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Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Tommy has been a good and faithful servant
WHILE county convention 2009 has been now consigned to the pages of history, it would be remiss of the column not to pay tribute to Kill’s Tommy Hennessy whose years of membership of the County Board executive ended with his defeat by Paddy Joe Ryan in the contest to elect a successor to the great Seamus O’Brien as Waterford’s representative on the Central Council.
Tommy and Paddy Joe had been our representatives on Munster Council together for the last five years - with the Kill clubman’s membership of that provincial body stretching back the bones of two decades. However the new five year rule meant that they had both to stand down now, and so it was that they went head to head in that Central Council showdown.
The great pity is that there had to be a loser between them, but at least all the delegates were voting in the knowledge that whoever prevailed would worthily represent the county at the highest level within the Association. The spoils of victory were garnered by the Fourmilewater clubman leaving Tommy Hennessy outside the centre circle of Waterford GAA administration for the first time in a virtual generation.
Tommy has been the epitome of loyalty to club and county on and off the field for more years than I would ever care to remember. His record of administrative service has been nothing less than exceptional, and while I can well understand the inevitable sense of disappointment he is feeling in the wake of his convention defeat I know full well that he will continue to superbly serve an Association that has been an integral part of his life for many decades. GAA men of his ilk don’t just grow on trees, and whether or not Tommy Hennessy is seen back at the hub of Divisional or County Board administration in the future his monumental contribution over all those years will forever stand.
