St Joseph’s limber up for memorial run

SIOBHÁN Hoey, the wife of the late Ger Hoey, who was the corner-back on the 1999 St Joseph’s Doora-Barefield All-Ireland club winning team, cannot envisage how her family would have coped without the support of the club following her husband’s untimely death, while out jogging, in February 2009.

 

SIOBHÁN Hoey, the wife of the late Ger Hoey, who was the corner-back on the 1999 St Joseph’s Doora-Barefield All-Ireland club winning team, cannot envisage how her family would have coped without the support of the club following her husband’s untimely death, while out jogging, in February 2009.

“The GAA has been a huge support. I genuinely don’t know how we would have managed only for it and the support of everybody here in Doora-Barefield,” Siobhán told The Clare Champion at the launch of the Hurley Hoey 10km run/walk last Saturday. The event will be held in St Joseph’s GAA grounds, Gurteen, on Saturday, March 9 in memory of the late Ger Hoey and Eilish Hurley, along with all deceased members of the club.

Siobhán is the chairperson of the St Joseph’s Camogie Club, while her daughters Elaine, Caoimhe and Orla play camogie and football for the parish.

“The link is still there. Only for it, I don’t know what the girls would be doing with their evenings or how they would fill their time. The clubs just seem to wrap themselves around you. It has been fabulous for the girls. They’re involved, they’re out and they’re doing something. It has been a huge plus for us,” she added.

Francis Hurley is the older brother of Eilish Hurley, who died after an illness in 2004.

“Undoubtedly, it’s emotional but the great thing is it’s a vehicle to remember Eilish, Ger and all the other people in the parish,” Francis said of the upcoming fundraiser.

“She was a very vibrant person. She was a mechanical engineer in Galway. She was very outgoing and had a huge amount of friends. Particularly during her illness, what we’ll always remember as a family was the amount of her college friends who nearly moved in with us over the summer. They were hugely supportive of Eilish. We’ll remember her as a really great girl and somebody we’ll always miss,” he reflected.

Proceeds from the run/walk will be donated to St Anne’s Sensory Centre in Ennis and the Sunshine Children’s Ward in the Mid-Western Regional Hospital, Limerick.

“There has been a huge amount of effort from the committee. From our perspective, there’s a huge focus on the fact that it’s a charitable event. It’s very much a parish, Clare and country-wide event. We’ve a massive amount of people who have signed up from around the country,” Francis noted.

Like Ger, Eilish represented St Joseph’s on the field.

“It’s a fitting event because like Ger, Eilish was very much into sport and into the club. She played camogie and football with Barefield all the way up along. She was in Australia for a time as well and she played football down there. They were both taken very young from us. But, unfortunately, the reality is it’s not just ourselves. There are many people in the parish who have lost young people, no more than every parish up and down the county,” Francis said.

Public comments made by master of ceremonies Eoin Conroy at the launch indicated that Francis will be very keen to finish ahead of Seánie McMahon on March 9.

“Seanie was in Galway for many years working and we lived in the same house for five years. Even when I moved to Athenry, he moved out with me, along with the rest of the lads. I think his wife, who is also my cousin, said it was time for him to move back down to Clare,” Francis laughed.

“There’s a little bit of pressure but I’m confident, after looking at him, that I’ll beat him,” he predicted.
Siobhán has been overwhelmed by the support emanating from within and outside St Joseph’s for the fundraiser.

“No matter where you go, people are being proactive. We’ve had people coming to us saying they will do whatever they can do. There’s a fabulous community spirit here in Doora-Barefield. You just need to ask,” she said.

Siobhán has noticed that some of the St Joseph’s All-Ireland-winning team have been togging out again recently in an effort to get fit for the 10km run.

“There’s a few of them there who haven’t been actively training but they’re out training again. They have a great camaraderie. Some of them mighn’t have been in contact for a while. It brings them all back together again.”

Siobhán, Ger and their daughters lived in Limerick in 1999, when St Joseph’s often trained several times a week.

“It was a huge commitment but that’s what had to be done. Ger was probably in Ennis three or four nights a week.” she recalled.

Luckily, Siobhán is from a GAA background in South Tipperary so she understood the hours that GAA involvement requires.

“My dad [John Fleming] played football with Tipp and was chairman of the South board at home. He also refereed. For the six of us at home, it didn’t really matter who was playing the match on Sunday. We were going and that was it. He was either presenting a cup or he was refereeing. So I suppose that stood to us. Every Saturday and Sunday was either a match or training,” she remembered.

As for her participation on March 9, Siobhán is clear; she won’t be setting out to break any running records.
“I’ll walk it. I’m not going to be in competition with any of those boys,” she smiled.

Committee chairman Lorcan Hassett is appealing to Clare GAA clubs to take part. Already, clubs from Cork, Dublin and Galway have entered, as have several from Clare. There will be what he describes as a “significant prize” for the first GAA club home in the 10km run. The top three times will count.

Although he can’t run himself, due to a cruciate knee injury, Lorcan noted that the St Joseph’s 1999 team and their Clarecastle counterparts will be duelling again but this time on the running track.

The event will start at 2pm on March 9. Participants can register on www.runireland/events/hurleyhoey10km or from 10.30am on the day of the event.