Was there ever a teacher in your school that you wished taught you but it never actually happened? Before answering that from my own perspective, it will be admitted that it’s considered an absolute privilege to have been taught by the greatest teacher Dunboyne has ever known – Mr Willie Lyons.
However, there are two whom, to my eternal regret, time was never spent with. Albeit in one case it was circumstancially impossible. Manus McCarron and Linda Clare to be exact.
At the time, having Linda as a teacher was impossible because, back then, the Boys and Girls side of the school were separated. Not segregated, but separated by the big P. E. hall. Not being taught by Manus was a huge disappointment because he, Willie, John Moriarity and the Principal, Peter Clarke, Lord rest him, went above and beyond the call of duty to help me in school.
And Linda Clare? Linda Clare will forever be assured of a place in the annals of legend relating to education in Dunboyne. Why? Aside from the fact that she was regarded as a wonderful teacher by those who came under her stewardship – including my sisters – she was known to arrive to school in a Massey Ferguson! Yes, you did read that correctly.
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Now, the following is absolutely for the best, but, none of us know what way the road of life is going to turn. Years after encountering each other in an educational setting, Linda, her husband Pat Lynch and I would cross paths through our mutual involvement in the IFA. More pertinently to what you will read hereafter though, somewhere along the way, it was discovered that Linda and Eimear Gilligan were sisters.
Yet again I find myself numb with disbelief and indescribable sadness having just written that in the past tense. Eimear was called to the organising committee far away this week having been ravaged by an illness which must have had the severity of a tsunami to take down that mighty oak tree of a woman.
In the hundreds, maybe thousands, of tributes which have poured in since her untimely passing, there was one phrase which repeatedly cropped which was and is a better way to begin to pay tribute than any other. Eimear was a force of nature. When she set her mind to doing something, you either went along with her, or, for your own safety, kept out of her way!
It will be openly admitted that when it was first heard she played Ladies Football for Dublin it wasn’t believed. Mostly because, being a proud Meath woman from Syddan and married to Eamonn – one of myriad people from Lovely Leitrim we have had enter and enrich our lives – where the connection to the two shades of blue came in couldn’t be defined.
But indeed she did, winning an All Ireland JFC medal in 1989 when the Dubs defeated Clare in Croker. Indeed, in hindsight, it should’ve been absolutely no surprise that Eimear and Eamonn were intrinsically involved in the establishment and development of Ladies Football back then.
For that was their forte wherever they went. Whether it was Eamonn’s establishment of the current incarnation of Dunboyne Boxing Club in 1990 – there was a previous one in the 1940’s/50’s under the guidance of none other than Tom Yourell and in which several relations of my own came from Leixlip to box – or their ceaseless promotion of underage GAA (and boxing) as Kevin and Eamonn J. made their way up through the ranks within our St Peter’s club.
Feile Na nGael has been one of the greatest phenomena to ever grace the GAA, but it’s doubtful that great movement has ever come across a whirlwind quite like Eimear when Kevin’s team captured county glory and so embarked on the odyssey to represent Meath in Galway in 2003. Such a journey doesn’t come without trial, tribulation and cost, but, rather than see it as a problem or an obstacle, Eimear did as she always did.
Tackled it head on, saw it as an opportunity to something greater than the end goal itself. Having been on the club’s Executive Committee at the time, I can confirm she absolutely achieved that. And then some. It would be argued til the cows come home that never has a Feile operation been driven with such passion, enthusiasm and success.
At this juncture, it is only right to pay tribute to what was an exceptional group of players who not only represented Meath in both hurling and football at Feile but went on two years later at U-16 level and completed another county double. However, only weeks after those glorious occasions, the youngsters, our club and indeed the entire community was beset by tragedy with the sudden and untimely passing of Geraldine Kelly – wife of football team mentor Larry and mother of their Captain, Paul.
Again though, Eimear was to the forefront of stepping up to the plate and doing the needful. Whether that was comforting the lads in what was a time of tremendous turmoil for a group of players so young or coaxing them back out playing in the aftermath of such terrible upset or – perhaps most significantly of all – making the Gilligan family home a hub where they could and did make it their home away from. Hence she became an auxiliary mammy to them all as well as they became benefactors of her legendary hospitality.
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Yet there was a complete other side to Eimear which, to my utmost regret now, I only became aware of for all too brief a period. Inclination always that she was or at least had been a nurse at some point in her career. Which Fr Pat O’Connor confirmed at her massively attended funeral Mass in Dunboyne. More than that, mind you, she also worked in midwifery which was extraordinarily apt because, as well as bringing new life into the world quite literally, she had the same effect on any event or occasion she was part of.
It was only in recent months or year at most that it was realised she was working as a Special Needs Assistant (SNA) in St Peter’s College having previously filled similar roles in Ratoath College and in a local nursing home. Though once again it fitted the bill with the person in question perfectly – providing care, comfort and encouragement.
Having said that, it also gave rise to a humorous situation that was so typically Eimear it was as if Our Lord himself set it up thus. As is now known, it was during her time working as an SNA in Ratoath. This particular evening, an individual was observed saluting me frantically from a moped. While the gesture was returned out of politeness, not the foggiest notion existed as to who the friendly helmeted person was.
Until the bould Eimear pulled up, lost the headgear and in typically excited, enthusiastic fashion “Ah it’s handier than the car, I can nip in and out of the traffic easier, get home quicker to have the dinner ready for Eamonn and the lads before they go boxing”.
Always planning ahead, always working for the betterment of others. So went what has tragically turned out to be our last meeting. This time hurriedly pounding the footpaths, complete with rucksack with her now being a most excellent and beloved SNA in St Peter’s College.
After the usual debrief of what far flung corners of the world Kevin, Eamonn J. and Clare were domiciled in, it was down to the real business of the evening, “Charlie’s (Gallagher) team are playing in Navan tonight so it’ll be a quick turnaround at home and away again. He’s going to be a hell of footballer”.
My dear departed friend, my instinct is that you are right. Young Big Gally has all the attributes to be a good one. The apple didn’t fall far the tree there, but I’ve no doubt you spread your positive vibes there too. Just as you did with his dad and uncle Denis and aunt Liz.
I know the Gallagher family will mourn Eimear’s passing deeply, as will our entire community and much further afield. Though obviously what anyone feels pales in comparison to what Eamonn, Kevin, Eamonn J. Clare and the extended Gilligan and Clare families are going through. To them, my profound sympathy.
A force of nature is right. I hope the organising committee above aready!
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