The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
Farewell to a man who encapsulated Castleisland AFC
IT has long been customary for sporting heroes to be shouldered from the scenes of their great triumphs.
On Thursday afternoon, the remains of the late Georgie O’Callaghan were taken shoulder-high through his native town to his final resting place.
Family members and former juvenile players shared the shouldering from the Church of Saints Stephen and John up Church Street and Main Street and as far as Hartnett’s Corner.
The last leg of his final journey was taken from Tangney’s Funeral Home by hearse to Kilbanivane, his twin brother, Jamesie, as passenger with undertaker Bernard Tangney.
Past and current juvenile players did his memory proud as did the people of the town and so many from all corners of the county and beyond.
Chief celebrant at his funeral mass on that morning was his friend Fr David Lupton – his long established UK contact for his annual tours.
Fr Lupton was joined by Castleisland PP Monsignor Dan O’Riordan, Fr Seán Horgan, Fr Noel Spring and Fr Pat Crean-Lynch.
FAI Chief Executive, John Delaney and Kerry District League Secretary, John O’Regan attended the mass as did many others associated with the game throughout the county.
Georgie’s greatest triumph lay in his years of unwavering commitment to the club he was hugely influential in setting up in 1973, and in the countless number of local youngsters he guided to manhood through involvement in sport over their formative years.
It was also around that time he began to take tours to the Manchester area and the boys in his care saw their heroes up close as trips to the Old Trafford training grounds were part and parcel of the tours.
His gift of meticulous planning saw to it that his little tourists had saved up for their annual August trips from January of each year.
Tributes were paid to Georgie from the altar during the mass and they were tinged almost equally with sadness and humour.
Fr Lupton drew a ripple of laughter when he told of Georgie’s legendary guarding of his age.
“Even the date of birth written on the chart at the end of his bed in the hospital made him far younger that he was. It made me wonder at the real ages of the under-14s he was bringing to play our lads every year,” said Fr Lupton.
Castleisland AFC Chairman Patrick O’Rourke put Georgie’s prints on the yet-to-be-developed Astro Turf pitch when he said, as part of his tribute: “I am glad that Georgie was part of the team which negotiated the deal to make the development of the new pitch a reality.”
In the same breath, Mr O’Rourke thanked John Delaney – who was seated just a handful of metres away – for the inspiring and valuable support he and the association has provided to the project.
I spoke to Georgie a couple of weeks ago when I heard he was unwell and he assured me he would be fine and he was delighted with the headway being made on the new pitch here in Castleisland. The irony of life was rarely so cruelly applied as in Georgie’s case.
He begged and borrowed fields in various parts of the town and surrounding areas to facilitate his teams over the years.
Now, he and some of his former under-age players have secured a permanent playing pitch in the heart of the town and one on which the weather won’t have a say.
Georgie’s passing will leave a huge void in under-age sport in Castleisland. Since 1973 he has been organising, with almost military precision, the annual trips to the UK.
Generations of youngsters will have abiding memories of meeting the big stars of the game of their eras, and trips to Old Trafford were always pencilled in.
Fr Lupton returned the compliment by bringing teams here.
That’s not to mention the many trips to Dublin for international games at which members of his teams acted as ball boys.
Georgie would fight on his back for the club he had a huge part in founding in 1973.
In that, he worked closely with the likes of the late Michael ‘Tappy’ Conway and PJ Luddy – all taken long before their time.
Their first ‘home’ was in Gerald Wren’s field at the back of where the Stanley Divane Pavilion VW Dealership now stands.
There was a move later on to the field now covered by Castle island Community College; the site at the back of the college is now to become the club’s crowning glory.
The late Castleisland PP Canon Michael O’Herlihy was a huge supporter of Georgie, and he went out of his way to secure what became known as The Canon’s Field for the club.
That field and the accompanying sheds became a solid base for the club for many years through the late 1970s to the early 1990s.
Considered by many as a typical church authoritarian of his time, ‘The Canon’ and Georgie became great friends and it was good for the game here in that period.
Georgie would get quite animated on the sideline at times if things weren’t going well for his team. On one such occasion he let out a string of unparliamentary language well within earshot of ‘The Canon.’
Dressed in the garb of his vocation, prayer book in hand, vespers on hold, he broke into a peal of laughter he couldn’t contain at Georgie’s outburst.
In the FAI tribute to Georgie, its Chief Executive John Delaney was able to say, with absolute clarity, that he was a friend of his. If he wasn’t he’d know it.
Mr Delaney proved that friendship several times down through the years. none more so that when he heard that Georgie was out mowing the current pitch on Limerick Road with an ordinary, hand-pushed lawnmower. Georgie got a note from headquarters to go and look at a ‘ride-on mower’ and the cost was covered by the FAI; that’s friendship and it meant the world to Georgie.
Honoured by all and any sports star awards which were held in Castleisland down through the years, Georgie’s efforts didn’t go unnoticed either at Kerry County Council level.
His dogged, unrelenting determination on behalf of the teams in his care won him many awards. and accolades for his dedication to sport.
Of all the sportsmen he had seen in his lifetime, the great Kerry footballer, Mick O’Connell, stood head and shoulders above all others as Georgie’s hero.
I’ve had suggestions in the course of the days before his funeral that Georgie’s remains should be shouldered through the town by members of his various teams or ‘chicks’ as they became known.
I passed on the suggestions and his club members gave him a truly fine send off.
And there were hints too about the naming of the new field. Can it now be called anything other than in memory of the man who did more for the game in Castleisland and in Kerry than anyone else could have?
May God be good to him.