Tooreen chairman honoured

Tooreen chairman scoops GAA President’s award

Michael Commins

ONE of Mayo’s most inspirational club chairmen, Jimmy Connor from Tooreen, will be honoured with a GAA President’s Award next month. Jimmy, who has guided the Tooreen Hurling Club through some major developments over the past few years, is one of sixteen people countrywide who will receive their awards at a gala dinner in Croke Park after the All Ireland Club finals on St Patrick’s Day.
It is understood that the current President of the GAA, Nicky Brennan from Kilkenny, nominated Jimmy for the award, so impressed was he with all he heard about Jimmy when he came to officially open the new Tooreen pitch some months ago.
Tooreen senior manager Johnny Cunnane, who played many a great game for Tooreen and Mayo over the years, described Jimmy at the club’s golden jubilee anniversary dinner dance last year, as “a tireless worker who shuns the limelight” as Jimmy was accorded a standing ovation by over 400 guests.
On the night, Jimmy told his “congregation”: “Hurling has become a badge of identity for the people of Tooreen. The provision of our own playing pitch and dressing rooms has been a dream for many years.
“I remember about seven years ago, Tony Henry came to me one day as I was chairman at the time and said ‘you know, there’s a possibility we might be able to get some land in the village but we’ve got no money’. And I said to him ‘if there’s a possibility of us getting land, we’ll get the money’. So we went ahead and bought the land and you can see what has happened today.”
News that Jimmy is to receive this special award has been warmly greeted throughout the Tooreen region and much further afield. Dom Greally, who played many an outstanding game for Tooreen and Mayo, said the local community was delighted to learn that Jimmy was being honoured at national level.
“Jimmy has been a fantastic man at the helm. He is well liked in the Tooreen area and outside the area and he brings people along with him. He has been chairman at a very busy time in the history of our club and has overseen the biggest development ever undertaken by the Tooreen club. If ever a person deserved such recognition, it is Jimmy Connor. We are all delighted for him.”