Stories from States captured essence of this G.A.A. giant

DONAL HOWLIN’S eulogy to his late father, Sheamus, at Tuesday’s funeral in a packed Piercestown Church captured the essence of his character to a tee, and I particularly enjoyed two stories with the United States of America as a common theme.

The first related to the World Cup soccer year of 1994, when Sheamus, Vera and the boys were on holidays in the country at the time and were gripped by the wave of enthusiasm that greeted Ireland’s famous 1-0 win against Italy in their first group game.

Qualification for the last 16 followed, after a loss to Mexico and draw with Norway, and Sheamus decided it would be foolish to be in the States and not at least try to make it down to Orlando for that knockout game against Holland.

He put a call through to a good friend, Michael Foley, who was Heineken’s chief executive in America at the time and, lo and behold, Sheamus and his youngest son, Derek, not alone attended the game, they also got the V.I.P treatment and met manager Jack Charlton and some of the players afterwards.

Five years later, Donal was on a J1 in New York but it wasn’t going according to plan. He had been unable to find a job and rang home from a phone box with a view to coming back to Ireland a lot earlier than planned.

Sheamus took the call and instructed him to stand beside the phone and wait for it to ring again. Donal duly did what he was told and, no more than 15 minutes later, his father dialled the number and gave him an address for a warehouse in Manhattan, with instructions to report for duty at 7 a.m. the next morning to start his new job.

Neither story surprised me, because Sheamus had the art of networking perfected long before it became one of the buzz words of our age.

I imagine the number of contacts in his mobile phone must have easily stretched to a four-figure total, and he was always at home in a social setting where many beneficial partnerships for the G.A.A. were teased out over a pint or two.

He had no airs or graces regardless of the company he was keeping, because Sheamus never forgot his roots and was always proud of where he came from and the people he knew best.

He was a visionary with regard to the development of G.A.A. facilities, and I was informed at the funeral that he was still helping out with shovel in hand on the day when the St. Martin’s floodlights were turned on for the first time just a few short months ago.

I pass Innovate Wexford Park practically every day, and the venue will serve as a constant reminder of what he achieved because he was a driving force in its re-development between 1997 and 2001.

His influence stretched far beyond the county boundary too, and it struck me forcibly again on Sunday when I made my annual pilgrimage to the AIB Leinster Club football final in Tullamore.

I passed the modern offices of the provincial council in Portlaoise on the way, situated across the road from their original more humble abode. Ask anyone in the know, and they will confirm that Sheamus led the way in that project also.

He had great time for players, but was never shy about defending G.A.A. officialdom either if he felt any criticism wasn’t warranted.

And as the President, John Horan, so rightly pointed out in his graveside oration, he had a gift for recognising potential in young people and involving them in their area of interest.

I was one of the beneficiaries in that regard, as I outlined in this column last week, as he got me on board to assist in the production of match programmes as a teenager.

He gave his three sons one particularly sound bit of advice, as Donal explained: always help someone out if you’re in a position to do so. If ever a man practiced what he preached, it was Sheamus. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis.

FOOTNOTES: The print version of last week’s column contained a reference to Sheamus and his ability to ‘diffuse tension’ at meetings.

Of course, I meant to use the word ‘defuse’, as appeared online, but it inadvertently wasn’t changed here. Apologies for the mixed message it may have created, as the words have opposite meanings.

Finally, as this is my last column for 2018, I want to wish our readers good health and happiness for Christmas and the new year.