Glanmire Football Club hold two memorial events in recognition of club stalwart

GLANMIRE Football Club recently held two memorial events in recognition of Michael O’Leary, a much-loved club stalwart.

The Michael O’Leary memorial events have been arranged by the club as a tribute to a man who gave great service to Glanmire having served in numerous officer roles with the club.

Born in 1929, he started his GAA career during his school days in Carrignavar. Michael played at both minor and U21 level with Glen Rovers before he transferred to Sarsfields and Glanmire. He won a county senior hurling medal in 1957 with Sars playing in the wing-back position.

He also featured for the Cork senior hurlers in 1956 when he played a number of national league games. He served as a selector on the Cork minor football team that won the All-Ireland championship title in 1974.

Michael first got involved in the Glanmire Football Club committee in 1968/69 and he subsequently stayed on that committee right up to his passing in January 2015 which represented an incredible 46-year span.

He also served as chairman of the club for many years, notably serving the players and the Glanmire community with his friends Mickey Barry and Oliver Brennan and many others along the way.

Living across the road from the club grounds in the Pike meant that Michael was the first port-of-call for anyone looking for keys. This often meant getting knocks on the doors very early and very late to open up the pitch for training and games.

However, nothing was ever a problem for him or his wife Lizzy who answered the door more often than not. Michael had a huge passion for Glanmire football and the O’Leary family continues to provide the club continued and great support.

Glanmire in return held an U11 football blitz in his memory for many years. This year however there was a change of plan to the usual format to counteract the directive from Croke Park with regards to competitive games at U12 level. The Glanmire Club and the O’Leary family agreed to host two events.

The juvenile football committee worked with Noel, Michael’s son, to host a U11s football blitz on Saturday, September 16. The competitive element was then played out in a U14 football tournament which was held the following day.

Many teams from Cork and beyond participated in the blitz held on Saturday. Interchanging throughout the day, Aghada, Clonmel Commercials, Douglas, Lisgoold, Nemo Rangers, Salthill, and Shamrocks played many games following GAA Go Game rules.

Ken Carroll mentor for the Glanmire U11 team said it was a ‘memorable’ day. 

“It was a great day with some superb performances from all the players. It was a great pleasure to host the teams. 

"The support from the parents and the community was a joy to see."

"The parents and coaches stepped up and made the day memorable for everyone.” 

The U14s tournament held on Sunday, September 17 also proved very successful. Carrigaline, Douglas, Glanmire, and Mallow were each represented by two teams on the day. Each club had representation in both the cup and shield competitions with fourteen matches played in total.

Carrigaline overcame Mallow in the cup final, while Glanmire beat Mallow by a single point in an exciting shield final.

Holding the U11 and U14 football tournaments required huge buy-in across the board from numerous people.

Glanmire Football Club is very grateful to the parents who prepared a fantastic array of sandwiches and goodies over the course of both days. Leftover food on both days was brought to St Vincent de Paul.

The parents also helped with stewarding which was necessary given the large crowd at the club grounds over the weekend.

Members of An Garda Síochána were also thanked for providing traffic cones to ensure efficient access to and exit from the club. This also ensured that the wider community could travel past without issue.

From an U11 perspective, special mention was extended to Kerry McDonald and Janice Carroll and their team who worked tirelessly in the clubhouse providing food and beverages.

The on-the-pitch U11 support was provided by Stephen O’Neill, Nigel O’Sullivan, Barry Murphy, Ronan Brannigan, Colm Walsh, Michael Burke, Michael Dowling, and Finbarr O’Brien.

The referees for the blitz were Charlie Carroll, Harry Cogan, Gavin Murphy, and Ciarán Roche who are all juvenile club players.

From a U14 perspective, Martin Sullivan was very appreciative of coaches John Forbes, John Healy, Anthony O Donovan, Séamus Daly, and Stuart Roche.

Referees for the U14 tournament were Luke Hogan, Jack Huggins, Rory McCarthy, and Jack Austin, while Dónal Mulkerrins was the scoreboard recorder for the entire event.

The winning teams Carrigaline and Glanmire, were awarded medals and presented with the cup and shield trophies respectively by Noel O’Leary and Martin Sullivan at the end of a very successful tournament.