Weeshie's Week    Back to Weeshie's Week List

Article July Week 1 2005
Scartaglin Lady is unsung Hero of the Kerry GAA

The hard working Kerry Ladies GAA Board are the latest to announce their Unsung Hero of Kerry GAA.Their recipient is for the month of May, and what a hero they have chosen, Sheila Galvin from the Scartaglin club joins the ranks of Sean McCarthy, (East Kerry), Tom o Connor, (Kenmare), Michael o Riordan, (Mid Kerry), and Batty Cronin, (West Kerry), who have all been honored in the preceding months.

The acclaim for these awards has been wonderfully encouraging from one and all and in this instance our sincere thanks go to John o Connor, (Ladies Chairman), Catherine Keogh, (Secretary), and exemplary PRO Paula o Sullivan. I met up with Sheila, this great Kerry GAA lady during the week and got a little insight into her lifetime involvement in GAA affairs.

W. Sheila congratulations on your award.

S. Thanks Weeshie I was very pleased and honoured to get it. It was a huge surprise to me and I must first of all thank Radio Kerry’s Terrace Talk, The Kingdom newspaper and The Lansdowne Arms Hotel Kenmare for coming up with this wonderful idea.

W. Are awards such as this important to people such as yourself.

S. Well there are, however there are so many people involved and I want to accept this on behalf of my club, Scartaglin, the Scartaglin ladies team, The Kerry Ladies football board and all the unheard of people working behind the scenes and everyone that has helped me, yes it’s lovely to get it.

W. Well it’s richly deserved and long overdue, because every where I attend matches you are in attendance. You have given a life’s work to the GAA

S. I am involved fifteen years with my own ladies club Scartaglin, I have been Secretary, Treasurer and I am still PRO and also the county board delegate. I was also on Board Na nOg at county level and I am on the GPC at present, so lots to do.

W. So you must be out at meetings and matches most nights of the week.

S. I would be, we have a huge number of very talented young players in Scartaglen at the moment and we have girls from Castleisland, Cordal, Ballymacgelligott and Currow playing with us as well and I would go to all their matches, we have a lot of underage teams and I love giving them support.

W. Now you being a mother of two girls and a boy how important is ladies football in Kerry and are the board doing a good job in the county.

S. The ladies board are doing a marvelous job. It’s tough going as we don’t get the recognition the men get, and as regards money we are always trying to raise funds to keep going, keep the girls interested and look after them in the proper way.

W. One of your own daughters was a very good player and your son plays with Scart.

S. Yes my second daughter Elaine played with the club; she got married recently and is gone into another football home. She is married to Eamon John O Donoghue who plays with Cordal our rivals on the field and he also plays with St. Kieran’s and has played with the Kerry Juniors for a number of years as well. His sister Margaret plays with the Kerry seniors and Mary plays with us and my son Freddie is playing with Scartaglin, so the game is a major part of my life. And not forgetting my other daughter Dorina who is married in Charleville to Barry Dennehy, he is very involved in hurling and needless to say there is great rivalry when the two counties meet.

W. And of course behind the scenes there is a load of work to be done, work that no one every hears about.

S. Well your there to clean out dressing rooms, have them open for games, wash the jerseys, make sure they are right for every match, have the first aid box in order, we always see after teams that visit us and give them tea and sandwiches. And the fund raising is continuous all year around, church gate collections, pub quizzes, and race nights. We took part in the Queen of Football fundraiser, we won one year and were joint second another year and we raise a lot of money through that for both the club and county board.

W. I see you at all the games in which the county teams are playing.

S. Yes I go to most of them, I love the game and I don’t’ think the girls get the attention they deserve and while I am on the subject I would like to wish all the Kerry ladies teams the best for the year and I appeal to people to come out and support them.

W. And tell us where you are from yourself.

S.I come from a place called Knockeenduff which is about a mile and a half from Killarney town, my father John Walsh always followed the Crokes and my brother Malachy played with them for a number of years and attends all of their games.

W, And of course you are married to a great friend of mine, John Galvin is in my opinion another one of the unsung heroes of this county, a dedicated worker for club and parish.

S. Yes John is deeply involved, he has been PRO for many years and he loves that side of it, he attends all our club games, writes about them for the papers and he is also PRO of St. Kieran’s and with the championship starting things are hotting up. He has a lot of time put in and he has also been treasurer of the club as well.

W. Your ambitions for the ladies of Kerry and Scartaglin.

S, While it’s great to be winning it’s more important to see people enjoying themselves, making new friends, and when they go on to college they meet again and it stands greatly to them.

W. What do the GAA mean to you?

S. Oh it means so much, especially here in Kerry and we have a great young lad in Scartaglin at the moment Padraig Ready, he is playing with the Kerry Juniors and training with the seniors and is related to us, he was in Australia last year with the Irish youths, we are very proud of him. However, “Gooch” is my favorite.

W. There is also a very sad side to your sporting life which puts a lot of things into perspective.

S. Yes Weeshie, thanks for asking. One of our great young players Marguerite Coakley died at the just fourteen years of age, she was a tremendous player, and played with the Kerry under sixteen against Cork in Tralee and for our club shortly before she died on the 9th August ’02. Her death was tremendous blow to her parents Margaret and Mossie, her club and the county, we miss her very much and she will never be forgotten and we hold a memorial tournament in her memory in Scartaglin every year in August. She was a beautiful person and we miss her so much.

W. Well said Sheila; you have been honored before for your magnificent dedication.

S. Yes indeed, Scartaglin made a presentation to me and I was also chosen one time as being supporter of the year by the Crokes.

W. Well Sheila you are an amazing lady, it’s been a great privilege to honor you on Terrace Talk and enjoy your stay with John in The Lansdowne Arms.

S. It’s beautiful prize Weeshie and we will certainly look forward to it. Thanks to everyone again.