’t forget his roots and always continued to work and fundraise for his club St Martin’s.
No matter where he had been in the world, he always looked forward to a few pints and the craic with his friends in the centre on Sunday nights.
He became very good friends with former GAA President and Galway man Joe McDonagh and it is quite ironic that both of them died from the same illness within three years of each other.
Sheamus married Vera Fenlon in 1975 and settled in Piercestown, where they had three boys - Gavin, Donal and Derek. Despite being so busy with his work and GAA commitments, Sheamus always found time for his family and he was very proud of the academic achievements and careers of his children.
His working career started in Stafford’s in Wexford town before he moved to Snowcream in George’s Street. In 1982 he started to work in Transcontinental in Rosslare Harbour before it was bought by P&O. He took early retirement from P&O in 2006 and from his vast experience of the transport industry he set up his own firm Transkon and developed it into a very successful company.
In his illness, Sheamus received great care from family friend Jenny Power, Jean Cullen, Niamh Wolfe and the rest of the Wexford Hospice Team, Ken Mealy, Dr. Stephen Bowe and Professor Ray McDermott and his team in St. Vincent’s Hospital, Dublin.
He is survived by his wife Vera, sons Gavin, Donal and Derek, sister Eileen, daughters-in-law Lisa and Claire, grandchildren Grace, Eve, Kate, James, Ruth, Daniel and Richard, and a wide circle of friends.