Garnish GAA continue to battle on despite depopulation: We won't let the club die

There’s no doubt that rural depopulation represents a threat to the GAA and to the very fabric of our society.

Many if not all rural clubs are facing their biggest battle in quite some time. It has been a problem that has been growing and growing in recent years.

Garnish GAA are a proud club nestled in the heart of the Beara Peninsula. They are the furthest club from Croke Park. Everyone has to pull together to keep the show on the road. They are currently in the Junior B ranks.

The chairperson is former Cork footballer Ollie Rue O’Sullivan. Despite being based in Ballincollig, he makes the four-hour round trip on a regular basis down to his beloved Garnish.

His love for his club and for football knows no bounds.

“Growing up at home on the Beara Peninsula, we didn’t have the privilege of playing soccer or hurling or rugby, football was our sport, and it was our life,” he says.

“It was the game we all played. Outside of that, we had a tennis court in the village and a basketball court, played a small bit of that and then for the winter, we played a lot of handball in a local ball alley.

“I am so lucky that I won seven or eight Beara championships. They were all equally important, but I suppose the first one in the early days, would have to be the highlight. I’ve had the privilege of having a very long career playing with Garnish. I suppose the big thing for us is trying to keep the club alive and making sure that the club survives for the younger generation that are coming through.

“We’re fielding teams now at underage. There has been a big push at underage level for the last number of years and it’s nice to see kids wearing the Garnish jersey again.” 

O’Sullivan doesn’t hide away from the fact that despite the progress that has been made in recent years with regards numbers, it’s a constant battle.

“It’s unbelievably hard and for the lads at home, it’s even harder,” he says.

“They’re there and they see the numbers getting smaller and smaller and the numbers at training getting smaller and smaller. I think the fact that the club is within two years of its 100th birthday, we have to keep the club going and for the people that were part of the inception of the club that have worked hard over the years and carried it on in the darker days.

“I think it would be poor of us, when we are at the mantle, that we wouldn’t do everything in our power to make sure that Garnish GAA survives and to make sure that it makes its centenary.

“We’ve had to consider folding on numerous occasions. Do we decide to fold or do we decide to drive on? My opinion is that we should decide to drive on and we have to think outside the box.

“Even earlier on this year, we were brought into the Cork County Board. Kevin O’Donovan and the other members of the board were all very supportive of us. They told us that they would support us in any way they could to help us maintain the club.” 

O’Sullivan has been involved with Ballincollig GAA and coached their minor football team to win the Premier 1 championship title last year. He could have easily moved on from Garnish when he moved up to Cork 30 odd years ago.

“My view on it is that I started out with Garnish. I was very successful with Garnish and managed to make a Cork minor team, a Cork U21 team and Cork junior and senior teams and I owed that back to Garnish. I think it would be very unfair of me to walk away and go somewhere else.

“I think there’s a responsibility on me to give something back and that’s why we’re doing what we’re doing now. There’s very little or no industry in Garnish parish outside of farming and fishing and if you want to do something different, you have to travel. People are travelling from the parish to nearly as far as Cork for construction and stuff like that. People are travelling to Bantry on a daily basis so everybody has to travel.

“The parish is small. We depend on tourism in the summer months and stuff like that. It’s very, very difficult for the people that are living in the area, but I think we need to drive it on for the young children in the parish.

“Rural depopulation is an issue throughout the western seaboard. Every support possible should be given to these rural communities to keep them alive. The GAA club is the focal point in all communities. If the GAA club goes, a big part of the soul of the parish goes. We can’t let that happen and we won’t. We will keep battling on.” O’Sullivan concluded.