Well-deserved honour for Johnnie

IT’S all aboout the club, according to Inagh’s Johnnie O’Rourke who will receive a GAA Presidential award at a function in Croke Park on Friday, March 15.

The confirmation last week that Johnnie is to be honoured at the annual awards ceremony was greeted with huge acclaim throughout the Inagh-Kilnamona parish where Johnnie has been giving of his time freely to coach young hurlers and to help with the development of facilities for 40 years.

“It’s the club I will be thinking about when I accept this award. I suppose, if I got the option of accepting or refusing, I would refuse but it’s for the club and such awards are great for a small club,” according to Johnnie.
Standing in the playing field in Inagh, a short distance from his home, he said, “This is part of my life and has been from the day that we bought this property, which led to the developing of the field. It’s all my life, I suppose. It’s the same in every club. There are people who give the hours. You could be doing worse,” he said.

Coaching the young kids and helping to develop the facilities that the club offers have meant that O’Rourke has devoted many hours each week to these two projects. “It’s great to see the young lads go on and progress. I take a great interest in all those lads when they play for the county or get on to the county panels. It’s fantastic to see it happen.”

Last year, Johnnie stepped down from coaching to devote more time to the development of the facilities. “I am involved more with the pitch now. I was involved with the training of the young lads up to last year but I stepped down then when we had enough mentors to take over. Some years, there were few willing to take on this task but we have fellas that have retired in the last few years who are now stepping in and doing the coaching for the U12s and U14s.”

Not being involved with the coaching doesn’t mean he will spend any less time working for the club. “We started a draining programme last year and we have to finish that. There is an area at the back of the pitch that we would like to develop as a training facility for the winter, be it an all-weather facility or a sand-based pitch, depending on the funds. We need to re-surface the road coming into the grounds. There is a lot of work that has to be done but funds will determine,” he explained.

Before that, however, there is the matter of a trip to Croke Park, accompanied by a group of club members, for Friday’s function. “I never look forward to nights like this but I know I will enjoy it. It will have the name of the club to the fore,” he concluded.