All previous chairs of St Mark’s GAA Club were honoured with a commemorative medal on the evening in recognition for their service
Fifty years a-playing for St Mark’s GAA club
St Mark’s recently celebrated their 50th anniversary with a week of celebrations culminating with a Gala dinner at the Louis FitzGerald Hotel last Saturday.
The event was prepared with the idea to honour the past of the club with commemorations being awarded to the previous club chairs over the years.
The night consisted of an MC on the night, Chris Keeley. The 15 past chairs of the club were honoured with nine of them being present to receive the medal.
The gala night and the week of activities themselves were well received by attendees with the variety of events and activities on offer including a family fun day, memorial tournament and a pool competition ensuring that all demographics and age groups were accounted for.
There was a multitude of guests in attendance including GAA president Jarlath Burns who presented the medals to the former chairs. Finbarr O’Mahony, CEO of Dublin GAA, Joe Keane, Dublin LGFA Chair, and Carl O’Brien, Dublin Camogie Chair, were all present.
Jarlath Burns touched on the importance of St Mark’s and why it is flourishing as a club.
Jarlath Burns and Declan Bolger (first St Mark’s player to play for Dublin Senior Footballers) meet again, having marked each other when Armagh met Dublin in the league in 1990
“Fifty years ago people got together and decided ‘why not, why shouldn’t we set up a Gaelic club to serve the people in this area’, as a result of that there are now five clubs serving that general area of Tallaght.
“This area, and I can feel it in the room tonight, I can feel a sense of community and love of place and love of your club and love of your neighbours. It’s palpable.
“This is one of the loveliest events I have been to. The sense of occasion there has been in this club means that the GAA is working in this area.
‘As the president of the GAA I am proud to lead an organisation that has a club like St Mark’s in it, doing the work that you are doing every day, every week in your area.”
That sense of community is something that St Mark’s prides itself upon as touched on by Hayden Moore who joined the club in his early teenage years after being persuaded by his friends.
“I work for Dublin GAA now, that is only because I love the GAA and the only way I love the GAA is through St Mark’s.
An Uachtharáin Jarlath Burns with past chairperson, Anne O’Reilly – both of whom hail from Armagh
‘It’s not just about me or the person beside me, it’s about leaving the jersey in a better place. There’s something for everyone. If you’re not the best player that’s okay. The GAA slogan is ‘it’s where we all belong’ so there is something for everyone.
“Everyone has things going on outside of sport, especially in our community – there’s a high level of deprivation across the way in west Tallaght and we have a lot of people in the club who might have things going on at home or whatever it is.
“When they come up to the club it’s a chance to cut loose, enjoy themselves and have a bit of craic. We don’t turn anyone away, if there’s someone that wants to play and they’re struggling, we’ll figure something out. There is something for everyone and we want to look after everyone in our community in whatever way we can.”.
