IT’S FAIR to say that next Thursday night’s annual County Board convention in Dungarvan will focus most of all on the ballot box, and the elections for some of the key administrative positions. On a night when chairman Pat Flynn’s five-year term comes to an end there is the certainty of at least two contests. Munster Council colleagues Paddy Joe Ryan (Fourmilewater) and Kill’s Tommy Hennessy are going head to head to fill the upcoming Central Council vacancy when the legendary Seamas O’Brien of Abbeyside / Ballinacourty stands aside at the next Congress in April, while the new vice chairman will be decided between Erin’s Own clubman Tim O’Byrne and former acting county secretary John O’Leary of Ballyduff Lower.
PAT FLYNN
No contest however for the chair however, with Stradbally’s Tom Cunningham set for promotion to take over the reins of office from Pat Flynn. The Passage clubman can certainly look back with immense pride and no little satisfaction on a job of work well done, and throughout his five year tenure he has more than maintained the high standards set for him by so many of his predecessors.
Pat never saw any merit in ruling with an iron fist. Firm he always was, but dictatorial never, and he deserved all of the respect he enjoyed among the club delegates.
For my own part I found it a pleasure at all times to deal with him, and no chairman could ever have been more supportive to me in my journalistic role than Pat was. Something I am now more than happy to place on record in my attempted tribute to him.
Thankfully he will not be lost either to the Association or to the county, and for the next five years he will represent Waterford - along with West Board secretary Anthony Walsh - on the Munster Council. I wish them both well, knowing for certain that our county’s representation at provincial level will be in ultra safe and capable hands.
SEAMUS O’BRIEN
Thursday night’s convention will also be a milestone occasion in the extraordinary administrative career of Abbeyside / Ballinacourty’s Seamus O’Brien who is just one month away from completing half a century of unrivalled service to both the West and County Boards.
At a time when he was serving as secretary of his club Seamas was elected secretary of the Western Board in succession to the late Declan O’Sullivan of Dungarvan in 1961. He remained in that post until 1981 when he became Waterford’s Central Council representative and has held the position without a break to this very day. I have first hand knowledge of the esteem in which he is held by the top brass in Croke Park, and I know too
the level of respect that he commands from many of the biggest names in national GAA journalism.
He will, believe me, be a hard act to follow, but that is the formidable challenge that awaits the winner of the Paddy Joe Ryan / Tommy Hennessy convention ballot on Thursday night.
Lest anyone thinks however that Seamus O’Brien is about to walk away from it all after those memorable fifty years of involvement then they should think again. Last Wednesday night he was unanimously re-elected to the post of West Board registrar, and I’m told on the best possible authority - the man himself!! - that he has no immediate plans to step down from that job.
No doubt many tributes will be paid to Seamus in due course, but the truth of the matter is that no one ever could do this man justice in that regard. He is, in the truest sense, a legendary one-off.
TIMMY O’KEEFFE
One final word on the County Board officership. Timmy O’Keeffe is in his first year as full time county secretary, and its hats off to the Clashmore club-man on the level of professionalism and sheer expertise he has brought into the post.
He made history of course on his appointment as Waterford’s first ever fulltime official, and it is to his eternal credit that he has mastered the job as expertly and as speedily as he has.
Well done Timmy on your flying start, and all of us are looking forward to you continuing in 2010 from where you are leaving off in 2009.
